Oh, I didn't read what I wrote! I meant to question the
blog's argument that 'the way in which it is managed...means that traffic is dispersed'; I see how the 'that' binds to the closer noun now. Still, thanks for the refs on the topic in general--I never really researched it because its existence didn't seem contested.
-- Re-reading the blog, I just realized that they're referring to the managed lane system described in the first paragraph. Looking it up now, it does not look very effective. The 2013 study of the results of its implementation by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute gives a good introduction:
> The Katy Freeway Managed Lanes on I-10 in Houston became fully operational in 2009. The managed lane facility, also referred to as the Katy Tollway, is the first constructed managed lane project in Texas and the first variably priced operation in the state since the implementation of the QuickRide program on US 290 and I-10 HOV lanes in Houston more than 10 years ago. The four-lane facility, which was constructed within the center of the existing freeway, can be described as a "second-generation" managed lanes project that is more complex than earlier-generation HOV-to-HOT conversions.
I gather that the added lanes (four in every source I could find, but six according to the blog?) were intended to relieve congestion during peak hours, and that the managed lane system was used instead of a simple widening indeed to limit induced demand, through both tolls and HOV restrictions (incentivizing carpooling). But:
> Figure 4 shows that the daily traffic volumes on the managed lanes were fairly consistent from about 2001 through 2008, even during the construction period from 2004 through 2009. In 2009, after construction was complete, a dramatic increase in vehicle volume was observed, essentially doubling volumes over pre-expansion levels.
They also note that "isolated sections of congestion have emerged on the GPLs [general-purpose lanes] despite the increase in general-purpose capacity provided by the freeway expansion" and that "off-peak volumes are growing at a rapid rate on the managed lanes". Still, they manage to arrive at the conclusion that "the project is achieving its stated goals".
https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/Presto/content/Detail.aspx?ct...
PDF: https://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6688-1.pdf
-- It's possible that latent instead of induced demand was the cause, though. From another group from the institute:
> Since its reconstruction, the improved capacity of IH 10 has been offset by latent traffic demand from commuters in the northwest and southwest utilizing IH 10 via Beltway 8 as an alternative to the heavy congestion on US 290 and US 59. This trend has been exacerbated since construction began on US 290 in 2011.
https://mobility.tamu.edu/mip/congestion.php#houston
PDF: https://mobility.tamu.edu/mip/corridors-pdfs/houston/HOU-22-...
-- There's not much more research beyond that--various news sources have cited traffic monitoring data as proof of continually worsening conditions. This 2015 piece from a think tank links to several local news articles and gives its own analysis:
> We extracted these data from Transtar (Houston’s official traffic tracking data source) for two segments of the Katy Freeway for the years 2011 through 2014. They show that the morning commute has increased by 25 minutes (or 30 percent) and the afternoon commute has increased by 23 minutes (or 55 percent).
https://cityobservatory.org/reducing-congestion-katy-didnt/
Though, years after the lanes opened, that might just be population growth rather than induced demand. There's also a confounder in the US 290 construction, which didn't finish until 2017, but scrubbing through the TranStar data[1] I don't see a noticeable drop in congestion. But the talent agency post is from 2020; I still don't see why they feel the need to defend the project.
[1]https://traffic.houstontranstar.org/hist/traveltimes_web_all...
~~~~~
More links mostly for myself
Portal for commuters: https://www.hctra.org/KatyManagedLanes
US and Texas Departments of Transportation on the concept of managed lanes: https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/managelanes_primer/ https://www.txdot.gov/driver/managed-lanes/managed-lanes.htm...