Alternatives

HART is currently analyzing several alternatives, including a variety of modes and alignments or routes. These include a No-Build Alternative, an Enhanced Bus Alternative, a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), and a Light Rail Transit (LRT), which are described below.  HART will analyze the alternatives to determine how well each alternative meets community needs and performs against project-related criteria or measures.

Northeast Corridor Alignments [ pdf / 1.2MB ]
West Corridor Alignments [ pdf / 1.2MB ]

No-Build

The No-Build Alternative consists of existing transportation services and facilities plus those improvements already under construction or those for which funding has been committed. The No-Build Alternative serves as a base for evaluation against which all other alternatives will be compared for environmental impacts.

Enhanced Bus Alternative

The Enhanced Bus Alternative represents the extent to which the current transportation system can be modified and expanded to address the study objectives without a major investment in a transitway or other major infrastructure. This includes additional bus routes (such as the proposed Metro Rapid service), increased frequency on the existing bus routes, improved bus stop facilities, and expanded Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).

Build Alternatives

We are studying several alignments (routes) within the study area. In addition to routes, we must study all appropriate technologies for the corridors. We are studying two build modes, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT). HART will evaluate different levels of investment for these two modes. Lower investment alternatives would use as much existing roadway as possible and would for the most part operate in shared lanes. High-investment alternatives would operate in exclusive lanes or on existing rail right-of-way as much as possible.