The Chronicle‘s Tom Manning reports on Thursday’s light-rail scoping meeting held by METRO:
As was the case with a series of public forums held in April and May, residents on both sides of the Richmond vs. Westpark debate were vocal.
In 2003, voters approved a Metro referendum that included a Westpark rail line between Wheeler Station and the Hillcroft Transit Center. [METRO VP George] Smalley said Metro is required to study a variety of options for the corridor to determine the maximum potential ridership and cost-effectiveness of the project.
Another possibility for the line, Smalley said, is to use a combination of both Richmond and Westpark, with potential changeover locations being proposed at Edloe, Weslayan or the Union Pacific railroad tracks west of Weslayan. Since Westpark Drive begins at Kirby and heads west, the possibility exists that the line could run along Richmond east of Kirby, then change over.
“The two biggest things are ridership and cost,” Smalley said. “We’ve got to prove in order to get funding that this is going to be a cost-effective exercise and that we’re going to put this where the most people are going to use it.”
With Richmond being north of the Southwest Freeway and closer to such major population centers as Greenway Plaza and the Galleria, pro-rail advocates say running the line along Richmond makes the most long-term sense.
But some residents of communities along Richmond, most notably Afton Oaks, have said calling the line Westpark on the referendum led voters to believe that the line would be placed on Westpark.
Westpark meant Westpark to voters. What a concept!
The notion of at-grade rail along traffic-heavy Richmond — especially west of Kirby — would boggle the mind if it weren’t being seriously considered by the same people who designed the Main Street line that actually shares some left-turn lanes with cars and has been a bumper-car (and wheelchair and blind-man) derby since it opened. Maybe they will come to their senses before it’s too late.
