2 0 2 2 A N N U A L C O M M U N I T Y G U I D E
CONTINUOUSLY UPDATING The Mobility Authority plans to use a variable- pricing system, with toll prices updating every four minutes based on congestion. The tolls will be free for some vehicles, including public transit, emergency and military vehicles.
INSIDE OUT
Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority o cials said they plan for the project to have minimal impacts on driving by beginning work in the median. The dates listed below are subject to change as the project progresses.
Early 2026 • Mobility Authority
Mid-2022 • Crews begin to work in the median, including excavation and preparing the area for roadway surface • Crews begin work on bridges, beginning with drilling, followed by columns and implementing the decks
Early 2022 • Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority begins construction • Mobility Authority nalizes project design • Crews begin to resurface the road and add high-mast lighting • Mobility Authority begins the process to obtain water-quality permits from Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
completes the project
Estimated maximum price (full length) based on tra c models and assumed tra c levels: $8.63
NOTE: FIGURES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
2023 • Mobility Authority begins work on bridge connecting 183 North express lanes to MoPac express lanes as well as connection for nontolled lanes • Car tra c moves to the median to begin work on existing lanes
Estimated minimum price (full length): $1.42
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
SOURCE: CENTRAL TEXAS REGIONAL MOBILITY AUTHORITY COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
SOURCE: CENTRAL TEXAS REGIONAL MOBILITY AUTHORITY COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
“THE EXPRESS LANES ARE ABENEFIT TOOUR CUSTOMERS AND COMMUNITYAS THEYHELP CAPITALMETROPROVIDEMORE EFFICIENT ANDRELIABLE COMMUTER BUS SERVICE,” JENNA MAXFIELD, CAPITAL METRO SPOKESPERSON
downtown Austin, Le said tra c on US 183 is pretty manageable. “I wonder why are they doing this because this road does not really seem to [have] much tra c,” Le said. He said he doubts the project will actually complete in ve years. “[They say] a lot of roads [will take] ve years, [but it takes] them like 10-20 years and [they’re] not Mike Sexton, who is the act- ing director of engineering for the Mobility Authority, said the project will move along in phases. In the rst phase crews will prepare the median area for pavement as well as constructing bridges and sidewalks. The second phase, likely to begin in late 2022 or early 2023, will see tra c shift to the newly created lanes in the highway’s median. The construction of the bridge connect- ing the new express lanes and the MoPac express lanes will also begin in 2023. Sexton anticipates the di erent sections of the project will likely advance at di erent paces. That means drivers could be in the newly constructed lanes in the former median for some stretches and on the outside lanes for others as the work advances. Once opened, the tolls will use a variable-pricing system, which will update the cost every four minutes based on congestion, which is sim- ilar to how the MoPac express lanes even nished,” Le said. Construction phasing
operate. The goal of the systemwill be to maintain speeds of at least 45 mph in the express lanes, Sexton said. More than cars While Manville said he sees advantages in express lanes, he is skeptical the project will actually reduce congestion. He said adding lanes will induce demand—the idea that creating more supply of roads will cause more people to use them. “The e cient thing to do if you had a six-lane highway is just take two existing lanes and say, ‘Look, now they’re tolled and anyone who doesn’t want to pay those tolls now still has four lanes they can travel,’” Manville said. TomWald, executive director of the Red Line Parkway Initiative, a proj- ect focused on creating walkable and bikeable spaces along Capital Metro’s MetroRail Red Line, said the express lanes in general are a smart way to reduce congestion and could help public transit because buses would not have to pay to use them. Capital Metro similarly sees advan- tages to the project for improving its service. “The express lanes are a bene t to our customers and community as they help Capital Metro provide more e cient and reliable com- muter bus service,” Capital Metro spokesperson Jenna Max eld said in an email. She said that because of the construction and a MetroExpress bus schedule still reduced by the
pandemic, customers should consider using the MetroRail Red Line that has Leander and Lakeline stations. Despite some bene ts for public transit, Wald said the project could have included more elements rec- ommended in a 2017 study funded by the Mobility Authority. The Near Northwest Corridor Con- nections Case Study carried out by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization recommended a paral- lel bicycle network to US 183. It stated that creating a safe environment for bicyclists on the frontage roads within 10 to 20 years would be “infeasible” due in part to the high volume of high-speed tra c on those roads. In its current design, the project will add 1.5 miles of bike lanes; a half mile of shared-use path, essen- tially a wide sidewalk; and 11 miles of reconstructed or new sidewalks. “The scope of the project is to expand the main lanes and not really touch the frontage roads, and so the argument was made that, as part of the scope of the project, they’re not really going to make any substan- tial improvements for bicycling or walking,” Wald said. “For bicycling, currently the accommodation is that if you need to get to a destination along that corridor, you bike on the
frontage road, where the speeds are typically 40-70 [mph].” Sexton said the project will add connections for bicyclists between Pond Springs Road and Jollyville Road as well as a section on Lake Creek Parkway. However, he said the agency only had so much space in the right of way to increase bicycle and pedestrian options. “When you get into these tight urban corridors, you just get limited on right of way,” Sexton said. He said expanding sidewalks within the project’s current design would have required acquiring prop- erty from businesses. Despite space limitations, Sexton said he is optimistic about the proj- ect and said it will provide drivers with more options. “We’ve always believed that the express lane option is considered a less frequent choice for most consumers. You need to get home for your kid’s football game; you need to get to the day care and emergencies. It’s more of a one-o experience than it is neces- sarily a daily commute experience in many cases,” Sexton said.
For more information, visit communityimpact.com .
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NORTHWEST AUSTIN EDITION • JANUARY 2022
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