Toll Roads in Houston closed during hurricane Ike, no current reports

Harris County Toll Road Authority in Houston told its employees not to report to work at the authority offices Friday or Saturday because the tollroads were shutting down. Tolls have not been collected since before Hurricane Ike, which hit the Houston area late Friday night and through Saturday morning. Toll collection ceased at 7pm (19:00) Sept 10, Wednesday evening to assist with evacuations ordered for the southeast part of the metro area.

Ike was a Category 2 Hurricane with sustained winds of up to 160km/hr (100mph) and sea surge of up to 3.6m (12ft). There was little loss of life but extensive damage to buildings, power outages, and debris scattered on roadways.

During the days without tolls motorists were advised to go through the open road toll lanes at the nine toll plazas.

The Sam Houston Tollway's Ship Channel Bridge was barricaded off during the high winds.

HCTRA employees were told Thursday that normal work would resume Monday morning.

Four tollroads totaling 166km (103 miles) are operated by HCTRA, one of them, a small one, on behalf of neighboring Ft Bend Co.

Good news is there are no reports of any structural damage to bridges or other major facilities, just a lot of cleanup to do. No word on damage to plaza buildings, toll systems and signs.

TxDOT

TxDOT operated what it called 'evaculanes' - shoulder lanes pressed into temporary service on area expressways.

Contraflow operations were only planned on highways well north and west of the metro area - running traffic out of Houston on both roadways, for example northbound in both northbound and southbound lanes.

Late Saturday TxDOT said most area highways were dangerous or impassable due to flooding and debris. 550 employees and 355 pieces of equipment (trucks, loaders) from inland areas to assist 1200 employees in Houston. Message signs, cameras, lights and traffic signals are out because of lack of electric power.

ITS

TranStar, the Houston area traffic management system appears to be largely without working sensors as of Sunday evening. It shows only two active "incidents" in the metro area and most of the area expressways are greyed out showing "No data."

One of the two "active incidents" is shown on the Hardy Toll Road. TranStar shows one "live" camera Sunday evening Sept 14. It displays pictures of lots of traffic at I-10 and Beltway 8 at 8:55 Sept 4 - 10 days ago.

ITS when you need it!

TOLLROADSnews 2008-09-15