[Wattleigh]

University Corridor BRT

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...y-17880770.php

Metro approves route for University Corridor BRT despite ongoing community concerns, objections

Dug Begley,
Staff writer
April 6, 2023

Metro officials on Wednesday approved a path for the 25.3 mile University Corridor in a rare split vote that keeps the region’s largest bus rapid transit project on track for a 2028 opening, but also deepened concerns among some who said the public is not completely behind the planned route.

Wednesday’s voting, setting a locally-preferred alternative for the line, allows Metropolitan Transit Authority planners and consultants for the agency to continue design of the busways along many local streets, and work with the Federal Transit Authority on necessary approvals. Under the current schedule, construction could begin as early as late next year, though riders will not hop aboard the large buses operating in their own lanes for another three or four years.

“This is an important step, but not the last step,” Metro board Chairman Sanjay Ramabhadran said.

Approval of the route came with division, uncharacteristic for the Metro board. Five members — Ramabhadran, Roberto Trevino, Diann Lewter, Bob Fry and Lex Frieden — approved the route, the minimum number needed to pass. Members Terri Morales, an East End resident, Troi Taylor and Don Elder voted against approval, citing the need for more public feedback.

“I feel we need more time for community involvement,” Morales said.

Metro board member Chris Hollins did not stay for the entire three-hour meeting and did not vote.

The approved route would run from the Tidwell Transit Center, south along Lockwood to the University of Houston and Texas Southern University, then west mostly along Wheeler, Richmond and Westpark to the Westchase Park and Ride. Buses would travel in their own lanes, separated from vehicular traffic.

The line, by many standards, will be the backbone of the transit system Metro hopes to build as part of its $7.5 billion long-range plan. It is the only project planned in the area for transit that intersects the three existing light rail lines, parts of Houston seeing increased development such as Second Ward, the area around the colleges, Montrose, Greenway Plaza and Westchase.

Recent concerns about the route, however, have centered on a roughly one-mile stretch of Lockwood through the East End, south of Buffalo Bayou, where residents have said the project caught them off-guard and initial plans for an overpass would have sliced a gash through the mostly residential, tree-lined neighborhood.