Expanding Houston light rail will create more transportation choices, more jobs

As I’ve mentioned before, the Obama Administration is committed to getting job-creating projects funded and under way more quickly in order to put people back to work, and to restore some of the economic security that middle-class folks have felt slipping away for the last few decades.

Yesterday, DOT took an important step in this process when Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff signed two agreements providing $900 million to extend Houston’s light rail system by an additional 12 miles.

America's fourth largest city deserves a world class transit system that will meet the region's needs for the 21st century, and the investments we're making will help accomplish that.

Because everything's bigger in Texas, Administrator Rogoff joined an extraordinary group of state and local leaders who helped make this important day possible for Houston, including Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Representatives Gene Green, Al Green, and Sheila Jackson Lee, Houston Mayor Annise Parker, and officials from Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County.

Listen to KUHF News: Houston Metro Funding Ceremony

These leaders know that light rail makes sense for Houston.  The Main Street Red Line, Houston’s first light rail service, offers undeniable proof. This line carries an extraordinary 45,000 passengers per day--well ahead of expectations--making it the nation’s most heavily traveled per track mile.

The new light rail segments, the North and Southeast lines, are scheduled to open for service in 2015 and will provide alternatives to two congested highways, Interstate 45 and U.S. Route 59. They are expected to carry more than 58,000 riders on weekdays, including more than 13,000 new transit riders each day, by the year 2030.

What do those riders get? Time. Shorter commute times mean more time at home with their families and in their communities. Riding a train instead of sitting on a congested highway means time better spent--reading a morning newspaper, studying, catching up on e-mail, relaxing--not simmering in traffic. They also gain access: access to jobs, education, and other opportunities.

And this crucial investment is putting people back to work right away. Already, 400 construction workers are back on the job, and 1,800 more men and women will be back on light rail jobsites in Houston within the next two years.

Light rail will also spur economic development. It will connect the places people live with the places they work, study, and shop. It will help entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses. It will create communities.

As Administrator Rogoff said, “The residents of Houston understand that good public transportation is key to building a successful, sustainable, and competitive environment to do business while creating thousands of good jobs along the way.”

It’s simple: if Congress passes transportation reauthorization or the transportation provisions in the President’s American Jobs Act, we can invest right away in many terrific job-creating projects like this one across the country, and millions more can enjoy the benefits we're helping to bring the people of Houston.

Comments

[Eddie B]

Where is Gov. Perry?

[Harvey Botzman]

Houston, like many other cities with light rail and subway systems, fosters transportation intermodality by allowing bicycles on its trains. In Houston, as in many other major metropolitan areas, the transit authority has bike racks on its buses.

Two years ago I bicycle toured in Houston and used both its bus system and its light rail metro system. In doing so I was able to extend my touring distance to see all areas of Houston and Harris County.

The Houston Bike Map is a wonderful paper (as well as on line) asset. It was financed with funds from the Transportation Enhancement provisions of the last U. S. Transportation Act. Given the increased number of bicyclists in the U. S. A. The transportation enhancement provisions of the next Transportation Act must have increased funding if we want adult bicyclists to tour throughout the U. S. A. and bicycle safely on our roadways.

Unfortunately, the tourist trolleys in many cities does not have bike racks on their vehicles. This is a foolhardy situation since the number of bicyclists who tour traditional tourist areas with their bicycles, is increasing.
The trolleys (usually buses with a early 20th century trolley on a bus frame) have a round cosmetic "thingy" on the front preventing bike racks from being attached.

[Andrew Sharp]

There have been plans for light rail links to both of Houston's airports for about a decade. What's their status?

[Houston Fence Company]

I work for a fence company here in Houston. If it wasn't for the light rail system and buses, I wouldn't be able to make it to my boss's house across town. However, I am building fences because that is all that is available to me in the form of a job. Hopefully the job situation in America gets better soon.