METRO to use stimulus for HOT lanes, not light rail

Rail lacks final FTA approval

Steve Hawley, Mar 20, 09.

UPDATE (03/25/09, 3:45 pm): The FTA has reversed course and will allow METRO to use nearly $30 million of its stimulus money for utility work on the North and Southeast rail lines.

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The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) may use its $92 million in stimulus funds to build high-occupancy toll lanes instead of light rail, according to the Houston Chronicle. The plan would convert 83 miles of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes into high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. Multi-passenger cars could use the lanes for free, and unlike the current HOV lanes, single-occupant vehicles could use the lanes for a toll.

This week, the Metro board decided to wait a month to have a vote about the project, according to a Chronicle article.

Meanwhile, the Chronicle’s editorial board endorsed the idea.

The HOT lanes would stretch 83 miles along the North, Northwest, Southwest, Eastex, and Gulf freeways. The project would take two years to complete at a projected cost of $48 million. The article quotes METRO Executive Vice President John Sendlak, who said that traffic in the lanes is expected to jump from 36,000 vehicles to 54,000 vehicles daily.

The money was originally slated for the North and Southeast light rail extensions, but the projects lack final funding approval from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The article notes, “Metro [remains] in the final stages of its negotiations with the FTA to receive federal funding for those lines. The process may go beyond the September deadline for use of half of the stimulus funds. The rail project should receive final federal approval later this year, an FTA spokesman said.”

METRO website: HOV and HOT lanes