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Mobility Authority Board Chairman Ray Wilkerson comments on the Central Texas roadway system in this special guest column that ran in Monday's Austin American Statesman.
In a fast-growing region like Austin, there is no simple way to completely solve the traffic congestion problem. I think most people understand that.
Financial cost, social impacts and geographic barriers are among the key factors that limit our ability to widen many of our roads enough to meet the rapidly growing demand. To overcome these limitations, local leaders have to think outside the box and develop alternative approaches.
The express lanes the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is building on MoPac between Cesar Chavez Street and Parmer Lane and the proposed express lanes on MoPac south of downtown are just two great examples.
Why do we need express lanes?
Express lanes will keep traffic moving by raising the toll when traffic is heavy and lowering it when traffic is light. This variable tolling helps manage the number of vehicles entering the lanes.
Without the variable toll, the new lanes would quickly become congested like the other lanes. With the toll, we have the opportunity to make travel on Capital Metro’s express buses or in a registered vanpool more attractive, which will increase ridership and lead to fewer cars on the road. Best of all, express lanes come at no direct cost to city taxpayers, since drivers who choose to use the new express lanes are the ones paying for the lanes.
Unlike traditional toll roads, express lanes are not meant for everyday use. There isn’t enough room to handle all the people who will want to use them. Because of the variable toll, most people will only use the lanes when they have a very time-sensitive trip to make.
The existing lanes will remain toll-free.
The proposed express lanes we’re studying for MoPac South would work in a similar way, except that there would be two lanes in each direction, making trip times even more reliable. A mobility authority traffic study shows that without the express lanes on MoPac South, the commute from downtown to Slaughter Lane would nearly quadruple by 2035. This project has drawn a lot of attention from community leaders and citizens – particularly the preliminary design that calls for an elevated ramp over Lady Bird Lake to provide connections to and from downtown. I assure you that we have heard the community’s concerns, and we have extended our study period to allow for more dialogue and discussion as we consider all the options before any spade of dirt is turned.
Setting the record straight
Some critics have said that together with the toll road project we are building on Texas 45 SW, the improvements we are making and proposing on MoPac will amount to another version of Interstate 35 — that traffic will divert to MoPac to get through the city. Nothing could be further from the truth. First, 18-wheelers will be prohibited from using the express lanes, and second, traffic modeling conducted by the Texas Department of Transportation indicates that even if Texas 45 SW is ever extended to connect to I-35, the impact would be minimal — less than 3,000 vehicles a day on a road that currently attracts more than 130,000 vehicles daily.
Part of a system
The mobility authority is designing a system of roadways to help reduce the impact of congestion across our region, and we’re also introducing technology to help keep traffic moving:
We’re studying adding express lanes on U.S. 183 between MoPac and Texas 45 North and adding an extra nontolled lane to break the traffic bottleneck between McNeil Road and MoPac.
Engineering design and construction is underway to add tolled lanes on U.S. 183 South between U.S. 290 and the airport — which will provide for a seamless trip the airport, while increasing the number of nontolled frontage lanes.
We’re working with TxDOT to provide a solution to the bottleneck on U.S. 290 in Oak Hill.
Construction is underway on Texas 71 to add a seamless connection between Texas 130 and the airport, and the mobility authority will operate the toll lanes.
We’re designing Texas 45 SW to bring much-needed traffic relief to neighborhoods in South Austin and will construct it in an environmentally responsible way.
We’ve introduced Carma Carpooling and soon we will kick off Metropia, an intelligent mobile app that will help commuters work together to ease congestion.
As you can see, Austin has many “points of congestion†that are typically related to peak travel times. It’s our mission at the Mobility Authority to provide innovative transportation solutions for our region. We’re tackling congestion one project, one area at a time — to help get you where you want to go.
Wilkerson is chairman of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority.
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