We keep hearing about monorail and heavy rail versus light rail. Light rail, monorail and heavy rail serve very different purposes and markets, so carrying capacities and costs per mile vary. Houston's LRT ridership is forecast to carry 10 to 13 million annual boardings by 2020. Costs for the project are consistent with similar systems in other U.S. cities. We heard this is not a done deal.
Preliminary engineering continues.
If high water were to accumulate on any of the streets along the corridor, bus and rail service could be disrupted along with other vehicular travel. At Commerce, the street grade will be elevated to be above the documented 100-year flood plain. In the Texas Medical Center, all streets are identified to be within the 100-year floor plain and elevation is not practical. Also, the rail line south of the Texas Medical Center travels on Fannin through the Holcombe underpass. Although this underpass is rarely subject to accumulations of water during flood events, final design will consider the need for additional pumping system capacity.