About to enjoy some of Brenda's phenomenal gumbo... Check out The Big Mamu in the Heights!

The Lowdown On the Katy Freeway "Managed Lanes"

The Houston Chronicle has an article today that describes how the Katy Freeways new "Managed Lanes" will work.

Some tips to manage the managed lanes

By RAD SALLEE

Aug. 17, 2008, 11:07PM

Move It! has received a lot of mail about the coming managed lanes on the Katy Freeway, so this week's column is intended as a clip-and-save reminder of what's likely to happen.

Remember, though, that the details are subject to approval by Commissioners Court, probably in September, as well as by the Texas Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Transit Authority.

•On Monday, Aug. 25, Metro's High Occupancy Vehicle lane is scheduled to close and be dismantled. Motorists who use the HOV will be diverted to the main lanes for roughly 60 days while workers complete the four managed lanes. These are in the middle of the freeway, behind flexible white pylons.
During that work, only Metro buses may use those lanes. The Harris County Toll Road Authority, which will operate them, says having carpools in the work zone would be dangerous.

•A grand opening of the widened freeway is set for Oct. 28, and about that same time, the managed lanes also will open for a test run of about six months.
HCTRA deputy director Peter Key said Friday he will probably recommend that the lanes have the same operating hours as most Metro HOVs, which are open 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on workdays.

In those hours during the test period, vehicles with two or more occupants (described on signs and in regulations as "2+" carpools) could use the lanes in either direction and would not need an EZ Tag on their windshield, Key said.

The idea of the test period, he said, is to find out how crowded the lanes become with 2+ carpools before officials open the floodgates to toll-paying solo drivers as well.

During the test period, solo drivers will be excluded and could be ticketed, but more likely will be issued a friendly warning, Key said.

•Here's where it gets a little complicated. Sometime in late spring 2009, three important changes will occur.
1. Every vehicle on the lanes must have a transponder on the windshield. This can be either an EZ Tag issued by the county toll road authority or a TxTag from the Texas Turnpike Authority.

EZ Tags cost $15 and require an initial balance of $40. When the balance drops below $10, it is charged back up to $40 from the owner's bank account. TxTags are free and require a $20 balance.

2. The managed lanes will be open at all times for toll-paying drivers, regardless of the number of occupants.

3. Motorists who frequently commute with at least one other occupant may choose to register one of their transponder-equipped vehicles with HCTRA as an HOV. When the toll sensors recognize that the tag is registered, no toll will be charged.

It's important to note that if your car is registered as an HOV and you drive it onto the managed lanes during the HOV hours without a passenger, you're breaking the law.

If you drive on the managed lanes outside the HOV hours, you'll be charged the toll like everyone else.

Conversely, if the vehicle is not registered as an HOV, you'll always be charged the toll, even if you have a dozen passengers.

The tag can't be moved from one vehicle to another.

•Registered HOV users who want to drive the managed lanes alone occasionally, but also lawfully, can call the toll road authority 24 hours in advance and de-register for a particular trip. They will need to reregister afterward, though, or the toll will be charged for every future trip.
To make all this simpler, Key said, EZ Tag owners will eventually be able to call up their accounts online and change their registration status back and forth by clicking a box.

Varying toll rates

Some other points:

•Toll rates have not been decided, but they will vary with managed lane congestion and will be set to keep traffic moving at least 45 to 50 mph, Key said. Presumably, as the tolls go up, the number of tolled vehicles will go down.
Signs will flash the current toll in advance of the entrances, so drivers will have time to divert to the main lanes if the rate seems too high. The toll rate displayed when you enter the lane will remain unchanged during the trip, Key said.

•After the trial period, enforcement against cheating will be strict. And crossing through the pylons — "lane diving" — will always be punished as harshly as possible, he said.

in the office... time to be productive

Gym time

The Superfund Process

During my surfing the other day I came across a list of Federal Superfund sites and remedial actions plans for these sites.  Specifically I ended up at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.  I moved on to the list of Harris County Superfund Sites, which lists 25 sites. 

A graphic of the Superfund Process grabbed my attention.  The graphic comes from the San Jacinto River Waste Pits:

 

What is the Superfund and National Priorities List (NPL)???  The EPA has summarized this for you:

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 ("CERCLA" or "the Act"), as amended, requires that the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan ("NCP") include a list of national priorities among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout the United States. The National Priorities List ("NPL") constitutes this list. The NPL is intended primarily to guide the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA" or "the Agency") in determining which sites warrant further investigation. These further investigations will allow EPA to assess the nature and extent of public health and environmental risks associated with the site and to determine what CERCLA-financed remedial action(s), if any, may be appropriate. This rule adds 12 sites to the General Superfund Section of the NPL.

Wikipedia has a better summary of Superfund:

Superfund is the common name for the United States environmental policy officially known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. § 9601–9675), enacted by the United States Congress on December 11, 1980 in response to the Love Canal disaster.^[1] The Superfund law was created to protect people, families, communities and others from heavily contaminated toxic waste sites that have been abandoned.^[2]

^{And NPL:}

The National Priorities List ("NPL") is the list of hazardous waste sites in the United States eligible for long-term remedial action financed under the federal Superfund program. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") regulations outline a formal process for assessing hazardous waste sites and placing them on the NPL. The NPL is intended primarily to guide the EPA in determining which sites warrant further investigation.

Sites are listed on the NPL upon completion of Hazard Ranking System (HRS) screening, public solicitation of comments about the proposed site, and after all comments have been addressed. EPA may delete a final NPL site if it determines that no further response is required to protect human health or the environment. Sites where a remediation was completed through the Superfund program are typically deleted from the NPL.

As of January 2006, there were 62 Proposed, 1238 Final, and 309 Deleted sites on the NPL in the United States (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands).

Funny or Die - Will Ferrell as President Bush

Here's a funny video of Will Ferrell as President Bush interacting with Jon Stewart from the Daily Show:

See more Will Ferrell videos at Funny or Die

Metro's Inefficiencies are Exasperating

An article from the Houston Chronicle depicting the high inefficiencies in the Metro’s public transit system.

So near, yet so far ... and so long

Some taking Metro endure labyrinth of transfers that could turn 10-minute commute into 2 hours

By LESLIE CASIMIR Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Aug. 7, 2008, 12:06AM

MELISSA PHILLIP CHRONICLE

Margaret Jenkins, signaling for a stop, has to transfer four times before she gets to her part-time office job near Reliant Park.

Metro bus rider Pablo Camarillo's daily commute to work is so long that he often sees both sunrise and sunset — when he manages to stay awake.

To arrive on time, the auto parts warehouse worker sets off on an odyssey that starts at 5:40 a.m. with him boarding the 88 Hobby Airport bus at the corner of Sabo and Fuqua streets. He gets off on Broadway and Morley to transfer to the 73 Belfort Crosstown, which takes him to the Texas Medical Center. There, he gets on the 14 Hiram Clarke bus that takes him to his job on the southwest end of town. If things go well, all this happens by 8 a.m.

His evening commute starts at 6 p.m.

"I wish I had a car," said Camarillo, 30, who spends four hours of his day on a maze of Metro buses. "I have to get some sleep on the bus."

While some residents inside the Loop continue to hotly debate massive light rail projects that could potentially bring relief to tens of thousands of mass transit riders, there are others who live just outside the Loop who spend hours commuting and have no relief in sight.

Their daily treks to work, to school, to church are precarious ones, filled with unexpected waits, long walks and a labyrinth of bus transfers.

Sundays are the worst, when the number 88 bus is suspended.

"A lot of people get stuck out here on Sundays," said Leonard Meacell, 63. "To go to church, I try to get a ride from somebody. Forget going to the grocery store."

But some people say they have stopped complaining. They gave up around the same time the 89 South Park Circulator was discontinued because of low ridership, transit officials explained. That was back in 2005. Now they rely on roughly four bus routes to connect them to the rest of the city: The numbers 52, 55, 73 and 88.

"Metro said there was low ridership, but many people out here now have to walk to get to where they need to go," said Mary Roberts, a civic club president who three years ago provided Metro officials with a community survey. But she said nothing came of it. "We just moved on and left it alone."

'It's a problem'

In recent years, the neighborhoods planted in the shadows of Hobby Airport have experienced considerable growth.

The area has seen the construction of many new affordable housing. Since 1998, for example, 17 apartment complexes were built within a five-mile radius of the airport, said Bruce McClenny, president of Apartment Data Services, which monitors the apartment construction industry, among other things. Of that number, 14 were built under the state's Low Income Tax Credit Housing Program, which means the units are rented out based on household income and not market rate.

It is an area rich with new single-family homes, as well, said David Jarvis, Houston director of Metrostudy, a residential consulting firm. In 2007, 836 homes were constructed; in 2006, 1193; and 2005 saw 1154 new homes erected.

Margaret Jenkins, 72, who has to transfer four times before she gets to her part-time office job near the Reliant Park, believes the bus routes are mind-boggling for commuters who don't work downtown or at the medical center.

"It's a problem," said Jenkins, whose itinerary takes anywhere from one hour and 20 minutes to two hours one way. Each morning, she boards the 52 Scott bus on Rosehaven and Airport Blvd. She transfers for the 73 Crosstown on Scott and Belfort streets and then makes another transfer for the 18 Kirby bus heading northbound at the Fannin South Park & Ride center. Once she gets to Kirby Drive near the Loop 610, she jaywalks to take the southbound 18 Kirby which drives along the Southwest Loop.

That is where her office is located.

Mass transit challenges

When someone offers her a ride to work, the commute time drops considerably — to 10 minutes.

That's part of the challenge of using mass transit in Houston today, said Kari Hackett, transportation program manager of the Houston-Galveston Area Council.

"That kind of crosstown trip is difficult in Houston because the radial flow on the major roadways leads to downtown," Hackett said. "But more job opportunities are outside downtown."

Metro officials say they understand Jenkins and Camarillo's frustrations, but the street infrastructure has to be in place, said Jim Archer, manager of service evaluation. Roads don't go all the way through and many are incomplete, Archer said.

"When you look at Airport (Blvd.), Airport would be a nice logical route except the road doesn't go all the way through," he said. "The streets make it very difficult for us to operate buses. ... This is not because of Metro."

More crosstown bus opportunities are being planned for the Southeast region, but it all depends on when the city decides to build up the roads that go from the east part of the city to west.

Raequel Roberts, spokeswoman for Metro, said she doesn't know when that will be.

In the meanwhile, Camarillo and Jenkins and the countless of others will just have to make do.

"I don't have any other choice," Camarillo said.

Johnny Lee demos Wii Remote hacks | Video on TED.com

Johnny Lee demonstrates powerful hacks for the Wii remote.

Hurricane Checklist

Be sure to fill your tank

 

Plan A

1 oz vodka
1/4 oz grenadine syrup
1 oz gin
1 oz light rum
1/2 oz Bacardi® 151 rum
1 oz amaretto almond liqueur
1 oz triple sec
grapefruit juice
pineapple juice

Ice if available

 

Plan B

1 ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice
4 ounces dark rum
4 ounces passion fruit syrup
Crushed ice
Orange and/or lime slice
1 Maraschino Cherry

 

 

Edouard

Tropical Storm Edouard is threatening Houston this week.

See the National Hurricane Center for more information: TS Edouard

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