Houston go-ahead for new HOTL

The Texas Transp Commission voted Apr 27 to support introduction of toll buy-in on the Northwest Fwy (US-290) for 2-occupant vehicles in the morning rush hour 6:45 to 8am inbound. Vehicles with three-or-more persons go free during these hours.

US-290 is the second HOT lanes (High Occupancy free/Toll others) facility to operate in the Houston area and the fourth in the US. US-290 has a barriered single-lane reversible HOV - similar to that which already operates on the Katy Fwy (I-10W). It extends 21km (13mi) from the I-610 Loop to TX-6, and has been producing the same dilemmas as the I-10 HOVL. At HOV-2 the US-290 HOVL had been carrying 1600 veh/hr (including some 50 transit buses) in the peak hour 7-8am, and was becoming seriously overloaded with the traffic flow breaking down and no time-saving as compared to the unrestricted lanes. So from July 99 an HOV-3 requirement was instituted. But as on the Katy and other HOVLs the US-290 HOVL was out of the frying pan of overload and into the fire of empty-lane syndrome.

The Metro board approved the toll buy-in last year but its implementation also required approval of the state DOT and its policymaking transp commission. There were efforts to gain agreement from the Federal Transit Admin (FTA) which funded the construction of the lane to allow buy-in of single occupant vehicles. The FTA claims however it does not have the legal power to allow an HOV facility to be used by SOVs for a toll - even though it actually sponsored and financed just such a scheme for SOV buy-in on I-15 in San Diego just a couple years back.

FHWA-funded HOV facilities do not face the same bureaucratic obstacles as FTA HOVLs. Allowing SOVs to buy-in greatly increases the market for toll buy-in. The Katy has only attracted a small clientele for this reason - a few hundred vehicles/day. But they are enthusiastic and the tolls cover operational costs, so the project is continued.

It goes under the brandname Quick Ride and is operated by the Houston transit agency called Metro. No date has been set for startup, but signage is about the only physical construction needed. US-290 is already equipped with Amtech toll tag readers, installed as part of Transtar, the area’s traffic management system, so the toll buy-in will only require software changes and marketing.