Houston needs both. Really, the system that the citizens voted for in the 80s should have built. Would have been a SF or DC-like heavy rail system with lines down the Katy Freeway, Westpark, Southwest Freeway, North Freeway (to IAH), and 288/90A. But no, Mayor Bob Lanier decided to direct those funds towards building skinny ass sidewalks. Then the citizens vote once again for rail expansion in the late 90s (this time light rail) but Metro gets screwed over by Tom DeLay and John Culberson. This causes the first rail line to be built at the bare minimum with no overpasses over major roads, etc., and Culberson puts forward a bill that blocks funding for rail expansion in Harris County. Guess who got those funds instead? Dallas. They double their rail system with the money and have rail to both Love Field and DFW airports. Houston is the only major city other than Detroit that doesn't have rail to at least one airport. That puts it in a class of heavy hitters like Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Austin, Nashville, etc. Even Phoenix, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Denver have rail to their airports from the city core. Having said that, Houston still needs to do this freeway project. The Pierce Elevated was a bad idea and cities all over are tearing down these elevated scars that bisect their downtowns. This will really open up west Downtown to the second ward. On top of that, the deck park is going to really spur development on the east side. Rail expansion needs to happen but it's about time Houston got with other cities on tearing down elevated freeways. I applaud it.
Houston is more prone to flooding due to serious design flaws with the city. It let the developers run wild, building in flood plains and not elevating houses like they should have. If proper measures were put into place (like additional reservoirs, bayou widening, not building in flood plains) then a lot of the flooding we saw to houses/businesses over the last four years would not have happened. If they can build a subway in Amsterdam, a city below sea level, they can build underground in Houston. Hell, the Washburn Tunnel flooded only once in its 77 year history and that was during Ike. There isn't a city on earth that would not have flooded with as much rain as Harvey dumped in just 48 hours, but a lot of it could have been mitigated if if city/county leaders wouldn't have let developers be cheap with what they built. Hell, a lot of city leaders WERE the developers/land owners (like Bob Lanier). It's a shame what some of them did to the build of Houston. The design/street layout is great, The implementation is just awful.
Some places are getting it right. I live in a midrise on lower Westheimer, and even the basement in our parking garage didn't flood. It can be done, though I'm not sure on how large a scale. I will say this, when the Exxon Valdez disaster occured, new regulations were put in that pretty much all engineers thought was improbable, if not impossible. But a few years later they were able to make it work.
Cities with rail from airport to city center: New York Newark Boston Philly Atlanta Miami Minneapolis Chicago Cleveland Dallas Denver Seattle Portland San Fran Oakland https://www.cheapestdestinationsblo...u-s-airports-have-a-train-to-the-city-center/ I am definitely going to be moving in 4-5 years. I am waiting for the rockets to win a championship. Between the humidity, never ending construction, the shitty roads and the shitty drivers..blah
DC also has rail service to two of the three major airports in the region, and the third will be connected within a couple of years.
My pipe dream would be to build an airport express line from the proposed northwest high speed rail station to IAH, and from the northwest station south to Downtown and Hobby.
Houston's lack of urban planning really does make it hard. Here in Minneapolis, the whole thing was planned really well. The city was expanding an existing roadway and as part of that expansion, the eminent domain included enough land for a dedicated right of way for a light rail line. So even though no funding had been set aside for a rail line, the city was smart enough to plan for the possibility. So when the city got funding, most of the right of way was already cleared. Good luck ever getting the city of Houston to plan like that. Its just complete chaos when it comes to transportation planning.
Meh.... don't forget the jumpers. There could be some possible jumpers. I would suggest some fake metal trees as well to prevent instant death for those over 60 or people from the NE United States. Beggers, they can use the sides as a bathroom and perhaps prostitutes can use the area to earn extra cash. Last I hope a group of angry young homeless men called "Cave Dwellers" set up camp on the underside of the freeway and randomly lob bricks at bystanders and rob them like folks were robbed in the forest in Great Britain a thousand years ago. Ohh and Felix the poster can sell his 9-11 bracelets as a souvenir to all those that survive. Maybe bring back Fame City and put it up there so it can rival Navy Pier in Chicago..... use that big schlitterbaun slide maybe.
I'm pretty happy about this. If you're interested in the business plan with pretty pictures and lots of words, it's out there on dowtownhouston.org or click here http://www.downtownhouston.org/development/planning/ this is a quick overview: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rel...n-releases-20-year-vision-plan-300553246.html and this is selected copy from the above The Plan's strategic recommendations include: Creating a Green Loop, a 5-mile transportation and recreation circuit that connects Downtown to adjacent neighborhoods. Enhancing walkability of Downtown through the development of Downtown Design Guidelines and the addition of new destinations. Establishing an Innovation District as the center for technology and entrepreneurship in the Houston region by strengthening connections between businesses/funders and entrepreneurs and pursuing partnerships with area universities. Building 12,000 additional Downtown residential units to support population growth from 7,500 to 30,000 over the next 20 years, and enhance the area amenities available to current and future residents. Adapting to autonomous vehicles by positioning Downtown to benefit from new technologies.
I can't even have a conversation with the rail people. Old technology, makes zero sense in 2018. The most expensive part of the bus is the driver this will soon be eliminated and we can program busses to go from point A to point B. All cities with rail lose so much money per ride on their systems. Rail to and from the airport would not be for the taxpayers or business travelers. We rent cars or take Uber/Lyft
Didn't click on the link, but this is really cool. A good size population living downtown would help revitalize downtown tremendously. Only cons are the future cost of Downtown parking, cost of being in Downtown, etc. But I'm all on board for it. Just too bad I'll be close to retirement when it's all said and done
LA will be added to this list in the next 3-5 years when TWO light rail lines from different parts of town will connect at LAX. On top of that. there is a commuter rail stop a couple of blocks away from the Burbank Airport. So why can't rail be automated too then? We act like only buses can be automated. If rail was automated, it'd carry higher capacities and be faster than the bus. Besides, we're decades away from that anyway. There is a reason why rail expansion is happening in nearly every major city across the world. If it's not happening then that's because there is already a lot of it in place (outside of Houston of course lol). You say business travelers don't use rail which isn't true. I just had a business trip to San Francisco. I met up with some coworkers after arriving at SFO. Guess what? Three took Lyft, then five of us took BART to our conference. If rail is convenient, business travelers will definitely take it.
