About the Project

Alternatives

Through a Feasibility Study four primary alternatives were identified to study more in depth:

No-Build Alternative proposes that no major transit or transportation improvements would be made in the Galveston-Houston Mobility Corridor beyond what financially constrained plans are currently identified in the adopted Houston-Galveston Area Council 2035 Regional Transportation Plan. 

Express Bus Alternative (also known as Transportation System Management (TSM) Alternative) involves optimizing and expanding park & ride bus services along the I-45 corridor to employment centers in Galveston, Houston, Webster, League City, La Marque, Dickinson, and Texas City every ten minutes during peak periods.

BRT Alternative includes an exclusive two-way commuter bus service between Downtown Houston and Galveston and serving the 11 cities in between using exclusive bus lanes and high capacity buses.  The four existing Metro park & ride facilities would be accommodated as an integral part of proposed BRT operations along with new facilities.

Commuter Rail Alternative provides service along the Galveston Houston & Henderson (GH&H) Railroad between Galveston and Houston. The GH&H is a freight rail line that runs parallel with SH 3 and IH 45 for almost the entire corridor. This Rail Alternative will be studied for its suitability to provide commuter rail service and efficiently address the corridor’s mobility problems. Current freight operations along the majority of this corridor are from six to eight trains per day. This alternative would include the exclusive use of this rail alignment for three hours in the AM peak and three hours in the PM peak, providing two-way commuter service from Downtown Houston to Galveston and the 11 cities along the corridor.

Galveston Corridor Needs

The IH 45 corridor is experiencing strong growth and increasing congestion as a result of the increasing number of jobs and housing being created.  The corridor shows the need for two-way travel in that it has major employment centers at both ends. To the north, Downtown Houston has 140,000 jobs and Texas Medical Center with 73,600 jobs, Galveston to they south with 25,000 jobs.  In addition, the 11 cities in between have large employment centers including Johnson Space Center with 17,000 jobs, the Clear Lake Market area with over 100,000 jobs, eight major colleges and universities, with over 80,000 students, faculty and staff, two ports and the industries that serve them, and Hobby Airport, among others.

Growth continues even with congestion, pollution, excessive travel times, and fuel consumption. In 2009, there are 991,645 jobs and 668,814 households growing to 1,409,874 jobs and 950,853 households by 2035. Current roadway facilities are congested and ROW is extremely limited (no room for expansion).  The existing limited amount of transit available in the corridor is overburdened and most of the corridor is unserved by transit.  Aside from quality-of-life issues, the corridor’s congestion and mobility problems also contribute to the region’s poor air quality and slows emergency evacuation in the face of hurricanes.  In summary, the Galveston-Houston Mobility Corridor is an attractive candidate for innovative mobility solutions.

Project Goals

• Provide improved travel times in the congested Gulf Freeway corridor
  
  Peak-hour automobile drive times have been measured at approximately 43 minutes between Dickinson and Houston, and 36 minutes between Webster and Galveston.  A previous study estimated that high-speed transit can reduce these wasted personal travel hours by 1.3 million hours per year.
   

• Increase efficient access to employment opportunities throughout the Galveston-Houston mobility corridor
  
  For 2009, an estimated 991,645 jobs are located within the corridor, growing to more than 1.4 million in 2035.  This is of great importance due to the large number of economically disadvantaged minorities residing within this corridor and the high number of jobs located therein.
   

• Increase Mobility Options for residents throughout the mobility corridor
  
  For 2009, an estimated 668,814 households are located within the corridor, growing to more than 950,000 in 2035.
   

• Connect Downtown Houston with Galveston Island and the 11 cities and over a dozen major centers of travel demand in between
   

• Facilitate continued development of a comprehensive, multimodal, and inter-connected regional transit network that is widely-supported, offers effective mobility choices for current and future transit riders, and attracts new transit riders onto the growing regional system
  
  Whichever alternative proves to be the most efficient at meeting the mobility needs of the Galveston-Houston mobility corridor, implementation of a major transit investment will bring this corridor, for the most part currently without transit service, into the larger METRO transit system composed of express bus (operating in HOV semi-exclusive lanes), LRT, and an emerging regional rail network currently being planned by H-GAC.
   

• Support economic development and ensures enhanced connectivity among existing and planned regional and local activity centers and attractions
  
  Preliminary studies indicate that transit-oriented development in the corridor would add up to $1 billion in economic value and up to 21,000 jobs.
   

• Serve to reduce vehicle emissions and assist the region in meeting federally mandated air quality standards (Houston-Galveston region currently in severe nonattainment for ground-level ozone)
  
  Preliminary studies indicate that a BRT alternative would reduce emissions by approximately 513 tons per year, while a commuter rail alternative would reduce emissions by approximately 535 tons per year.
   

• Serve to reduce fuel consumption
  
  Preliminary studies estimate that up to 425,000 gallons of gasoline annually from either the BRT or Rail alternatives.
   

• Increase evacuation capacity
  
  All roads were operating at a standstill during Hurricane Ike, requiring several hours to move only several miles (one mile per hour).  A major transit improvement on an exclusive guideway will be a lifesaver in a hurricane event for those, low-income, elderly, and disabled individuals residing in Galveston.

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