I-69 Metropolitan Houston Routing

Current Status

Feasibility study for Houston area complete (see TxDOT's site). EIS for these segments is pending; FR Notice (15 January 2004).

Description

I-69 will enter the Houston area from the southwest on the current U.S. 59 (Southwest Freeway). It will also leave the area on U.S. 59 (Eastex Freeway). In the middle, there are five alternatives that have been selected for further study:

• Following the current U.S. 59 corridor through Houston. (However, this highway is already heavily loaded with traffic; a post to misc.transport.road suggests a portion of U.S. 59 may be the busiest freeway in North America.)
• Following the western leg of the Grand Parkway.
• Following the eastern leg of the Grand Parkway.
• Following the western leg of Beltway 8/Sam Houston Tollway.
• Following the eastern leg of Beltway 8/Sam Houston Tollway.

A final routing will probably be selected in the next few years. TexasFreeway.com believes the western Grand Parkway routing is the most likely; however, the feasibility study indicates that either the Beltway 8 West routing would have the best cost/benefit ratio (and would be by far the least expensive). Another factor is that a lot of through traffic is likely to stay on the U.S. 59 route, as it is the shortest, regardless of how I-69 is signed.

See Also

• TxDOT's I-69 Corridor Study site.
• TexasFreeway.com's I-69 page
• TxDOT's IH 69 Route Feasibility Study (currently offline - see the Archive.org copy).
• Alliance for I-69 Texas.
• U.S. 59 South MIS [PDF] - Major Investment Study for the U.S. 59 corridor.

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