Station names along the Post Oak dedicated bus lanes will have a familiar ring for riders, transit and Uptown officials decided, as they inch toward opening the region’s first foray into BRT in the coming months.

Eight stations along Post Oak will have mostly non-commercial names, aimed at helping travelers navigate the new bus line. Uptown Houston Management District is building the $192 million project, which started work in 2016 to add a dedicated bus lane in each direction in the center of Post Oak from Loop 610 to south of Richmond.

The southern end of the project will be a new transit center, which will re-route buses from the existing Bellaire Transit Center. The new site, which Metropolitan Transit Authority officials are likely to approve July 31, along with the station names, will be called the Uptown/Westpark Transit Center. It is located at Westpark Drive, just west of Loop 610 where a new ramp is under construction along Interstate 69 as part of the total rebuild of the freeway interchange.

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Officials also said they have settled on MetroRapid as the name of the service, which will use large buses but offer trip times and frequencies similar to rail. The Post Oak line will not have all the elements of bus rapid transit, such as priority at all traffic lights, but will be, for most purposes, rapid service.

Though the bus project was devised and supported by officials with the management district, the board of which are major landowners or work for developers along Post Oak, station names largely avoided commercial ties.

“Where possible, the street is the major defining characteristic of a station name,” said John Breeding, president of the management district.

As a result, the stations mirror the names of cross-streets, such as San Felipe, Westheimer and Richmond.

There is, however, some crossover. The northernmost station, Uptown Park, pulls double-duty in terms of common names because it is at Uptown Park Boulevard, but also shares the name with the Uptown Park retail development.

Then there is The Galleria, perhaps the likeliest destination for many riders, for work or shopping.

“We think people will be looking for The Galleria station,” Breeding told officials during a discussion on June 19.

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Tentative plans call for the Westheimer and Alabama stops to have “Galleria” as part of their names, as both are within walking distance of the mall. Breeding said Uptown officials also are working with The Galleria to enhance pedestrian access from the stations to various entrances.

Despite construction being a pain around her office in a building near Post Oak and Alabama, Denise Francis said the street is “looking much better.”

“It will certainly be much more inviting,” Francis, 40, said. “So, maybe people won’t think they have to get in their car to go anywhere.”

Service along the lanes is expected to start next March, months later than anticipated as progress was slowed by weather and additional complications with utility lines in the area. Months of work lie ahead as crews install canopies at stations, traffic lights and signals for the bus lanes.

North of the project, other crews are completing a busway intended to connect the Post Oak lanes to the Northwest Transit Center north of Interstate 10. The $58 million project is overseen by the Texas Department of Transportation because it is uses state right-of-way along Loop 610. Buses will ascend in the center of the freeway and then sweep over southbound Loop 610 traffic along an overpass that ties into North Post Oak Lane.

Closings are planned this weekend along southbound Loop 610 to accommodate more work above the freeway. Though weather could scuttle plans, southbound lanes are scheduled to close at 9 p.m. Friday and will not reopen until 5 a.m. Monday.

From North Post Oak, Metropolitan Transit Authority will build a new entrance to the transit center to accommodate the buses. That section will not open until December 2020, transit officials said.

South of Richmond, crews remain more than three years from completing the I-69 interchange with Loop 610. Metro CEO Tom Lambert said service will operate during construction, but buses could detour along the new route. That could force buses to operate every 10 minutes rather than the hoped-for eight-minute intervals, Lambert said.