01.12.08
METRO North Corridor Rail Office Opens, 1-4pm
Metro to launch North Corridor office
Open house set Saturday at regional ’store’
When: 1-4 p.m. Saturday
• Where: 2613 Fulton St.
For more information, call 713-739-4000 or visit www.metrosolutions.org
Not content to wait around for Federal Transit Administration approval of light rail for the North Corridor, Metro will hold a party to launch its newest regional office.
The community open house is from 1-4 p.m. Saturday at Metro Solutions’ newest office, or "store" near three of the five proposed rail lines the Metro board approved last October.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony is at 2 p.m. at the North Corridor Office, 2613 Fulton St. There also will be informational activities, refreshments and goody bags for guests.
The event is part of the liaison effort between Metro and ridership of the proposed 5.4-mile North Corridor.
When completed in 2012, the corridor will run on an aerial pathway from North Main at the University of Houston-Downtown to south of Hogan Street, then by ground from Quitman to East Boundary to Fulton and Northline Mall.
Stops will include Catherine Station near Fulton and Irvington; Cavalcade Station at Cavalcade and Fulton; Graceland Station at Fulton and Graceland; Melbourne Station north of the Fulton and Loop 610 intersection; and the Northline Station at Northline Mall, near Fulton and Crosstimbers.
Feedback and information
Visitors to the office opening can voice their ideas or concerns and receive information about construction schedules, maps of the proposed corridor, how to receive updates about utility interruptions and resumptions, paving schedules, detours and alternate routes.
Business owners who fear a disruption of their operations can also learn how to participate in the Small/Disadvantaged business program.
Corridor offices were opened Dec. 1 for the proposed Southeast Corridor, Palm Center Shopping Center, Suite A-104, 5330 Griggs, and East End Corridor at Las Palmas Shopping Center, 6215 Harrisburg.
Also planned are similar offices that will accommodate riders of the Uptown Corridor in the Galleria area and the University Corridor along Richmond Avenue.
"These (offices) have been in the works for some time because it’s critical for people to get correct information, visit our stores and talk to human beings, people with faces," said Raequel Roberts, Metro’s senior director of media relations and corporate communications. "We’re taking the answers to the streets."
Linda Trevino, a Metro stakeholder affairs representative, said the event will be a chance for the 15,000-square-foot office’s five-member staff to meet the residents it will serve by answering questions and providing information in English and in Spanish.
Residents are being sent a welcome letter to the event "that explains our mission," Trevino said.
Maps of the proposed rail line will be set up in the office’s conference room.
Guests also can take home a small map along with Metro safety information.
The North Line was one of Metro’s corridors that was originally scheduled to be Bus Rapid Transit, but Metro approved switching it to light rail.
The FTA, however, asked Metro to submit further information and hold additional public meetings for the North Corridor because of the change.
Working together
Wes Irvin, administrator of communications and congressional affairs for the FTA in Washington, D.C., which helps fund Metro’s expansion projects, said the FTA and Metro have been working together to get requested paperwork filed and reviewed so the North Corridor will be built on time.
"From the FTA’s point of view, this line is very meritorious and we are working well with Houston Metro," Irvin said. "We are committed."
He said that because of the change to light rail, Metro’s original proposal was not ready for approval without being vetted through another process to get the grant agreement signed that allows the FTA to commit money.
That process, Irvin said, appears to be going smoothly.
"We’ve been given good information from them in the last couple of weeks," Irvin said. "We’re getting everything from them that they need and we’re working expeditiously from our end. In everything we have asked them for, they have been very responsive.
"Our goal is to keep these projects moving forward."
