The HOV lane is open to drivers who pay tolls and to vehicles with more than one passenger at certain times of the day. The one-lane corridor is reversible, meaning drivers travel inbound in the morning and outbound in the afternoon. The times the lane is open and the toll cost for single-passenger vehicles can be found here.
The Hwy. 290 HOV lane originally opened in 2008; at that time, it ended just after North Eldridge Parkway, at which point a diamond lane continued out to Cypress. The extension adds roughly 10 miles to the HOV lane, making it a total of 23 miles long from the Northwest Transit Center to Mason Road.
Other access points to and from the HOV lane can be found at Huffmeister Road, the Northwest Station Park & Ride near West Road and the West Little York Park & Ride near West Little York Road. HOV access to and from the Northwest Transit Center has been temporarily cut off since July while the center undergoes renovations, but drivers can still access the lane from I-10 and from a new ramp on Old Katy Road.
The lane is operated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County. METRO has additional plans to convert a Hwy. 290 main lane into an additional HOV lane during off-peak hours—a move designed to help METRO buses make faster return trips to Cy-Fair Park & Rides—but a timetable for when that conversion would go into effect is still to be determined.
