For the past few days, the streets and highways in the Houston area has been super congested while recovering from Hurricane Ike. This morning alone it took me 2 hours to drive to work in what is usually a 30 minute drive. On the way home it took 2 hours! What has changed? Like I said, Ike. Before the storm, the transit authority has waived toll charges on all of the tollways to expedite the evacuation process and they are still waived. Many drivers who usually do not pay are enjoying faster routes and adding to the congestion on these roads. The frontage roads are great…when the traffic signals are working. For now, we treat these as four-way stops that add to the mix. Evacuees are making their way back into the city of 5 million+ people during all of this which is good news of course, but snarls the roadways.
When I first moved to Houston 2 months ago, I signed up immediately for an EZ toll tag because I cannot stand stop/go traffic. Hate, hate, hate.
HTA: please re-open the HOV lanes and bring back the tolls, mmmkaythxbye.
UPDATE: KHOU has an article about it on their website- http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou080923_tnt_traffic_trouble_houston.a5ebeccb.html