[Willie Green]

Knee-jerk reactionaries will go along with the absurd assumption that
a city may only have one or the other, light-rail or highways.
Houston is a major metropolitan area.
It needs a variety of transportation modes
available for the traveling public to select from.
Light-rail should be a part of that mix.

[NovemberCharlie]

Light-rail should be a part of that mix.

Indeed it should, but I have yet to hear what a rail line connecting three destinations (Downtown, the Medical Center, and the Astrodomain) will do to reduce traffic, since it is unlikely anyone would want to go from one such area to the other. They say they intend it to be a "starter set" from which they will build a truly comprehensive rail system.

Because Houston is so decentralized, "truly comprehensive" in my mind would have to be as dense as the Paris Metro -and all of Paris could fit comfortably insde Loop 610.

[GOPcapitalist]

Houston is a major metropolitan area. It needs a variety of transportation modes available for the traveling public to select from. Light-rail should be a part of that mix.

No. It shouldn't and I'll tell you exactly why. Light rail in Houston is simply not economical or viable to any significant degree due to geography and population patterns. Beyond an expensive elevated line, it cannot be implemented here without causing greater harm to traffic flow on the streets than is gained from it.

All the stats of practically every transportation study done in Houston show this to be the case with rail. It's also been tried here before and was a miserable failure. They tore up the last light rail line system, which ironically covered almost the exact same corridors the new one proposes, back in the 1940's because it was causing more problems than it was worth.

[GladesGuru]

"Light-rail should be a part of that mix."

I agree. Light rails are ever so much easier to carry when riding Liberals out of town.

In this important, but neglected area of anthropological research, the physical properties/social usages of the rail has been sorely neglected.

For economic reasons, ease of hand transportation, and cultural continuity, there is much to justify the traditional fence rail.

Additionally, there is the potential splinter factor - just the perfect point upon which to transport Liberals as they ride out of town.

;-)