High-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes Updates

July 2008
Public meeting held

On July 10 a public meeting was held to inform members of the community about METRO's plans to redesignate existing high-occupancy vehicle lanes as highg-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes.

May 2007
Houston's HOT lane project plan presented at national conference

The Transportation Research Board (TRB), a division of the National Research Council, held a national conference in Houston on May 20-23 titled Freeway and Tolling Operations in the Americas.

About 100 persons, mostly transportation professionals from other cities in the U.S., attended a presentation by Loyd Smith, METRO's Director of Transportation Systems. This presentation is about METRO's plan to convert High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes into High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes.

February 2007
Program Manager selected to advance "HOT" LANES

METRO'S Board of Directors approved the selection of a company to assist in the conversion of the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lanes to High Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes. Carter & Burgess, Inc. (CB) will support METRO's Planning, Engineering & Construction Department by providing strategic planning and development expertise, assistance in interagency coordination, and construction and operations acceptance oversight.

October 2006
High Occupancy Toll (HOT) project becomes hot topic

As part of his State of METRO address delivered at a Greater Houston Partnership luncheon on October 25, 2006, President and CEO Frank Wilson said that METRO is working on a High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lane project. The HOT lane project, part of the scope of the METRO Solutions Phase 2 Implementation Plan, would allow solo drivers to use High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes by paying a toll. A pilot HOT lane could be introduced by next fall.

METRO is in the early stages of project planning, so the details are in development. At this time, METRO has outlined the guiding principles for the work ahead on developing HOT lanes, which appear here in order of priority: