This is long overdue, but damn will it suck... -------- 5 Years of Katy Freeway Construction To Begin HOUSTON, 8:09 a.m. CDT July 8, 2003 - A highway headache that could last more than five years begins Tuesday night on one of Houston's busiest freeways, News2Houston reported. Two eastbound lanes of the Katy Freeway will be closed nightly from 7 p.m. until 5 a.m. between Highway 6 and Grand Parkway so crews can repave the lanes. The other two lanes will remain open to traffic. When construction is finished on those lanes, the remaining two eastbound lanes will be shut down for repavement. All of the lanes need new asphalt so they will last throughout the construction period, according to highway authorities. The repaving phase of construction is expected to last a couple of months. After the repaving is finished in that section, crews will begin to widen the frontage roads. Texas Department of Transportation officials said that the new asphalt would eventually provide a smoother ride through the construction area for drivers. "There will be some inconvenience as a result of the construction. However, our goal is to minimize that inconvenience as much as possible," said Raquelle Wooten, with the Interstate 10 Project. The high-occupancy vehicle lane and three main lanes in both directions will remain open during peak rush hours between 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. The first phase of construction, between Highway 6 and Grand Parkway, is expected to be finished in January 2006. It was scheduled to begin Monday night but was canceled due to rain. Crews will work around-the-clock to ensure that the project remains on schedule. "We have incentives built into the construction packages -- more than $5 million built into this contract to motivate the contractor to stay on target or exceed the milestone dates in the contract," Wooten said. Penalties are also built into the contract if the project is not finished on time. Approximately 23 miles of the Katy Freeway, between downtown Houston and Katy, will be completely rebuilt over the next 5½ years, officials said, at a cost of $1.4 billion. The highway will have 16 lanes by the end of 2008, according to officials.
Look at it this way, when finished it'll be well worth it. Living on the southwest side I can tell you the completed 59 rocks now. Getting to work in the morning is a breeze.
oh I agree, I live on North side, and dealing with the 45 mess that ran from Greenspoint up to The Woodlands was a headache, but now that it is finished, it is a smooth drive..
Uhh, yeah it'll be a breeze until you hit Hwy 6 inbound or the Loop outbound. nce you do that, you're raped. They could make the damn thing 46 lanes wide and w/ pop. growth it'd still be packed in 2020, 2040, or 2060. A comprehensive mobility plan including freeways, tollways, rail, buses, and even side street trolleys, etc. is need to fix things in this city...
More inhalation of carbon monoxide in bumper 2 bumper traffic. Sounds like fun!! Oh yeah and it could be 7am on Sunday morning and the Katy freeway would still be a nightmare. I dont see how people get used to 1 hour commutes to work. When I lived in Houston a few months ago, I had a 25 minute commute to and from and thought that was terrible. Later I found out from my pops that anything less than 1 hour is considered an easy commute to work in H-town.... Talk about a warped perception of drive time. Anything over 20 minutes to/from central Austin is considered long.....
I have just about an hour commute (50 miles) but I live in Conroe and work on Westheimer@Gessner.. only problems I ever have is on Sam Houston Tollway between Westheimer and 290..other than that..its smooth..just so damn long of a drive
Note to self: Avoid Katy freeway at all costs. Problem is unlike all the other freeways, it's impossible.
...until more people move there because 59 traffic isn't bad. Then 59 will have be widened again to accomodate the increased traffic. Then the sparse traffic will attract more people until another widening is needed. Love that suburban sprawl!
I guess because population increase and poor planning never ends..... I-10 is an evil freeway. One day you can get through it in rush hour pretty quick, then at 9pm on a sunday you can get stuck in 2 hours of traffic. Damned evil freeway...
I-10 is bad...no doubt...i live in far west Houston. off of kirkwood and I-10...I work off the North Loop...but let me say, my commute isn't an hour to work. more like 35 minutes. during the summer months it's less than that. it's not nearly as bad as some of you are making it out to be. however...we're getting ready to move our law firm to another building...between dairy ashford and kirkwood on i-10! woo hoo!! my commute will literally be no more than 3 minutes. I could walk...ride a bike, etc. Can. Not. Freaking. Wait.
Road builders + construction companies & contractors + oil/concrete industry interests + corrupt/begging lawmakers + people who prefer the crap they do in their own cars instead of sitting on a bus w/ 50 others = neverending traffic nightmare.
I bet you'd be hard pressed to name 5 major cities in the U.S. that doesn't have road construction going on. I know Dallas and Fort Worth both have major construction going on.
Bunch of whiners, ya'll all complain about having to spend time sitting in your car's six-way seats, with the A/C on high, your 500 watt boom box blaring the latest 50 Cent, probably a doobie burning, checking out all the chicks in the other cars from behind the tinted glass. Yea if you didn't spend all that commute time you could be at home, in your rareback, A/C on high, 1000 watt stereo blaring the latest 50 Cent, with probaly a doobie burning, checking out chicks on the internet. Ha! Jeep
[bitter rant] Dude, f*** all of you. When you have to wait 10 minutes in the sweltering heat in order to ride the disease-ridden subway with the scourge of mankind every morning, then talk to me about petty traffic problems. When you're sandwiched between 2 fat, sweaty women (or you just don't have a seat, period) and a weird guy with scraggily hair is openly staring at you with a murderous glint in his eyes, believe me, you'll be thankful for that climate-controlled car with comfy seats, a radio, and (taken-for-granted) privacy. [/bitter rant]
Wee, right in the middle of my drive home. Looks like I get to take the feeder to 6, 6 to Westheimer, then up Westheimer. That oughta double (at least) the drive home. And considering most of this construction is to put in friggin TOLL lanes, I'm going to beone unhappy motorist. I can feel my driver's Tourette's Syndrome acting up already.
