I-10 Houston - Katy Freeway widening

[Chris]

What's the status on this project? I heard claims like "26 lanes", are there any pictures of the widened part? Google Earth only shows it under construction.

[yanksfan6129]

I thought it was pretty much complete, but I'm not sure. I guess I would check TXDOT's website.

[Marc]

The Katy Freeway has been complete since October. I drive it everyday. Sadly, there are already problem spots during rush hour. Westbound at TX-6 gets real bad because they cut at least one or two mainlanes of traffic. Also, a ramp connecting I-10 westbound to TX-99 (Grand Parkway) southbound is desperately needed.

The HOV/HOT lanes, dubbed the Katy Tollway, are pretty interesting. The tolls fluctuate depending on the hour. If you are a high occupancy vehicle, you can travel in the lanes for free during peak hours or paid during off hours. If you are a single occupancy vehicle, you may use EzTag to travel on the lanes anytime. They currently have it setup to where the left lane is HOV and the right lane is EzTag during peak hours. EzTag is setup for both lanes during off hours.

[Revive 755]

Some near complete pictures at the bottom of this page:
http://houstonfreeways.com/modern/2008-07-06_katy_freeway.aspx

So far I'm not finding anything more recent.

[Chris]

Wow, that's just massive! I gotta see the first freeway in Europe that has 8 lanes in one direction without a barrier.

[Marc]

HOVers can't use the lanes off-peak without paying?

Correct.

[Chris]

Ultimate capitalism... you know, buy your way through congestion. 

[FreewayDan]

A tragic accident occurred at the I-10/Beltway 8/Sam Houston Tollway interchange recently:

http://www.click2houston.com/news/19322059/detail.html
http://www.click2houston.com/news/19316354/detail.html
http://www.click2houston.com/video/19315623/index.html

Seems like the construction isn't quite done yet.

[Marc]

The accident occurred the morning after a very very heavy rainfall. I had heard on another station that the interchange did what it was designed to do. There are two retention ponds and a creek nearby, but they had already filled up, so the intersection began to take on water. The below-grade frontage roads were well under water that morning. My girlfriend's college is near that interchange and the school shut down that day because of it.

[DrZoidberg]

Thanks for the photos, Revive.  That's an impressive looking highway.  Those "braided" ramps are really interesting.  You don't see those that often.

[Chris]

I wonder what the traffic volumes are on this section:


There seems to be about 20 lanes. If loaded to capacity, traffic volumes would be around 440,000.

[BigMattFromTexas]

Some near complete pictures at the bottom of this page:
http://houstonfreeways.com/modern/2008-07-06_katy_freeway.aspx

So far I'm not finding anything more recent.

On the seventh photo dow
It must be dark under there 

[Alps]

Some near complete pictures at the bottom of this page:
http://houstonfreeways.com/modern/2008-07-06_katy_freeway.aspx

So far I'm not finding anything more recent.

On the seventh photo dow
It must be dark under there 

In NJ there's a certain minimum length of underpass before they install lighting.  Don't know what TxDOT policy is but they may want to make an exception.

[Marc]

Update on this topic. It took me an hour to get from Downtown to Katy today on the newly completed Katy Freeway. I finally jumped on the Katy Tollway so I could get moving again.

[Scott5114]

That is one ugly I-10 shield!

[J N Winkler]

That is one ugly I-10 shield!

Yup.  Unfortunately, it is designed exactly as shown in Standard Highway Sign Designs for Texas.  It does not match the Katy Freeway reconstruction plans, BTW (I have a more or less complete set because I downloaded the plans when the various contracts were being advertised--the total sheet count was close to 20,000).  The stretched shields for tollways were not introduced until about 2006, and most of the large contracts were advertised in 2003 and 2004, so the original signing concept for the Katy Tollway called for a pentagonal county shield with purple background (similar to those used on other HCTRA toll facilities which do not closely parallel an existing free route).

[Chris]

Update on this topic. It took me an hour to get from Downtown to Katy today on the newly completed Katy Freeway. I finally jumped on the Katy Tollway so I could get moving again.

That doesn't surprise me though. The location you took those pics of, carries 223,000 AADT on 8 general purpose lanes, and 4 managed lanes. Given the fact few people want to pay toll, close to 200,000 AADT on 8 lanes is still a lot.