Houston METRO advances light-rail expansion plan

Rail News Home Passenger Rail 8/14/2019 Rail News: Passenger Rail
The board's action called for a Nov. 5 referendum for voters to consider $3.5 billion in bonding authority for METRO.Photo – METRO

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Harris County's (METRO) board yesterday approved the METRONext Moving Forward plan, which includes 16 additional miles of light rail.

Now, a referendum will be placed on the Nov. 5 ballot for voters to consider $3.5 billion in bonding authority for METRO to finance the plan, agency officials said in a press release. 

The $7.5 billion plan would be funded through local dollars and federal funding grants. No new tax increases would be implemented as part of the plan, METRO officials said. 

About $2.1 billion of the plan's cost is allocated for light-rail expansion, including extending the Red Line  to a new multimodal center at the North Shepherd Park and Ride and extending the combined Green and Purple lines to William P. Hobby Airport and the Houston Municipal Courthouse.

In all, METRONext includes about 40 transit projects, from light rail to bus service.