More on Metro's intermodal terminal

Via Off the Kuff, Christof at Intermodality offers an overview of information from Metro's Environmental Assessment of the proposed new intermodal terminal near North Main and Burnett on the north edge of downtown. We've been watching this unfold since early this year, and Christof points out some interesting things about what the finished product may be like.

• The terminal won't be as busy as transfer hub as you might imagine. The north side BRT line won't end at the terminal, and only four bus lines will use the facility at first. A commuter rail line to 290 will link into the terminal, but even that might not generate a lot of traffic initially.

• The terminal won't serve Greyhound and Amtrak passengers at first because moving those lines would require more environmental analysis — and more construction, since the facility isn't being built to handle those services initially.

• New street links between downtown and the Near North Side will be part of the project, including a widened North Main Street tunnel and a northward extension of San Jacinto Street.

• Metro apparently wants to create a new neighborhood between North Main and White Oak Bayou west of the terminal site: The site plan shows streets there, and Metro already owns most of that land. The theory is that Metro will sell or lease the land to developers; as Christof notes, "Were we in a city that wasn’t planning-phobic, there would already be a process underway to figure out what kind of place this would be. Instead, we’re letting the transit agency figure it out."

There's more — plus helpful maps and diagrams — on the Intermodality post.