FTA tells Metro to rework its rail plans

An unexpected demand for additional justification for two planned Houston light rail lines raises doubts about Metro’s relationship with a federal agency it is counting on for funding, Metro President Frank Wilson said Tuesday.

A letter from Sherry Little, deputy administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, withdraws that agency’s approval of preliminary engineering studies and other elements of rail lines planned for the North and Southeast corridors.

Well, well, well. Looks like the Feds aren’t buying Metro’s BS.

Little’s letter to Wilson said Metro may not acquire any additional property for the North or Southeast lines until a new environmental assessment has been completed and approved. Any acquisition begun prior to the letter, it says, may continue if the FTA’s regional office agrees in writing that halting it would cause a hardship to the owner or tenant.

Further down, I ran into this little “WTF” moment:

Christof Spieler, an engineer who writes a transportation blog for the Citizens’ Transportation Coalition, an advocacy group that supports rail, said the letter might cause a delay but does not appear devastating to Metro’s plans.

How did that ever get past the editors? Don’t they know that the CTC is just a neutral party that wants whats best for Houston?

/sarcasm off