0-6688 Team: Ginger Goodin, Robert Benz, Marcus Brewer, Nick Wood, Stacey Bricka, Mark Burris, Tina Geiselbrecht, et al

Insert Katy photo

3.1 Congestion & Travel Time 3.2 Safety 3.3 Enforcement 3.4 Maintenance 3.5 Tolling and Pricing 3.6 Access Design 3.7 Lane Separation 3.8 Operational Policy 3.9 Public Perceptions 3.10 Project Delivery

Background/History Geometric Overview Access to Managed Lanes Separation of Managed Lanes and General Purpose Lanes

Congestion Issues Operational Modifications Geometric Modifications Future Challenges

Maintenance Conclusions and Challenges

Criteria Before/During Construction

After Construction

EB Entrance 3 5

EB Exit 3 6

WB Entrance 3 6

WB Exit 3 4

Length 12 12

Toll Points 1 3

1. Most access points within ML are direct merge; some lane add/drop, one direct connect (T-ramp) at Addicks P&R.

7

Criteria Before/During Construction After Construction

Lanes One lane reversible HOV Two lanes each direction HOV/Toll

Occupancy HOV3+ in peak hours HOV 2+ and Toll

Hours of Operation

M-F 5AM to 11AM IB M-F 1PM to 8PM OB

Sat OB & Sun IB

M-F 5AM to 11AM IB & OB M-F 1PM to 8PM IB & OB

Toll 24/7/365

Separation Barrier Buffer with pylons

Operating Agency TxDOT/METRO HCTRA

Note: IB=Inbound (eastbound); OB=Outbound (westbound)

5-foot left shoulder 2 12-foot Managed Lanes 10-f00t Right Shoulder for Managed Lanes 10-f00t Left Shoulder for General Purpose Lanes 10-f00t Right Shoulder for General Purpose Lanes

Managed Lanes General Purpose Lanes

Pylon

TxDOT, HCTRA and METRO Partnership Funding, design, and operations

Political interest Clear spans Open access to Managed Lanes Accelerated construction schedules New design all ideal conditions

25+ years with HOV design and operation Six barrier-separated HOV lanes Over 100 lane miles of HOV Buffer separated diamond lanes

2002 Weaving modeling studies Experience in the field works OK

Field Data TTI (Houston and CS personnel) in conjunction with

HCTRA and TranStar to record video Approximately 1965 hours of video data (1.1 TB of data

files) recorded from nine cameras Sites selected based on field observations along with

feedback from PMC 1. Direct merge sites 2. Addicks P&R T-ramp 3. Westbound cross-facility weaving upstream of Beltway 8 4. “Funnel”

Direct Merge Ramps WB Entrance between Gessner and Bunker Hill EB Entrance from T-Ramp WB Entrance west of Silber WB Exit between Echo and Bunker Hill

Off-peak and peak periods (801 maneuvers)

Design is sufficient to accommodate observed demand T-ramp most sensitive to peak demand, due to

platoons from traffic signal “Early” and “late” maneuvers higher in peak period

Cross-Facility Weaving WB Echo Ln to Beltway 8 About 19% of 200 observed vehicles exiting ML at Echo

Sufficient to accommodate observed demand and provide needed length for 6 or 7 lane changes

No observed failed weaving maneuvers Many peak-period drivers entered GP lanes “early”

“Funnel” Entrance to ML at eastern boundary of Diamond Lanes

Off-peak and peak periods (232 maneuvers)

Design is sufficient to accommodate observed demand 97% of vehicles classified as “normal” vs. 3% “early” Constant volumes during each study period; peak

volumes about 5x greater than off-peak

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Post Oak Entrance Ramp Original Direct merge to one lane (45 feet of available pavement) Lane addition down stream entrance ramp

Post Oak Entrance Ramp Reconfiguration Merge moved from PO Entrance to the Entrance

SH 6 T Ramp Before Moderate ramp volume Downgrade High bus utilization Heavy ML Volumes (few and small gaps)

SH 6 T Ramp Before Extended Weaving Distance Increased tolls

Separation Types Buffer Pylon

▪ Curb ▪ Pavement Mounted

Barrier Cost Comparison Major Factors

R² = 0.843

0%

50%

100%

150%

200%

250%

300%

0 5 10 15 20 25

Perc

ent P

ylon

s R

epla

ced

(per

yea

r)

Buffer Width (feet)

IH 15 ML, NV

IH 10 Katy ML, TX

IH 95 ML, FL

IH 635 HOV, TX

US 75 HOV, TX

SR 91 ML, CA

Buffer Width vs. Pylon Replacement

Cost Comparison

Options $/Lf* Install Cost Maint** $ Maint. Total % CTB Portable CTB $ 30 $ 3,906,000 50% $ 7,261,887 $ 11,167,887 100% Pylon (7 yr life) $ 3 $ 380,200 20% $ 516,700 $ 896,900 8% Pylon (20yr life) $ 3 $ 380,200 20% $ 1,476,300 $ 1,856,500 17% *$30/pylon/10ft **Based on interview

Options $/Lf* Install Cost Maint** $ Maint. Total % CTBPortable CTB 30$ 3,906,000$ 50% 7,261,887$ 11,167,887$ 100%Pylon (7 yr life) 3$ 380,200$ 20% 516,700$ 896,900$ 8%Pylon (20yr life) 3$ 380,200$ 20% 1,476,300$ 1,856,500$ 17%*$30/pylon/10ft **Based on interview

Options $/Lf*Per Mile

Install Cost Maint** $ Maint. Total % CTBPortable CTB 30$ 163,000$ 50% 302,600$ 465,300$ 100%Pylon (7 yr life) 3$ 15,800$ 70% 197,700$ 213,500$ 46%Pylon (20yr life) 3$ 15,800$ 70% 337,600$ 353,500$ 76%*$30/pylon/10ft **Based on buffer width curve

ROW and maintenance are two of the largest costs and greatly influence the decision.

ROW and maintenance are directly related Other benefits to be considered based on Incident management Cost of enforcement Consistency of design in the region and state

Pylon Conclusions Pylons were identified as one of the higher cost percentage of crew time

Entry and exit gore areas typically have the higher hit rates.

Enhanced enforcement can reduce the pylon hits Pylons cost about $30 per unit

Pylon Conclusions Buffer width spacing 2 to 3 feet reduces

maintenance and replacement. Shorter, wider and thicker profile pylons were

reported to be more durable. Projects 0-6772 Development of New Delineator

Material/Impact Testing Standard to Prevent Premature Failures Specific to Installation Application

Design works relatively well Few issues Operations and Maintenance are increasing in

importance (tolling is a tool) Managed Lanes-to-610 interchange weaving issues Population increase based on economic/energy-

related boom (1,000 people per week) Latent Demand

Robert J. Benz, P.E. Research Engineer Texas A&M Transportation Institute 701 North Post Oak Suite 430 Houston, Texas 77024 Direct 713-613-9218 Email r-benz@tamu.edu Report 0-6688-1 : Katy Freeway: An Evaluation of a Second-Generation Managed Lanes Project http://tti.tamu.edu/publications/catalog/record/?id=37345