(The following article by Lucas Wall was posted on the Houston Chronicle website on October 13.)
HOUSTON — Two local members of Congress and leaders of the major groups supporting and opposing Metro’s Nov. 4 transit-expansion referendum squared off face-to-face for the first time in a televised debate Sunday morning.
The discussion, broadcast on KPRC-TV Channel 2’s half-hour Newsmakers program, allowed the parties to sit down and confront each other after a couple weeks of trading barbs through oft-heated letters and news conferences.
Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Beaumont, said that over time Metro’s plan to add 22 miles of light rail by 2012 will reduce traffic congestion. But that’s not the most important issue voters need to weigh, he said.
“It is more about choices and making sure we compete with the rest of the communities in the country, to make sure people have the choices to be able to travel in a manner in which they want,” Lampson said. “They need to have options to avoid getting into an automobile.”
Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, continued his attack of the Metropolitan Transit Authority proposition, which includes a $640 million bond issue to accelerate construction of those 22 rail miles.
“Every dollar we spend is so precious that it must be directed at projects that will reduce congestion and improve travel time,” Culberson said. “My principal concern and objection to Metro’s plan is that they admit themselves it will not reduce congestion. It deals with only 1 percent of people using our roads yet will cost up to $9 billion. So we simply can’t afford it. We need to solve 100 percent of our traffic problems, not just 1 percent.”
Metro takes issue with several of Culberson’s contentions. The transit authority has said that adding light rail might not reduce current traffic congestion because of the phenomenal population growth projected for Harris County. However, Metro consultant Steve Beard has said the problem will only get worse if some form of rapid transit is not built.
The transit authority’s projections indicate 1.1 percent of Harris County residents will ride light rail in 2025. But, Metro points out, it’s unfair to measure light rail’s success by the entire county’s population since many residents are schoolchildren, homemakers or retirees who do not make typical work commutes. Light rail will have a great impact in certain corridors, Metro argues, pointing out its bus system today carries about one-fourth of work trips into downtown.
Ed Wulfe, a developer who chairs Citizens for Public Transportation, said light rail absolutely will have an impact on traffic.
“Every time you take one car off the road and put [the driver] on a public transportation system, light rail or bus, it reduces congestion one at a time,” Wulfe said. “The fact is you’ve got to get people off the roads.”
Edd Hendee, treasurer of the Texans for True Mobility political action committee, pushed the group’s message of more highway investment.
“You can’t spend all your transit money on a plan that takes one car off the road. We need something that allows us room to drive our cars,” said Hendee, a westside businessman and part-time host on conservative talk radio.
Hendee cited statistics showing the number of vehicles in Harris County since 1990 has exceeded new highway lane miles by four times.
“If you’ve got 43 percent more cars and only 11 percent more roads, you’ve got a road problem, you don’t have a train problem,” Hendee said.
Rail opponents contend there’s not enough money available for Metro’s plan. Lampson responded that adding trains will reduce the need for more highway construction, something he said the region definitely can’t afford.
The Houston-Galveston Area Council has estimated the metropolitan area will need more than $11 billion in additional money beyond current funding sources if it is to reduce traffic congestion by 2025 with more asphalt and concrete. And that estimate does not include buying right of way, which would add several billion more dollars to the pricetag and destroy numerous homes and businesses.
“If the money is short for this project, it is certainly going to be short three times more to go for the 100 percent [highway] solution,” Lampson said. “We are taking a positive step right now to give people a choice.”