New target date for MoPac

A big "to do list" was wrapped up over the weekend on the long running MoPac project.

There is a real chance an entire section will open in a matter of days. The list of things to get done required several lane closures that started Friday and ended Sunday.

The completion of that work, along with wrapping up some other projects, has road mangers now making plans for an opening date.

The idea is to have the northbound lanes open to traffic by Sept. 30. that’s the end of next week.
There is still work to do on the southbound lanes and those may take another 5 weeks.

The hope is that the entire toll road project, which is two years behind scheduled, will open by early November; if not sooner.

The question then will be, will the promised relief be worth the wait.

CTRMA Spokesperson Steve Pustelnyk said officials at the Mobility Authority expect the toll road will perform as designed.

"It’s definitely going to have  a benefit, in the regular lanes, it will lessen the traffic congestion there, but really, the big benefit will be those using the express lanes, on those days when you really have to be somewhere , on time and you can’t be afford to be late, and you will now have that option. And if you choose to use the express buses up and down the corridor, of those they will be more common, Cap Metro will be adding more over time, and so there will be a huge increase in public transit operations in the corridor as result of this lane,” said Pustelnyk.

There will still be some construction crews along the roadway after the Toll road opens because there is still work to be done on several sound-walls; along with a lot of landscaping. 

When the roads open - there will be no free trial period, tolls will immediately be charged. The amount charged will vary depending on the traffic load.