METRO continues to work with local neighborhoods to design and build the next segments of light rail with the least possible disruption and impact to local residents and businesses. 

Today METRO Executive Vice President John Sedlak and others are expected to meet with Congress Member Sheila Jackson Lee and residents of the Washington Terrace neighborhood on Wheeler Street to explain design changes recently adopted by METRO.  Wheeler Street was selected by the METRO Board last Thursday as part of the eastern leg of the University Line.  Wheeler Street was chosen over two alternatives because it could best serve the students, faculty and staff of Texas Southern University, where today's meeting is held. 

Following concerns expressed by residents of Washington Terrace prior to the METRO Board vote, METRO has redesigned plans for light rail on Wheeler that will sharply reduce the number of properties impacted from 35 to 17.  This reduction was made possible by reducing the number of traffic lanes in certain sections from four to two, and by relocating a proposed rail station.

METRO originally had proposed a rail station (in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, or DEIS) on Wheeler Street between Dowling and Live Oak, which would have affected 17 properties in that block.  By relocating the station one block west between Dowling and Bastrop - which METRO is now planning - there will be no full or partial property acquisitions on the block between Dowling and Live Oak and only one acquisition on the block between Dowling and Bastrop.  

METRO participates in today's meeting with local residents and Congress Member Jackson Lee to communicate these positive changes and to continue effective dialogue with community leaders.]

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