Enjoy your new option, Gulf Freeway commuters.
I-45 HOV toll lane
Metro is set to debut its first high-occupancy toll lanes on the Gulf Freeway between Dixie Farm Road and Dowling Street on Monday.
This arrangement allows solo drivers to use high-occupancy vehicle, or HOV, lanes for a price at certain times of the day. Tolls vary between $1 and $4.50 by a set schedule.
The so-called HOT lanes will be unavailable during heavy traffic times, Metropolitan Transit Authority officials said.
For the Gulf Freeway corridor, the inbound HOV will be closed to solo drivers from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. For the afternoon rush, the same restriction will apply to the outbound HOV from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
See here for some background, and here for the full map and schedules. I hope Metro makes a nice little bit of money from this.
The Gulf Freeway traffic isn’t so bad outside those hours which you can’t use as a tollway…what’s the point if you restrict the hours when you need them?
This “toll” is a waste of time and space. The construction has caused even more traffic for the 45 S commuters and now they’re telling us we’re not able to use it during heavy traffic hours?
Real smart…