Officials unveiled new designs Monday of a proposal to expand Mopac from six lanes to eight.  The project also includes adding about five miles of sound barriers to buffer the noise for adjacent neighborhoods.

The proposal would add one lane, or a managed lane, to both the northbound and southbound sides of Mopac, which could be driven for a price.

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The lanes would be separated from other traffic with plastic poles.  Drivers would be charged a price to drive them, based off how many drivers are using them.

The proposal calls to add the two extra lane to the outer edges of Mopac, pushing the pavement on the highway further out.  Just so it can all fit, lanes from Town Lake to RM 2222 would have to be narrowed from 12’ to 11’ wide.

John Kelly’s firm, DMJM Harris, is heading up the managed lanes project for the Texas Department of Transportation.  He says in addition to the managed lanes, the project also calls for sound barriers that neighbors have been asking for, for years.

“If we build some additional lanes, we definitely will build noise barriers walls in the areas where residential properties are,” he said.

Those barriers would be eight-to-ten feet high, though it hasn’t been determined exactly what they will look like.

The managed lanes would extend from Town Lake north to Parmer Lane. 

On Tuesday night, there will be a public meeting on the managed lanes at O. Henry Middle School, from 5-8 p.m.

The earliest construction could begin is in late 2008.