West Gray Streetcar
Christof just finished a three part series on streetcars for Houston, which you can find here: part 1, part 2, part 3. It was a great read, and I highly recommend it. Kuffner then chimed in with his own iteration, which struck me as a great corridor, but really long for a streetcar. That would be much more feasible if Kirby was fixed in the first place…
Now, I strongly agree that Houston really needs a mid-level transit system to connect some of the gaps in the current transit plan, and a streetcar is a great way to do it. I’ve been contemplating posting something to that effect for a long time.
I think the first streetcar that needs to be built is the West Gray line. The challenge here is, West Gray is a pretty slow-moving road, despite the modest traffic volume it carries. The reason for this? Turning. West Gray doesn’t have a turn lane, and left and right turns both really slow things down.
So how do you work a streetcar into that? You don’t. You fix the street first, and use the streetcar as part of the fix. The best way would be to take advantage of Peden St, and to make West Gray and Peden into a one-way pair, continuing from Webster and Gray in Midtown. The streetcar then forms a loop that goes from the River Oaks shopping center, through Midtown Square, and north into the Theater District. It would look like this:
This alignment (shown in blue) has huge advantages because it connects to the future East End/Southeast Rail Lines in a way that opens up much more of the CBD core to them. Now, I suspect Christof would be frustrated that I show this running down Smith/Louisiana instead of Milam/Travis. The reason is this: many more people live on the western edge of Midtown, and they’re going to places on the western edge of downtown.
Case in point, I live in the Midtown Square area, and I go to the Theater District quite a bit, as do many of my friends and neighbors in the area. Nobody takes transit, and few walk. Residents in the area frequently lament that the light rail on main is too far east to be much use to us. It’s a 9 block walk to the nearest northbound station from my apartment (Hadley / Bagby), and a 10 block walk to the nearest southbound station. From any of the train station in downtown it’s at least 4 blocks to any of the theater district attractions. At that point it’s easier just to walk the whole way, about 17 blocks. Though the distance is a little much, at least you don’t have to wait on the train. A streetcar, like the one in Portland, would significantly improve access throughout the area.
West of Midtown the streetcar and street reconfiguration is even more helpful. By reconfiguring West Gray into two small, parallel streets, you free up a lot of capacity by eliminating the problem of turning motions. The one-way pair concept also frees up room for more on-street parking. This would be a huge asset to businesses along West Gray, which are currently very short on parking. The Portland Streetcar peacefully coexists with surrounding on-street parking, as shown in the photo below.
Because the route is shorter a streetcar can also stop more often, every block or two depending on surrounding development conditions. A streetcar can also handle stops like a bus, don’t stop if no one is at the platform and no one inside the tram signals for a stop. This improves service, while maintaining maximum access to surrounding properties.
This would be a huge asset to the areas west of Midtown. From Taft to Shepherd, West Gray is a fun, eclectic commercial street with a great mix of restaurants and retail. With a streetcar the city could consider building one or two shared parking garages within the corridor, work on reducing driveways to create on-street parking, and allowing merchants to reduce or eliminate their off-street parking. This would create new opportunities for local businesses as retail centers in the corridor could fill in some of their surface parking with additional shops. It would also help complete West Gray as a park-once shopping street where people come and stay a while, much in the way the Rice Village area has developed.
Now, there is one major challenge to the West Gray / Peden combination, the area where these streets intersect Waugh Dr. The opportunity for redevelopment here is huge, though.
First of all, the multi-service center is already publicly owned, that property could be reconfigured to allow Peden to continue on through. If the city wanted to work through an EDC or public/private partnership they could also redevelop the old River Oaks Center on the north side of W. Gray and some of the properties on the west side of Commonwealth, and create a top-notch transit-oriented hub. This would be a perfect place for it. Be sure and let me know what you think of that idea, I’m considering a follow-up article with a more detailed concept of that intersection.
A streetcar route could also serve one of it’s oldest functions, transmitting electricity. Most of the original streetcar lines from the late 1800′s were built as a tandem electric transmission and transportation project. The same could be done again, this time to put electric utilities underground and ‘harden the grid’ for the next hurricane.
Lastly, the West Gray streetcar alignment is just one of many that could be considered in the urban core. The tracks on Smith/Louisiana could eventually be shared between several streetcars passing through the area in a loop. Again, let me know what you think of that idea, I plan to write about it more in the future.
There are a lot of places where a streetcar would make sense in Houston, but I’m convinced that West Gray is the place to start.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Commonwealth, Gray, Houston, Intermodality, Louisiana, Off the Kuff, opportunity, Peden, real estate development, redevelopment, Smith, Streetcar, The Problem with Parking Ordinances, traffic, transit, transportation, Waugh, Webster, West Gray
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** It’s an 9 block walk to the nearest northbound station from my apartment (Hadley / Bagby), and a 10 block walk to the nearest southbound station. From any of the train station in downtown it’s at least 4 blocks to any of the theater district attractions. At that point it’s easier just to walk the whole way, about 17 blocks. Though the distance is a little much, at least you don’t have to wait on the train. **
Those distances don’t seem extreme to me, at least they would seem extreme in cities where people actually do walk and use mass transit.
Aren’t there any bus connections you might use?
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Err, that should read “… would not seem extreme in cities…”
Sorry.
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Thanks for the comment, Kevin.
My point is not that the distance is extreme, my point is:
1. There are a lot of people going to and from these places, and existing transit doesn’t serve them well. From my place it would be faster just to walk directly there, but most of the residential population lives further away from the major downtown attractions than I do.
2. Unfortunately, in Houston, people are conditioned to drive first, second, third… largely because if you decide to take the bus or train someplace you’re only going to be able to go back to where you came from, there’s not a lot of network coverage. So unless your trip is very well served by transit, unless it’s more convenient to take the tram than to drive and park, then people will be unlikely to use it.
3. There are bus connections, but the Houston bus system is not intended to circulate at all, rather it is oriented to carry people to and from work. That’s fine for a lot of bus trips, I don’t think the Houston bus system is that bad. However, when you’re looking at recreational trips people are less willing to stick to a rigid schedule. Busses that only come every 20 minutes don’t seem like a good option, especially when they don’t sync well with a train that only comes every 12 (on weekends). You could easily spend 20-40 minutes waiting on the bus/train combo attempting to take it from Midtown to Downtown if you live farther east/west of the rail than you are willing to walk.
Walking distances vary from person to person. In general, the nicer the built environment is, the farther people are willing to walk. Most of Houston’s built environment is not currently very well designed for pedestrians. Combine that with our culture of car-first transportation, and you need really excellent transit service in order to attract riders.
That’s why the Gray Streetcar is such a good idea, it could provide excellent service to an area that is relatively well suited for transit in the first place. These two things combined make it likely to succeed (by succeed I mean to increase the number of people who are able to move around in the service corridor and spur further economic development), and transit that will succeed is transit that should be built.
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You took a great deal of time to answer questions that I did not ask, and I appreciate that some people might find that helpful, so good job so far as that goes.
But, back to my question:
Aren’t there any bus connections you might use?
I really am interested in the answer to that question. If you can’t or won’t answer it after being asked directly, twice, that will say quite a bit in itself, but I am truly interested in the answer from anyone who might offer such.
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Well, point 3 in my previous reply was intended to address bus connections, but I’ll be more specific:
Bus #3 travels a very similar route to the one I’m suggesting for the West Gray Streetcar, the streetcar would replace that bus route. The drawback with Bus #3 is the same drawback that all busses have, it only runs about every 20 minutes, and it’s pretty erratic.
Now, if Bus #3 were enhanced to travel every 3-5 minutes instead, I think a lot more people would use it. The problem is, even if a lot more people were using it, with that many more busses running each bus would still be fairly empty.
The nice thing about running a streetcar is the cost (in fuel and wear on the vehicle) is less than running a bus. Of course the capital cost is much higher, so the per passenger mile cost would be higher if you had equal ridership.
The other benefit to streetcars, however, is that they are fixed-guideway, which means people trust them to be there and to be on time, and this spurs development activity. That development bolsters the tax base and the rider base, a win win for the city.
As far as other busses go, there are others that come close enough to be better than the existing light rail line for us. In addition to Bus 3, my wife often rides Bus #163 down Louisiana to get to the Symphony Hall.
The problem, again, with these busses, is that they run infrequently and somewhat unpredictably.
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Thanks for the info.
Given the expense and time lag involved in any streetcar solution, it sounds like a good interim approach would be expanding and enhancing bus service.
Of course, the fact that Houstonians seem more daunted than most by walking a few blocks still seems like a significant problem that needs to be overcome.
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“If you can’t or won’t answer it after being asked directly, twice, that will say quite a bit in itself”
Good grief, Kevin — that’s sure a lot of vitriole to be spewing at someone presenting creative ideas and arguments. I think what says more about Andrew is his patience in answering your question, directly, twice.
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Hi Ian,
I apologize if it came off that way to you or anyone else, as that was certainly not my intent. Rather, I was hoping to have a conversation about the issue I raised.
I genuinely appreciate the followup, for which I left my thanks in the previous comment. I hope you’ll agree that comment had not a hint of vitriol.
Back to topics much more interesting than me and my alleged vitriol and spewing — do YOU have any thoughts on the substantive conversation about Houstonians and walking? Because it seems to me that this general notion that walking a few blocks just can’t/won’t be done in Houston is a significant obstacle to greater utilization of ANY mass transit system we might have, whatever the flaws in the current system. Agree/Disagree?
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Kevin -
1.More sidewalks
2.Better sidewalks (wider, better maintained)
3.Reduce crime/perceived crime
4.Infill, denser development (more activity)
5.Fewer parking lots
6.Encourage better building form (decrease setbacks)
Plenty of people do walk in Houston. The Village + Rice U. All over the East End. Recreationally in suburban subdivisions.
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I agree with Ian but there is another big obstacle – crosswalks and lights. I live in Midtown and walk probably 200% more than your average Houstonian. Walking from the west end of Midtown to the Metro stop is no problem except for the lack of crossings. Some of the streets (particularly Smith, Louisiana and Travis) are downright dangerous to cross. These are surface streets people, not highways. Treat them as such.
Anyway, to the original post; I too would like to see streetcar development. I agree that a line down West Gray would be an excellent place for it. Another place for such a line would be in and around Rice Village running north to Montrose. I think the main point is that we need to really push for federal money for these projects, what with the new administration coming in. My fear though is that because many of the local representatives are Republican and will reflexively fight any spending proposals from the Obama administration, Houston will get left out in the cold while other cities like New York, Boston and LA roll in the spoils.
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Brilliant!
Downtown would be much more enjoyable to walk if there were more canopies and porticos. These would be relatively inexpensive enhancements.
A West Gray streetcar would lure many midtown dwellers out of their cars. It would be easier to justify lower parking ratios for future midtown development.
Would you advocate dedicated ROW in order to keep the trip times low?
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Jon:
I would definitely recommend dedicated ROW. I would make it “permeable”, however, so that it didn’t create a turning problem or parking problem on its side of the street. Think of it as a dedicated bus lane, it stays free of congestion but it encumber other users.
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“The other benefit to streetcars, however, is that they are fixed-guideway, which means people trust them to be there and to be on time, and this spurs development activity. That development bolsters the tax base and the rider base, a win win for the city.”
This conflates two separate things about streetcar:
1. If they have their own guideway (their own lane), people trust them to be there and on time. (spurs ridership).
2. If they see rails in the street, people trust the transit to be effectively permanent. (spurs development).
Those aren’t the same thing – the rails in the street don’t make the transit service more reliable if the lane with the rails also lets cars and buses drive in it – streetcars running in shared guideway are actually even less reliable than buses in practice (can’t change lanes around an obstruction, for instance).
People who get fooled by #1 with shared-lane operation inevitably end up disappointed, as has happened in Seattle with the South Lake Union Trolley.l People have been beating it on foot at times; it makes all rail look bad, too, not just shared-lane streetcar.
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