Not clear what, which is par for the course with this version of Metro.
What was promised…
Metro officials are recommending a new approach to improving transit along the Interstate 10 corridor after the estimated cost of the Inner Katy Bus Rapid Transit project nearly tripled to $800 million.
Instead of building Metro its own dedicated bus rapid transit route, board members discussed using the Texas Department of Transportation’s future I-10 managed lanes to move buses between West Loop 610 and downtown, and studying alternatives.
“The Inner Katy project was a great project, but because of the existing circumstances, we as an agency cannot proceed,” board member Roberto Treviño said before voicing support for the recommendation at a committee meeting.
TxDOT Houston District spokesperson Danny Perez said in an email that TxDOT can accommodate Metro’s buses in the managed lanes, as it now does west of Loop 610.
Metro spokesperson Meredith Johnson said in an email that the agency is also evaluating the other options to approve mobility for the corridor that keep costs down and ensure the project can be maintained long term.
“We will present the best options to the Metro Board of Directors upon completion of our review,” she said.
[…]
Metro evaluated several concepts to fit the Inner Katy BRT into the corridor, including an elevated structure that would carry both highway traffic and bus rapid transit, said Shri Reddy, Metro’s executive vice president for planning, engineering and construction.
He said the joint elevated structure “became very complicated” to construct, would have caused “major impacts to existing traffic,” and carried a high cost, making it “not a very viable option.”
“So, it came to a point where we’re at an impasse in terms of having a feasible and a reasonable solution,” Reddy said.
Perez explained that the alternative highway design requested by the city of Houston and Harris County Precinct 4 on the west end of the project — if that option is selected by TxDOT — would leave little room for Metro’s initial Inner Katy BRT plan.
He said Metro could also study acquiring additional property to make the Inner Katy BRT project work, but the limited space in the corridor would require close coordination between agencies.
See here for the previous update. Besides inventing a time machine and telling the 2019 version of the Metro board to start building something as soon as the referendum passed, I don’t know what the best option at this point is. It would be nice if the city of Houston didn’t further restrict those options, but that bus appears to have left the terminal. Let’s just say I don’t expect much at this point, and leave it there.