KATY FREEWAY EXPRESS LANES FREE

It expands mobility options in congested urban areas by providing an opportunity for reliable travel times to users prepared to pay a significant premium for this service.

KATY FREEWAY EXPRESS LANES FREE

The lanes are managed through pricing to maintain free flow conditions even during the height of rush hours. One of the most recent management concepts High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes combines HOV and pricing strategies by allowing single occupancy vehicles to gain access to HOV lanes by paying a toll. An additional management strategy uses variable prices on tolled facilities to attract motorists to lower priced off-peak times, thereby maintaining higher service level volumes during peak periods. In some areas, DOTs are expanding HOV lanes into metropolitan area-wide networks. One such strategy, High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) lanes, reserves existing or new highway lanes for the exclusive use of car pools and transit vehicles. Given the environmental concerns and cost of adding new capacity, Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are also making increased use of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies to support improved operational efficiency on existing facilities by focusing on operational control and the provision of real time user information.Īt the same time, transportation officials are using a range of demand management strategies to influence user demand and provide preferential services to certain vehicle types. The most basic supply-side measure is the provision of additional roadway capacity. These strategies focus on both highway supply and demand. However, because of the high costs and impacts of creating new capacity, increasing attention is also being given to strategies that make the maximum use of existing highway capacity. The traditional approach has been the addition of general-purpose lanes. We can all expect our local and state governments to stretch, learn, and create better solutions that improve mobility, connectivity and help address climate change impacts in more equitable ways.In the face of growing urban congestion, the range of strategies to maintain and improve highway service is also increasing. This is one example of the beginnings of systemic change. The region will benefit as stakeholders increasingly work together with the public to identify more mutually supported alternatives for major transportation projects. We welcome the public discourse and shifting winds. TxDOT’s threat, real or feigned, not to come to the table as a planning partner demonstrates yet again the state agency’s “our way, or no way” mentality, when other more collaborative and equitable paths exist. TAC members simply requested a pause to work with the public to determine the best mobility solution. The TAC will present these recommendations to the TPC for final approval later this month.ĭuring the discussion, TAC members repeatedly pointed out that the proposal to study each corridor does not mean the projects would not receive approval at some point in the future. TxDOT’s pressuring tactics failed, as the TAC voted almost unanimously to approve H-GAC’s proposed planning studies on each corridor. TxDOT also repeatedly stated that if the projects are not included in the 2045 RTP, the agency would somehow lack the resources to participate in the proposed planning studies. The METRO representative clarified that this is simply not true. The TxDOT representative tried to pressure TAC members, stating that the urgency for the I-10 project, for example, is related to METRONext Inner Katy Bus Rapid Transit project and any potential delay for TxDOT would affect METRO’s implementation. These predetermined solutions for which TxDOT is seeking amendment approval for include a new elevated six lane highway on Spur 5/Highway 35, express lanes elevated over I-10 Katy Freeway from the 610 West Loop to downtown, and elevated express lanes over the 610 West Loop. A TAC member representing the City of Pearland stated that the “community does not want” six-lane+ highways, while the City of Houston representatives indicated that the predetermined solutions that TxDOT is proposing no longer work. Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) transportation planners presented to the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) a proposal to pilot a Planning and Readiness Predevelopment Program to study the purpose and determine an actual need for several highway projects the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is requesting be amended to the already approved 2045 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).įollowing the presentation of the pilot proposal, TAC members, who advise H-GAC’s Transportation Policy Council (TPC), noted that “there are many alternatives to a freeway,” and that local jurisdictions must have a say in the planning processes from the start.

Katy freeway express lanes