MOPAC Managed Lanes Open House | by GlennM
Here's what I posted to my neighborhood newsgroup about the MOPAC Managed Lanes Open-House last week. While I learned a few things, the meeting was much less fulfilling than the subsequent Popeye's run to pick up Mardi-Gras dinner.
Here's what I learned at the Mopac-1 Managed Lanes Open House last week.
- The "managed lanes" concept grew from a desire to fully utilize HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) lanes. Most HOV lanes had excess capacity. Instead of turning the HOV lanes into general lanes and losing the encouragement for car pools and express bus lanes, tolling was used to allow cars with fewer occupants to fill the lanes. Managed lanes often have variable toll pricing based on the current traffic conditions. So, you encourage car pooling and public transportation and allow some drivers to reduce congestion from the general lanes.
- The revenue generated from tolls on managed lanes (usually) just covers the expense of operating the managed lanes. It's (usually) not a revenue source.
- Managed lanes are used by drivers from all income levels. While some higher-earning drivers may use the express lanes for all of their trips, the usual managed-lane driver uses the toll lane(s) from 2-3 times a week.
- Managed lanes are being explored in Austin along MOPAC, I-35, and 183.
- The next managed lane open-houses should be in April, where they will show the plan for the proposed MOPAC changes. All lanes will be at-or-below grade (no flyovers in front of Westminster, etc.). Plans for moving freight from the railroad along MOPAC don't seem to likely in the short term, so the MOPAC improvement plans will continue to take into account the higher overhead height that freight rail requires.
Also:
- The bidding for the noise wall sample(s) (to be put up near the curve on Bull Creek) should be done in March. So we might see the samples built by summer (er, mid-year).
I'll be curious to see the April plans. Questions have been raised about how effective the managed lanes will be if drivers have to cross congested general lanes to reach their exits. Apparently, fixing the downtown MOPAC interchange would cost $150+ million -- not something likely to happen in the short term.
The stated goals of Mopac1 are:
- Move people and goods along Loop 1 efficiently and reliably
- Respect Loop 1 corridor neighborhoods
- Provide transportation choices that encourage the efficient use of resources
- Partner with interested parties to determine the best way to meet current and future transportation needs
However, the question I keep asking is "what are your criteria for success?" Namely, what quantifiable results should we be able to expect when the project is completed? So far, I haven't gotten a solid answer.
More information about the Mopac1 project can be found at:
www.mopac1.com
Glenn
[A managed lanes supporter. But after what's happened with the rail bonds we passed, I'm a skeptic until the details have been shown to be devil-free.]