Light Rail
The next line of the Metro light rail system is supposed to start construction I think sometime next year. The line is going to run from UH through the Wheeler Station on the Main street line, and then to somewhere around the Galleria/uptown area. The leg of the line labelled on the ballot “Westpark” is where all the controversy lies.
The line says Wheeler station to Hilcroft transit center. Westpark of course stops at Kirby. So how can anyone think this line was going to be on Westpark the entire way? That’s impossible. So the street that makes sense is Richmond. And certain people are rather unhappy about that.
Some appear to be genuinely concerned about their business or home during construction. Some seem to mistakenly believe that cars and buses are more efficient than rail. Some seem to think trains will “ruin” their neighborhood. I don’t really see how a quite, emission free train, replacing some 100 noisy smoggy cars makes a neighborhood worse, but that’s just me.
The Richmond line of course would go by the University of St. Thomas, the Menil, the Montrose area, ideally it would push west and hit the Greenway plaza. Clearly this is where the ridership is. Between downtown and Kirby the line would have to otherwise run along 59, and that makes no sense.
Much has been made of the Westpark designation on the ballot. If anyone would bother to look at the ballot, you can see that Westpark is a title or description. Among the other six analogous titles were Inner Katy, Uptown / West Loop, and Southeast. Also the ballot said clearly Wheeler to Hilcroft Transit Center. So, that whole route can’t possibly go on Westpark.
Light rail isn’t about moving people from point A to point B. It’s about everything in between. Avoiding the high density corridor of Richmond, both in terms of where people live and work, just doesn’t make much sense.
