I-69 in TX

[Anthony_JK]

Yup, my mind slipped a bit there. Original comment has now been corrected. I did mean TX 44.

[jbnv]

Though personally, I still think I-69 should run all the way to Laredo via US 59 (I-69W); I-69E should be an I-37 extension, and I-69C should remain US 281. Plus, what do you do with TX 44 between Fleer and Robstown if that's upgraded as part of the I-69 system?

My thoughts:
US 59 to Laredo: I-69.
US 281: I-37W or I-37.
US 77: I-37E or I-39. (Sorry, purists, the precedent of disconnected 2di's is already set.)
TX 44: I-169 337 or even I-4.

[vtk]

I don't particularly have an objection to I-69W/C/E, but I think TxDOT chose poorly regarding how to deal with the mileages.  Unsuffixed I-69's mileage should start at the greater value of the lengths of I-69W and I-69C, rather than zero.

[Grzrd]

This article reports that the next I-69 project in the greater Houston area ... will extend north from the current end of I-69 near the Montgomery County/ Liberty County county line to the recently completed 105 Loop near Cleveland

This May 1 article reports that an Open House will be held on May 14 to provide details about the project, which is planned to extend from Fostoria Road in Montgomery County, Texas, to the State Highway 105 South Cleveland Bypass:

The Texas Department of Transportation — Beaumont District (TxDOT) will conduct a public meeting on Tuesday, May 14, 2013, to discuss proposed roadway improvements along 4.281 miles of the existing alignment of US 59 extending from Fostoria Road in Montgomery County, Texas, to State Highway 105 South Cleveland Bypass in Liberty County, Texas .... This section of US 59 is proposed as a portion of I-69. Preliminary study indicates that additional right-of-way would be needed. The proposed US 59 as I-69 would be converted from a four-lane divided highway to a six-lane divided, access controlled freeway, with one-way frontage roads.

TxDOT is soliciting professional services for the PS&E (plan, specifications and estimates) for I-69 for a 4-mile section south of Cleveland (which is about 40 miles north of Houston). This is a non-freeway gap between the end of the freeway at Fostoria road and the Cleveland bypass. Plans show six main lanes and a new southbound frontage road. It looks like most of the existing northbound lanes become the northbound frontage road.
Listing (see August 11  item) http://www.txdot.gov/business/consultants/architectural-engineering-surveying/advertised-contracts.html
Links to schematics http://www.txdot.gov/business/consultants/architectural-engineering-surveying/advertised-contracts/0000000953.html
When TxDOT initiates work on the PS&E, it usually means that construction is anticipated in the near term, i.e. within a few years.

TxDOT will hold an Open House for this project on November 19:

.... The proposed US 59 as I-69 would be converted from a four-lane divided highway to a six-lane divided, access-controlled freeway, with one-way frontage roads.
Additional changes to the project since the last open house meeting conducted on May 13, 2013 include the following:
-Modify US 59 main lanes curve at State Loop 573
-Revise the intersection at US 59 and State Loop 573; the northbound frontage road will follow the US 59 main lanes, instead of the northbound frontage road becoming State Loop 573
-Reverse the entrance and exit ramps between SH 105 and State Loop 573
-Add a right-turn lane to the southbound frontage road at the SH 105 connector

Here is a current Google Maps aerial view of the project area.

[MaxConcrete]

On December 17 a public meeting is scheduled for the Corrigan Bypass, 90 miles north of downtown Houston.
http://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/get-involved/about/hearings-meetings/lufkin/121715.html

The announcement says that alternative W2 has been selected and is currently being refined. I'm not familiar with the area, but I'm somewhat curious to know why locals preferred W2, since alternative E2a seems to go through vacant land with very little nearby, except for a couple properties on the north end.

http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/i69/polk/us59-polk-map.pdf

http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/i69/polk/map-layout.pdf
 

[lordsutch]

AADTs on US 287 seem higher to the west and the west route options also provide overpasses over the railroad; as far as I can tell Corrigan doesn't have any railroad overpasses or underpasses at present.

[Grzrd]

This September 12 article indicates that, although FHWA has approved the I-169 numerical designation , TxDOT is still seeking approval from FHWA regarding SH 550/ Future I-169 meeting interstate-grade constructions standards for its two remaining sections ....
Maybe TxDOT is waiting for FHWA to approve the entirety of SH 550 as interstate-grade before it asks for an I-169 designation from the Texas Transportation Commission.

This November 9 article reports that "the U.S. Department of Transportation" now considers SH 550/ I-169 from I-69E to Old Alice Road as "part of the federal interstate system", that the remaining two sections should be let in the first quarter of 2016, and that the entire 10-mile stretch of SH 550 should be signed as I-169 in approximately two years:

The approximately 1 1/2-mile stretch of State Highway 550 between Interstate 69E and Old Alice Road has been officially renamed I-169 by the U.S. Department of Transportation, which now considers the segment part of the federal interstate system.
U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, and Cameron County Judge Peter Sepulveda Jr. announced the DOT's decision on Nov. 5. Leading from I-69E to S.H. 48 and the Port of Brownsville, S.H. 550 is CameronCounty's first toll road.
Sepulveda said the toll way belongs to a high-priority corridor designated years ago by DOT as future interstate, though interstate signs can only go up on segments that meet interstate standards.
Two portions have to be completed before all 10 miles of S.H. 550 can become I-169, Sepulveda said. Those two projects likely will go out to bid in the first quarter of 2016, he said.
"Hopefully in the next two years or so, once we complete those two gaps, the entire route can be signed as 1-169,"  Sepulveda said.

I still have not seen Texas Transportation Commission approval of the I-169 designation.  Maybe at their December 17 meeting ......

[MaxConcrete]

Bid opened for 13 miles of upgrading to interstate standards southwest of Houston, with 6 main lanes and 4 frontage road lanes (2 each way.) This section is from Spur 10 to Kendleton
http://www.dot.state.tx.us/insdtdot/orgchart/cmd/cserve/bidtab/12023001.htm

Estimate    $104,726,021.26    % Over/Under    Company
Bidder 1    $100,144,090.23    -4.38%            WILLIAMS BROTHERS CONSTRUCTION CO., INC.
Bidder 2    $114,309,891.94    +9.15%            J.D. ABRAMS, L.P.
Bidder 3    $125,699,561.31    +20.03%    ZACHRY CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION
Bidder 4    $146,473,832.56    +39.86%    WEBBER, LLC

Along with the adjacent section from Spur 10 to the Grand Parkway (currently under construction), a 20-mile section will be under construction.

[Grzrd]

This November 9 article reports that "the U.S. Department of Transportation" now considers SH 550/ I-169 from I-69E to Old Alice Road as "part of the federal interstate system", that the remaining two sections should be let in the first quarter of 2016, and that the entire 10-mile stretch of SH 550 should be signed as I-169 in approximately two years ....
I still have not seen Texas Transportation Commission approval of the I-169 designation.  Maybe at their December 17 meeting ......

The Texas Transportation Commission's December 17 Agenda indicates that the concurrent I-169 designation for the 1.5 mile section of SH 550 from I-69E to Old Alice Road should be approved on December 17 (p. 2/12 of pdf):

ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot/commission/2015/1217/agenda.pdf

Highway Designation
Cameron County - Designate a segment of the state highway system as I-169, concurrent with State Highway 550 from existing I-69E to Old Alice Road in the city of Brownsville
(MO) (Presentation)
This minute order designates a segment of the state highway system as I-169, concurrent with SH 550 from existing I-69E to Old Alice Road in the city of Brownsville, a distance of approximately 1.5 miles. The Brownsville Metropolitan Planning Organization, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the Federal Highway Administration have approved the designation of this segment.

Getting closer to I-169 shields in Texas!

[Grzrd]

In May, TxDOT will hold public meetings about their plans to upgrade US 59 to I-69 in El Campo and Wharton County.
El Campo:

TxDOT is proposing adding frontage roads along US 59 through El Campo. The proposed project would construct frontage roads and convert the existing US 59 lanes into a controlled access road that meets interstate standards.

This December 10 article reports that the Texas Transportation Commission approved the El Campo frontage road contract in November:

The Texas Transportation Commission approved over $26 million in construction contracts for the Yoakum district during its November meeting.
The bulk of those funds will go to the construction of frontage roads along U.S. 59 in El Campo in Wharton County. The frontage roads are upgrades for the Interstate 69 project. This funding covers frontage roads from Business 59 south of El Campo to State Highway 71.

[Grzrd]

The Texas Transportation Commission has posted a December 17, 2015 I-69 Texas System Update presentation:

ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot/commission/2015/1217/4b-presentation.pdf

Included in the update is the current status of the remaining 847 miles needed to complete the I-69 system in Texas (p. 7/8 of pdf):



Only 192 projects to go ...... Only $14.4 billion, too.

[MaxConcrete]

On another slide of that presentation, it mentions that "847 miles left to upgrade to I-69". (Actually, you can get that number by adding the 620 and 227 miles in Grzrd's posted slide.)




Realistically, only the 279+128=307 miles can potentially be built within the next 10 years. So it will take a long time, maybe until the 2040s, so see all of I-69 completed.

However, much of the corridor south of Houston is already quite good (freeway or divided highway) so upgrading to interstate standards will have a minimal benefit.

North of Houston is where improvements are urgently needed, especially the Diboll bypass and other small towns like Corrigan. So if TxDOT can get I-69 built in those bottleneck spots within 5-10 years, huge benefits can be achieved in the near-term.

[Grzrd]

The Texas Transportation Commission has posted a December 17, 2015 I-69 Texas System Update presentation:
ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot/commission/2015/1217/4b-presentation.pdf

.... it will take a long time, maybe until the 2040s, to see all of I-69 completed.

This Alliance for I-69 Texas article, reporting on the recent I-69 implementation strategy update to the Texas Transportation Commission, states that "the current estimate for completing the 1,088 miles in the I-69 Texas System is $14.4 billion needed over the next two decades":

An implementation strategy for continuing the development of Interstate 69 is in place and is being refined by the 10 TxDOT District offices responsible for various segments of the I-69 Texas System ....
I-69 in Texas is being developed as a series of dozens of incremental projects that will eventually be tied together in a seamless system.  The implementation strategy includes a comprehensive database that will maintain and manage pertinent information and data for each I-69 project that is identified and is being tracked.  An accompanying GIS dataset is being used to graphically display projects and their TxDOT programming status ....
The current estimate for completing the 1,088 miles in the I-69 Texas System is $14.4 billion needed over the next two decades ....

Also of note are the comments of Transportation Commissioner Jeff Moseley regarding the return on investment for I-69 corridor projects:

Transportation Commissioner Jeff Moseley said that while the cost of more than $14 billion is a large number the return on that investment is also obviously very large.  He noted that the I-69 corridor serves a $1.6 trillion gross state product.
It connects to 14 international border crossings and a robust Mexican economy that economists project will be larger than Germany's within 30 years.  He also pointed in increased freight traffic that is coming with the expansion of the Panama Canal.  I-69 connects to the eight Texas deep-draft seaports that will be handling new tonnage.
"So this is very clearly a dramatic corridor," Moseley said, explaining that improvements will help address highway congestion. "It is a people moving conveyance and it also has wonderful Homeland Security and hurricane evacuation applications."

Full speed ahead ..................

[Grzrd]

Documents now up http://route.transportation.org/Pages/CommitteeNoticesActionsandApprovals.aspx
Approved if not otherwise stated, details via the document ....
TX I-69C extension (Edinburg) - conditionally approved FHWA approval needed
TX I-69E extension (Robstown) - conditionally approved FHWA approval needed

(quote from AASHTO Numbering Committee Spring '14 Meeting thread)

This Alliance for I-69 Texas article reports that FHWA recently gave final approval to the above I-69E and I-69C segments:

The Federal Highway Administration has given final approval to adding 6.1 more miles to the Interstate 69 System in South Texas.
This includes a 4.5 mile extension of Interstate 69 Central (I-69C) north to a point just past the Edinburg Airport in Hidalgo County and a 1.6 miles extension of Interstate 69 East (I-69E) on the south side of Robstown in Nueces County.  Construction on each of the sections was completed in recent months.

Here is a snip of a map accompanying the article:

The Texas Transportation Commission's December 17 Agenda indicates that the concurrent I-169 designation for the 1.5 mile section of SH 550 from I-69E to Old Alice Road should be approved on December 17 (p. 2/12 of pdf):
ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot/commission/2015/1217/agenda.pdf

This Alliance for I-69 Texas article reports that the Texas Transportation Commission did indeed approve the above I-169 designation:

The Texas Transportation Commission has completed the process of designating 1.5 miles of State Highway 550 in Brownsville as Interstate 169 -- the latest addition to the I-69 Texas System ....
The first 1.5 miles of SH 550 east of I-69E have been added to the national Interstate Highway System.  The remaining 8.5 miles includes two sections which must be constructed to interstate highway standards before the entire roadway can be designated as Interstate 169 ....
I-169/SH 550 is a limited access toll facility.  It provides an easier, faster and safer route to points such as Port Isabel and South Padre Island and is helping alleviate traffic congestion in other areas of Cameron County.

Here is a snip of a map accompanying the article:

[US 41]

Is it just me or should I-169 in Brownsville be renamed I-2?

[jbnv]

Is it just me or should I-169 in Brownsville be renamed I-2?

It's just you.

[Anthony_JK]

Is it just me or should I-169 in Brownsville be renamed I-2?

It's just you.

Although, you could make a case that 69E from the I-2 interchange in Harlingen SE'wrd could be made an I-2 extension, and the mainlines of SH 550 become an I-x02 spur.

*ducks for cover*

[Grzrd]

Texas Congressman Blake Farenthold's office announced in a January 14, 2015 press release that Farenthold has reintroduced the "44-to-69" legislation for this year

If anyone cares to follow the progress of the bill, it is also known as H.R.301 – 114th Congress (2015-2016).

TxDOT must be assuming that the proposed legislation will be enacted because an August, 2015 TxDOT I-69 System Planning and Environmental Progress map includes a study about the SH 44 route through Robstown:

http://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fastact_xml.
Section 1416 amends the ever-changing High Priority Corridor List as follows ...:
Corridor 18 (Interstate 69) is amended to include Texas State Highway 44 from United States Route 59 at Freer, Texas, to Texas State Highway 358.

(above quote from Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of December 2015 thread)

Building upon andy3175's post, this Alliance for I-69 Texas article discusses the addition of 73 miles of SH 44 to the statutory I-69 Corridor, mentions the Robstown relief route study indicated by the above map, and also mentions that approximately 5.8 miles of SH 44 in the vicinity of Corpus Christi International Airport is already at interstate highway standard:

State Highway 44 from Corpus Christi to Freer in South Texas is now part of the Congressionally Designated I-69 High Priority Corridor.
This future 73 miles of interstate will connect the freeway system in Corpus Christi with I-69 East at Robstown, future I-69 Central at Alice and future I-69 West at Freer.  It will ultimately provide an interstate connection between the busy international port at Laredo and the deepwater port at Corpus Christi which linking all three legs of the I-69 Texas System in South Texas ....
The designation applies to the section of State Highway 44 between US 59 in Freer and the SH 358 Freeway in Corpus Christi. Approximately 5.8 miles of SH 44 in the vicinity of Corpus Christi International Airport is already at interstate highway standard.
West of I-69E in Robstown, SH 44 is a four-lane divided highway through Alice and on to the city of San Diego.  The 23 miles from San Diego to Freer is a two-lane section passing through sparsely populated ranch land.  Upgrades recommended by local community stakeholders include relief routes around Alice, San Diego and Freer plus a new highway link at Robstown. A routing study for the SH 44 relief route at Robstown was initiated by TxDOT in 2015.

I suspect there is a good chance that TxDOT will submit an application for the 5.8 mile interstate standard section in time for the May AASHTO meeting. Hmmmm....... so many choices: I-6, some other 2di designation, even first digit I-x69, odd first digit I-x69 .............. 

Here is a snip from a map accompanying the article:

http://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fastact_xml.
Section 1410 talks about weight limit exceptions for portions of future I-69 in Texas ...:

(n) OPERATION OF VEHICLES ON CERTAIN HIGHWAYS IN THE STATE OF TEXAS.–If any segment in the State of Texas of United States Route 59, United States Route 77, United States Route 281, United States Route 84, Texas State Highway 44, or another roadway is designated as Interstate Route 69, a vehicle that could operate legally on that segment before the date of the designation may continue to operate on that segment, without regard to any requirement under this section ....

(above quote from Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of December 2015 thread)

The Alliance article also discusses the weight limit exemptions:

The federal highway bill, officially known as the FAST Act, also includes a provision dealing with trucks operating on I-69 in Texas.  It was sponsored by Farenthold and co-sponsored by East Texas Congressman Brian Babin and Houston Congressman Gene Green.  It provides that vehicles that can legally operated on one of the I-69 designated existing highways today will be authorized to operate on that segment after it is officially designated as Interstate 69 in the future.

[The Ghostbuster]

Personally, I'd keep the roadway numbered State Highway 44, but that's just my opinion.

[wdcrft63]

I-369 is a reasonable choice.

[oscar]

I-369 is a reasonable choice.

Already taken, up in Texarkana.

[CentralPAGal]

I-369 is a reasonable choice.

Already taken, up in Texarkana.

Then there's only one solution that makes any sense, given the I-69E/C/W crap... Multiplex I-369 down I-69, along I-69W at the first split, and along I-69C at the second split. This proceeds to TX 44. TX 44 east of I-69C is I-369E and vice versa.

[yakra]

Texas has way too much of a boner for slapping I-x69y shields on everything it can. I-369 should really be I-x30.

[Guysdrive780]

I-369 is a reasonable choice.

Already taken, up in Texarkana.

Then there's only one solution that makes any sense, given the I-69E/C/W crap... Multiplex I-369 down I-69, along I-69W at the first split, and along I-69C at the second split. This proceeds to TX 44. TX 44 east of I-69C is I-369E and vice versa.

How about calling 369 Interstate 6 or 4

[Bobby5280]

Where did this "I-369" nonsense originate regarding an Interstate quality upgrade of TX-44? It's an invalid designation due to I-369 already being reserved for a pretty long 3di route from Tehana to Texarkana.

I-169 is already taken. But "I-569," "I-769," and "I-969" are all available for odd digit designations.

Since the Interstate on the TX-44 corridor would touch more than one Interstate route one could make a case for an even digit designation. "I-269," "I-469," "I-669," and "I-869" are all available. If this even digit route had to terminate at Interstate highways at both ends the East end wouldn't be difficult. Just co-sign it along the existing TX-358 freeway for the last 1.5 miles so it can end at I-37.

As to "I-6" or "I-4", I think the route would be best signed as a "I-x69" 3di route, or perhaps even a "I-x37" 3di route if it can connect with I-37 at its East terminus. OTOH, I don't know where else one could build "I-6" other than a Corpus Christi to Laredo route. Still, Corpus Christi to Freer is only about 75 miles. That's kind of short for a 2di route. I-2 is very short, but there is at least some long term potential it could be extended up to Laredo and at least be over 100 miles in length.