On the first day of the Christmas vacation season, Metro will give commuters seven new miles of HOT lane on U.S. 290, open six hours in the morning, totaling five freeway lanes in some places, four lanes in others, requiring three occupants, two times a day, one year after most of the freeway opened.

Starting at 5 a.m. Monday, the carpool lane, open to toll-paying solo occupants for part of the peak inbound and outbound commuting times, will run from near Mason Road northwest of Cypress to Loop 610. The end of the line now is just past Huffmesiter Road.

“Folks further down U.S. 290 will now have access to the lane earlier,” said Monica Russo, spokeswoman for Metropolitan Transit Authority. “The idea is to improve reliability and speed of commute.”

Metro operates the lanes, which allow transit officials to expedite trips from park and ride lots to Uptown and downtown Houston job centers.

CONGESTION CHAMP: Loop 610 is Texas’ most congested road for fourth straight year

The lane opening is among the last parts of the $2.1 billion rebuild of U.S. 290 that socked traffic in northwest Houston for more than six years. Most main lanes along the freeway opened in the last half of 2018, as work continued on the HOT lane extension and rebuilding the bridge that carries Texas 6 and FM 1960 over U.S. 290.

Since opening most of the lanes, travel times on U.S. 290 have improved dramatically, as use in some places has increased and portions of the freeway average more than 200,000 vehicles per day. In 2015, during the time when the most of the 38-mile route was a work zone, the average morning trip from Barker Cypress to Loop 610 between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. took more than 43 minutes, according to traffic data maintained by Houston TranStar. In 2018, that same morning trip took an average of 29:50.

The new lanes have not cured all ills, however. Evening trips have remained roughly the same duration, according to the TranStar data, and have worse

The hours and rules of the HOT lane remain the same, with inbound flow from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. and outbound use from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. The lanes are restricted to carpools with three or more occupants and transit vehicles from 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m.; vehicles with two or more occupants can use it from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Prices also remain the same, Russo said, and are the same no matter where someone enters the lane. Metro officials set a policy of flat prices for all HOT lanes in 2012. Costs for toll paying drivers fluctuate hourly, with a current low price of $1 and a high of $7 for morning inbound trips between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.

dug.begley@chron.com