[a001lan]

Hello guys!
I-10 freeway in HOUSTON, which inder constructions now, when it opens in late 08/early 09, will it be free to ride, ot it will be a Tollway?
the website - www.katyfreeway.org says, that

Question: What is the Katy Tollway and where is it located?

Answer: The Katy Tollway is an approximately 12 mile long tolling facility that begins west of SH 6 and ends at the I-10/I-610 interchange. It exists together within the same corridor as the general-purpose lanes of the I-10/Katy Freeway offering motorists the choice of using the Katy Tollway when time is most valuable. This is an EZ-Tag only facility with an option for HOV 3+ drivers to use the facility free during peak times in peak directions. There will be electronic fee collection technology at 3 tolling locations, overhead signage that will indicate which lane drivers should be in based on occupancy, and is dynamically priced to ensure an optimal level of service is maintained at all times. Drivers will have multiple entrances and exit locations from both the eastbound and the westbound mainlanes of I-10 with two right lanes for general EZ Tag users and a left lane at each tolling location specifically for HOV 3+ drivers. The facility will be in operation 24 hours a day with financial incentives provided to HOV 3 users during peak travel times.

So, as far as I understood, the HOV 3+ drivers will ride I-10 for free, the others will have to pay or use TAG-only.



That's bad. because I drive I-10 almost every day, and now I will have to drive on feeders )))

Generally speaking - it's very bad. Bad for Houston. i guess in future all freeways will convert into Tollways. ((( very sad hno:

 

[ChrisZwolle]

Isn't it that they only add toll lanes to the Katy Freeway, next to the regular lanes? If you're willing to pay some extra, you can avoid the traffic jam. Kinda like the 91 express lanes in Los Angeles. So it will be a corridor with toll and tollfree lanes i guess.

 

[Trae]

There was going to be rail instead of a tollway, but they moved the rail a few miles south onto the Westpark Corridor.

 

[CLTNC]

When I moved to Texas in 1973 they were working on I10. Now in 2008, they are still working on I10. I10 will never be finish.

 

[Trae]

Uh..I-10 had not been worked on for a while before this reconstruction.

 

[a001lan]

it will be good if they only add a toll lanes, not making it all Tollway, leaving us free lanes.

Hopefully next year we will have the widest freeway in the world!

here what they write on Wikipedia -

Over 240,000 vehicles use the freeway per day, yet the freeway only has six mainlanes, and including frontage roads, 10 lanes. By the time of completion in late 2008 or early 2009, it will be one of the largest freeways in the world with up to 18 lanes in some areas, assuming you are counting 4 lanes used to transfer to another hightway north and south, and another 2 lanes in each direction that run along side the highway and aren't actually a part of the highway.

 

[Nic]

I-10 will still have atleast as many freeway and frontage road lanes as before. The only lanes that will be tolled will be new lanes, which of course you will not have to use, if you are too cheap, poor, etc. to pay.

Of course allowing vehicles with 3 or more people to use the new toll lanes for free will hopefully encourage carpooling.

 

[Trae]

it will be good if they only add a toll lanes, not making it all Tollway, leaving us free lanes.

Hopefully next year we will have the widest freeway in the world!

here what they write on Wikipedia -

Do you read anything you post? If, you would not have said that.

By the way, people are complaining about the tollway prices. It will cost $15 roundtrip I believe. Now they are crying for the rail. Too bad. Rail was the best option from the start.

 

[TexasBoi]

Hopefully next year we will have the widest freeway in the world!

Why exactly would you want this? It's not something to be proud of.

 

[Trae]

Why exactly would you want this? It's not something to be proud of.

I really don't know why he wants this.

 

[Msradell]

it will be good if they only add a toll lanes, not making it all Tollway, leaving us free lanes.

Hopefully next year we will have the widest freeway in the world!

here what they write on Wikipedia -

And why is this good? Actually with the increase in gasoline prices you'll probably have a lot of empty lanes by the time it's finished. Bragging about having the widest freeway just shows the mentality of Texans!

Actually since some of the lanes will be a toll road I'm not sure if it actually will be the widest "Freeway" it may be just the widest "Highway"

 

[ChrisZwolle]

Freeway is not necessarily a synonyme for free of tolls.

 

[Velvetj]

Down with Toll roads in Houston. I recently found out the new Highway 6 overpass over the Katy freeway will ALSO be tolled. Incredible!

I don't have a problem with toll roads themselves as much as the fact the tolls will not eventually be discontinued or reduced. Look at the Sam Houston. Citizens voted for the creation of the tollway with the perception the tolls will one day be removed after it is paid for. Not only have the toll amounts increased over the years, but the revenue from the toll roads is going to the financing of the building of additional toll roads across the city.

Clearly somone's goal is to have the Houston Metro covered in toll roads and the worst part about it all is it seems there is little that can be done about it. In a city like Houston where a car is more of a necessity than a luxury and mass transit is clearly a "second thought", covering the city in toll roads is the last thing we need, ESPECIALLY now with gas prices.

When you choose to live in a Metro area closing in on 6 million residents, the "I only want to pay for a highway if I am personally going to use it" mentality can be dangerous. What happens on one freeway can affect them all.

One of the things I like least about Houston is a prominent mentality of those who cannot see beyond their own interests. Those who cannot see that the city belongs to ALL OF US. Those who will hijack the enterest of the city and millions of others because they don't want to be temporarily inconvenienced. New leadership is what I call for.

Oh well, Houston placed itself in the situation it is in so I suppose the chickens are coming home to roost so to speak.

 

[ChrisZwolle]

How high are the tolls? I thought they were usually considerably lower in the United States than in Europe. In France, tolls are generally $ 1 per 6 miles.

 

[Msradell]

Freeway is not necessarily a synonyme for free of tolls.

In the United States it is.

 

[ChrisZwolle]

^^ from wiki:

the term freeway is often used in contrast to refer only to a toll-free road as opposed to its original meaning – in which the component "free" implied freedom from traffic interference rather than "at no cost" – still used in other countries and in parts of the U.S.

 

[Msradell]

^^ from wiki:

Of course, Wikipedia is always correct, I forgot that fact. Please name one highway that is called a "Freeway" and charges a toll in the United States. With the exception of the northeast US and the Chicago Americans are not used to have and to pay tolls except for bridges and tunnels and even then it is quite limited.

 

[ChrisZwolle]

No need to get angry instantly.

I just said "freeway" is historically a name that used to be used for free flow highways. Maybe that's not the fact now anymore, but tollways usually get a separate name to make clear it's a toll road. (or turnpike or whatever you want to call it).

 

[Trae]

^^ from wiki:

He is right. At least down in Houston. Freeways are free. Tollways have tolls. There is no interstate in the Houston area that you have to pay for. There is always a free option.

This is why in cities up north (New York, Chicago), they call them "expressways" instead of "freeways".

 

[a001lan]

yeah, you can call whatever you want!

The fact is that the situation with cars and roads getting worse. High prices of gas [I don't know what to expect in 3-4-5 months!], the additional tolls, and plus no chance of living without a car in Houston - all this can put down mentally anybody.

I just don't understand, why would they want to make I-10 a tollway?
I understand that if we [Houstonians] had other options of transportation, like trail, buses or underground, the municipality could rise the prices and tolls. it could be like in Europe - there, they have a very good tranportation across the cities, so people have the option either to drive or to use a mass transit. Plus they don't have as big cities by area as Houston [or any other large US city].

here you just cannot survive witout a car.
So, my opinion is that the Municipality is doing the wrong thing. and I also with that Sam Houston beltway would be free.

Therefore, in whole West part of Houston, we don't have any 'free' way [highway] to drive on. Sam Houston [west loop], Westpark tollway and now I-10 - all gonna be tollways. What we have free in west part of town? - only Westloop of 610
PS. In addition to say - West part is the most developed and populous part of the town.