METRO Solutions NewsFlash Vol. II, No. 13

Metropolitan Transit Authority
of Harris County, Texas

NewsFlash

Business assistance meetings underway

By the time we break ground later this year, we will need to be ready to assist businesses directly impacted. That's why we've already met with about 300 of them and the process is ongoing.

Glenn M. Schmidt &
Shelby Chachere,
Randolph Office
Furniture Exchange;
Steven Madden,
President-Ashburn
Chemical Technologies;
and Edmund Petry,
METRO.

Stakeholder affairs representatives and other METRO staff members canvassed the North, East End and Southeast corridors to meet with business owners and managers. The objective of these meetings is to find out about their business profiles and their specific needs during construction.

Mike Martínez was among staff members who conducted over 100 one-on-one meetings in the North Corridor and he says he's very encouraged by how well business representatives there have reacted to this initiative.

METRO staff is learning details affecting the way business owners run their operations, down to delivery times and customer parking. "While the meetings have taken much longer than anyone anticipated," says Martínez, "we are very close to completing them."

Meetings in the North Corridor have now concluded while the ones in the East End and Southeast corridors are almost complete. Activities in the Uptown Corridor will begin soon.

If your business is along the North, East End, or Southeast corridor routes and you have not yet been contacted by METRO staff for this initiative, please call 713.739.6838 to arrange a visit.

Special Board meeting scheduled

A special meeting of METRO's Board of Director's has been scheduled for Tuesday, May 8, 2007 at 1:30 p.m. The agenda includes authorization for the President & CEO to execute and deliver the development agreement with Washington Group Transit Management Company for the METRO Solutions Phase 1 Guided Rapid Transit Corridors Project.

For clarification, in this context, Phase 1 refers to the first phase of the Facility Provider's role in the construction of the North, East End, Southeast, and Uptown Corridors, and the Intermodal Terminal. Phase 1 designates an eight month Program Development period, during which there will be ground breaking and early construction activities. During Phase 1, the facility provider will begin scoping and pricing for the Phase 2 contract, which includes the bulk of the design-build activities. Phase 2 is expected to be approved by the Board in early 2008.

Materials related to recent meetings now available online

In case you had not seen them, the materials listed below were recently posted online.

University Corridor