Call to Action: Make Your Voice heard!
METRO BRT Alternatives – Neighborhood Priorities Survey
On Monday, we have a sit-down meeting with the METRO Project Team to start accelerated work on alternatives that could be palatable to the neighborhood. Our committee members have volunteered to take time off to sit down with METRO and do this work and we feel the immense pressure and responsibility to deliver for this community. To help us deliver, we need to understand where neighborhood sentiment stands on what compromises they could stand for. Please take a few minutes to complete the following survey and help us understand your priorities.
Call to Action: Make Your Voice heard! Public Comments
The METRORapid route alignment has been broken into five different segments. Plans for Segment 4 will directly impact Greater Eastwood and METRO’s current project renderings include and overpass on Lockwood spanning from McKinney to Canal. METRO must respond to all substantive comments in its application for Federal funding. Tell them what you think of this project NOW!
How to complete the Public Comment Form
- Complete your contact information.
- Details, please select the following:
- My Feedback is Primarily About “Construction/Planning Projects”
- Construction Planning Project “University METRORapid Project”
- My Feedback is Primarily About “Construction/Planning Projects”
- Complete the rest of the form and submit.
- Please note, no information is needed for sections on “Vehicle Information”, “Stop Information” or “Express Lanes” and comments are limited to 100,000 characters.
About the Project
“This project is designed to benefit commuters in multiple residential, business and education centers. METRO has been actively working with the community since 2021 on the development and design of this project.
The University Corridor represents 25.3 miles of accessible service. It begins at the Westchase Park & Ride near the intersection of the Westpark Tollway and the Sam Houston Tollway. It ends at Tidwell Transit Center, near the intersection of Tidwell Road and U.S. Highway 59. Along the way, it passes by Houston Community College, Texas Southern University, University of Houston and University of St. Thomas.
Part of the METRONext Moving Forward Plan, this project aims to improve the customer experience by reducing travel time and improving schedule reliability. The University Corridor has some of the region’s busiest and most congested streets. Currently, buses in the corridor operate in mixed traffic. This reduces efficiency for METRO customers and impacts motorists as they wait for buses to load and unload passengers in a shared lane.” – Metro Website, as of March 14, 2023.
What is the ECA Doing to Advocate for You?
The Eastwood Civic Association first brought this project to the attention of the community during our April 2022 general membership meeting when METRO project staff presented their initial design of the project, which included an overpass and removed the treed esplanade along Lockwood Drive. Since then we’ve been advocating for improvements to the initial design. In July 2022 we submitted this letter (read it at the bottom of this page) as official public comment outlining seven conditions necessary for the community to consider supporting this project. We are continuing to fight for these conditions, and believe that for this project to be accepted in the community it must occur with NO OVERPASS.
*NEW* On March 21, 2023 our the Eastwood Civic Association Board approved and signed an updated letter based on the new design and submitted it to METRO as official public comment and our elected officials. The letter is included below for the community to review, share and use as they see fit. We will also be speaking at METRO Board meetings and with local elected officials to express our continued concerns around the project’s design and insufficient community engagement.