If you’re going to say “a more efficient highway makes mass transit less appealing”…would you flip the script and say that “a more efficient source of alternative transportation makes roads and automobiles less appealing?” Because it sure as hell does in Europe and the Northeastern U.S. I just don’t see it as the “smashing success” you’re making it out to be. There are mid and high speed trains around the world (and some in this country) that run for much less than even $100 million per mile.Īnyways, the Katy Freeway is “better” than it was before, but it still gets seriously backed up between downtown and Katy every day. If what you’re saying about the cost of the I-10 expansion is true, that’s over $500 million per mile. I’d be willing to bet that deep down, we all know what the holdup is. It’s at the root of a lot of our biggest problems. Nothing “outweighs” the transportation issue here, and for many legitimate reasons. I’m just tired of hearing about how we “can’t afford” a viable rail/subway system here in Houston when even “less developed” countries who make “unwise spending decisions” have it all over the place. It’s true that “less developed” countries don’t operate under the same metrics we do. A more efficient highway, makes mass transit less appealing. Just look at the new Katy Freeway and the under-construction 290 Toll Road. Unfortunately, rail advocates are on the losing end of highway expansion. And for the other half, they would be enjoying a less congested 288, without paying an extra dime. Those who cannot tolerate congestion and/or running late have the option of paying a few dollars to use the toll road. Raising funds without raising taxes is the key here. The Katy freeway mega expansion was about $13 billion! The toll road construction will be financed with bonds, not by dipping into the gas tax. (It was a few years ago when I studied highway design). I believe it’s in the ballpark of $100 million per lane per mile. Highway construction, and infrastructure in general, is very expensive. Most likely it would be like the Katy freeway with the tolled lanes nominally seperated by the “free” lanes. Minimally, it will add two lanes in each direction. Back before the Katy Freeway was redone, the road was generally congested more like 8 or 9 hours per day.Īnd all this improvement in mobility even with the tremendous growth in residents and workers west of Gessner since 2003!Ī toll road is going to be the easiet, tax-friendly way to added capacity to 288. More important, in case you can’t remember since you weren’t in Houston then, is now I-10 west of 610 is congested for maybe 3 hours total. And that’s for the main lanes, not the HOT lanes. Getting 17 minutes of your day back, every single work day…that sounds pretty good to me. An afternoon commute on the same stetch of road used to take 11 minutes longer or 38% longer. Why don’t we go to the data instead? According to data from the TTI, a morning rush hour commute from west of Highway 6 to downtown would have taken 6 minutes longer before reconstruction, or 22% longer. Heck, at least read the Executive Summary to realize how positive it could be for Houston to have an alternative to building more don’t I ASK residents of Katy about travel times, many of whom are new residents to Katy? The ones that aren’t new can hardly be trusted to accurately remember the exact length of their commute 10+ years ago. I encourage you to read the Regional Commuter Rail Connectivity Study prepared for the Houston-Galveston Area Council in September of 2008, in which they measured and recommended the positive impact of commuter rail in Houston. Also think of the environmental impact more cars would have in our already poor air quality. There are only so many highways you can build before you run out of space. I have lived in other cities in the country where population densities are high, and I will tell you that those cities will simply collapse without some form of alternative transportation (i.e. Because the fact of the matter is, the city will only become more and more congested as population density increases. Houston is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country, and as such, we have to prepare ourselves, not for today’s demand in transportation, but on tomorrow’s. So the answer is not really expanding roads, and putting more toll roads to finance this project. Most of them will tell you travel time has not improved. But if you don’t believe this argument, then ask people from Katy how much the expansion of the Katy freeway has reduced their travel time during peak hours. It is the simple rule of offer versus demand. So think of this for a moment, your travel times will only increase into Houston during peak hours due to the more cars on the road. Logic will show you that if you build more roads and open more lanes (at increased capacity) this immediately results into more cars driving in.
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