Trust... 1) Houston is no worse than most big cities and 2) more lanes always helps. The Loop has 2 1/2 non-exiting southbound lanes @ 59. Who in the world thought that was sufficient? The last expansion took over 5 years to finish and all they did was stack a couple of exits. Choke City visions Houston's public trans is trash - no argument there. The rail we do have is a blooper - poorly planned and built.
When this project was first announced, didn't care for it since it wasn't part of my work commute fast forward to now, got laid off that job April '17, new job started last November where my commute is from 288S/Hwy 6 to Spring Branch with normal 8-5pm schedule is now affecting my commute. I didn't think 288 was bad during rush hour, but hell, it's worse than 610/Galleria area on the days I don't use the Beltway to get to work glad they are adding more lanes on 288 but sucks they are toll lanes bugs the hell out of me that Waze reports "Construction Ahead" even though it'll be till 2020.....
The additional lanes from tolls will help ALL traffic. I just hope they upgrade from 2 "free" lanes under 610. Again.. Who thought TWO was sufficient? There's many highway blunders across America. Some are just more unexcusable than others, and Houston has plenty.
It should help A little bit on the free lanes. But, let's face it, if traffic is moving on the free lanes then no one will use the pay lanes. So, I expect the toll road authority will want the free lanes to be clogged enough to entice drivers to pay the toll. I still expect a slow crawl during rush hour on the free lanes. Keep in mind that more people move out here everyday.
You're an idiot. It's been a year now, but this entrance is a total disaster. It creates a bottleneck (5 lanes into 3) at the busiest part of the Pierce Elevated - heading South towards the 288 exit.
