Do you think the HOT lane on MoPac is worth it? (Austin: construction, design)

[ashbeeigh]

My sister lives off of Far West and I live at Onion Creek and 35. I have a couple of different options to get up there to include 35 to 183 to Mopac, 35 to Ben White to Mopac and 1626 to the SH 45 West toll to Mopac. It really depends on my mood as to what I take. If it's early in the morning on the weekends I'll take the toll on Mopac 100%. It's only 30 cents at the time. I;ll take it heading home every once in a while. The 45 West toll is really not worth the extra time, but if I know that 35 is a hot mess (which it is most of the time) I'll take it. I did a 5k up in the Domain this morning and took 35 to get there and the Mopac toll road back home. I think it saved a few minutes, but like Moonlady, it wasn't enough to justify more then about $1.20 to shave off 3-4 minutes of my drive.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

I live north and my dentist is on William Cannon. I had to reschedule an appointment and 9:00 AM was the only option that wasn’t weeks out. The GPS estimated about 45 minutes. Just as I was getting on Mopac the dentist office called and said my hygienist's earlier appointment cancelled and she was ready for me. I hopped in the toll lane at a cost of $3.94 and the total travel time took me 39 minutes. I can tell you that 6 minutes was not worth the cost. A buck would have been worth it - especially if I were a daily commuter - but not $4. That's highway robbery.

Feel sorry for the poor, depressed hygienist

She's always looking down in the mouth.

[ScoPro]

“You must spread some reputation around......”

[graygray]

I also found the express lane of MoPac is very helpful. It attracts more than the average traffic of one lane, so the traffic on the other three lanes are greatly reduced. I only use express lane when the traffic is very light, so that I can drive a little faster, feeling I am driving in a real "express" lane.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by graygray

I also found the express lane of MoPac is very helpful. It attracts more than the average traffic of one lane, so the traffic on the other three lanes are greatly reduced. I only use express lane when the traffic is very light, so that I can drive a little faster, feeling I am driving in a real "express" lane.

As I've mentioned, plenty of times I'm going faster in the normal folks' lanes compared to the slowpokes in the "fancy" lane when someone decides to drive 55mph in their special lane. This is around noon on Saturdays.

[graygray]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

As I've mentioned, plenty of times I'm going faster in the normal folks' lanes compared to the slowpokes in the "fancy" lane when someone decides to drive 55mph in their special lane. This is around noon on Saturdays.

Single lane is the biggest problem. When I am going to take the express lane, I would normally try to match the speed of the cars ahead, either already in the lane or to get in the lane, to find their pattern. BTW, I found Lexus, either SUV or sedan, normally goes slow

[Aquitaine]

Not as big of an issue on Mopac as it is on 35 and 183, but one thing I'd have done (whether in addition to or instead of) is put up signs on flyovers telling people NOT TO SLOW DOWN as they go up a flyover ramp.

35 North and 183 is the worst offender. It's a 45 mph exit ramp and cars routinely get down to 25. You can see the 'traffic snake' forming a mile away.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

Not as big of an issue on Mopac as it is on 35 and 183, but one thing I'd have done (whether in addition to or instead of) is put up signs on flyovers telling people NOT TO SLOW DOWN as they go up a flyover ramp.

35 North and 183 is the worst offender. It's a 45 mph exit ramp and cars routinely get down to 25. You can see the 'traffic snake' forming a mile away.

I kind of have the opposite - as I travel north on MoPac and take the flyover to east-bound 45, I slow down to 55/60 ish (I think the 'suggested' speed is 50 on the signs?), but most traffic wants to keep going 70+...

[Aquitaine]

I will gladly live with the portion of the population that slows down to 55-60 on a flyover!

[graygray]

I think the curves are designed to support speeds higher than 70+, but since many have problems staying in the lane even when driving on straight road, so 50-60 or even lower is probably safer for them.