[blabs]

This has nothing to do with Utopia, and everything to do with relieving one of the most clogged traffic nightmares in America. I lived in the suburbs (Clear Lake, Friendswood, Pearland, CyFair, Westpark/Richmond, and other various places) and traffic sucks coming and going. An hour each way, without an accident. The freeways can't be widened much further. The only thing left to do is stack the freeways, or run commuter rail. How many more billions will we invest in concrete?

Rail is the only way to go (unless we get flying cars, God help us). The light rail will be the hub of downtown and the Med center, and all rail lines will meet there. The med center has traffic over 250,000 people per day. Thats $$ in the eyes of metro, and I can almost guarantee that the city will ensure that they get it.

This city is very diverse, many people like the suburbs, many people like inner city. Both should be equally represented. Personally, I will not live in the suburbs again until they get commuter rail installed...two hours a day in traffic, 10 hours a week, 500+ hours a year....that's a lot of time I now enjoy with my family. My 10 minute commute is great, and my property value has increased 3 fold in 5 years. I'm not bitching...enjoying the ride, pitying the people who waste their life away sucking smog.

[Guvmint_Cheese]

Why does it have to be rail? Why not just buy more busses and expand routes? Wouldn't that be cheaper and take cars off the streets?

[hopespringseternal]

The only thing left to do is stack the freeways, or run commuter rail. How many more billions will we invest in concrete?

Figure up how much we would need to spend on concrete to meet traffic needs, then figure up how much would need to be spent on light rail at $68,000/ft.

Light rail is a joke that is irrelevant to traffic. Anyone who has any concern for traffic will spend money someplace other than light rail.