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[MaxConcrete]

Low bid last week for rebuilding and widening 6.7 miles to 3x3: $128 million. This section extends the existing 3x3 section, which stops at the Montgomery/Walker county line.
http://www.dot.state.tx.us/insdtdot/orgchart/cmd/cserve/bidtab/01043001.htm

A video was recently posted of plans in Huntsville. It shows 3x3 main lanes, plus two-lane collectors on each side for a long distance, for a net of 10 freeway main lanes. The collector lanes will serve local traffic and prevent intermingling with the through-traffic between Houston and Dallas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a08wqAaa7ZI

[Bobby5280]

The simulation in the video seems a little crude. I assume the I-45 main lanes and collector lanes are going to have proper shoulders. The roadways in the simulation don't have any shoulders. Considering how I-35 was re-built North of Austin, I would kind of expect the 3x3 main lanes of I-45 to not have any grassy median separating them, only a concrete Jersey barrier. But that would probably leave enough room for the shoulders.

[longhorn]

Interesting, the middle section is like an express section. Kind of reminds me of the Jersey tollway.

[Chris]

A 'PEL' study has been launched for I-45 north of Houston as well. This concerns the 24 mile section between Beltway 8 and Loop 336 in Conroe.

http://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/get-involved/about/hearings-meetings/houston/0308180.html

This is the third PEL study announced for Houston freeways, public meetings were also held for the I-10 (East Freeway) and I-69 (Southwest Freeway) PEL studies.

I-45 between Beltway 8 and Conroe has been upgraded more recently than I-10 and I-69, according to the Houston Freeways website, this section has been upgraded to current standards in phases between 1997 and 2003.

So it appears that the Hardy Toll Road extension to Conroe is dead and I-45 will be expanded instead?

[Perfxion]

It would be hard to extend the Hardy north. There is too much built too near the highways with too much rich money. It would be a riot if they tried buying out that. They are having a hard time turning a freight line into a bullet train without any land buyouts. The hardy expansion won't happen.

[TXtoNJ]

I like the Huntsville plans. It's the safest way to maintain 75 mph on the mainlanes.

It may seem strange that they're considering reconstruction of 45N just 15 years after previous completion, but no one was expecting the ExxonMobil ops HQ to be built where it was. Likewise, The Woodlands has become a commercial center far beyond even its most optimistic boosters' dreams.

With this in mind, it's not the capacity that's a problem - it's how the lanes are being used. There needs to be a way to separate the northbound through traffic from the local Woodlands traffic, especially if there will be no Hardy extension. Reconstructing 45 into a 3x3x3x3 local-express facility from BW8 to 336 would be the best way to approach this.

[Bobby5280]

There is very little space for adding new lanes to I-45 between Conroe and Beltway 8. Any significant expansion, such as 2 or more additional lanes in each direction, would either require elevating those additional lanes above the existing highway or clearing a great deal of property to expand outward.  Either scenario would be very costly. If an elevated option is pursued that could actually serve as a Hardy Toll Road extension.

[Anthony_JK]

I like the Huntsville plans. It's the safest way to maintain 75 mph on the mainlanes.

It may seem strange that they're considering reconstruction of 45N just 15 years after previous completion, but no one was expecting the ExxonMobil ops HQ to be built where it was. Likewise, The Woodlands has become a commercial center far beyond even its most optimistic boosters' dreams.

With this in mind, it's not the capacity that's a problem - it's how the lanes are being used. There needs to be a way to separate the northbound through traffic from the local Woodlands traffic, especially if there will be no Hardy extension. Reconstructing 45 into a 3x3x3x3 local-express facility from BW8 to 336 would be the best way to approach this.

They could do what they did to the Katy Freeway I-10 segment in Houston and drop in some 2X2 MaX lanes in the median for express traffic, connecting that to the Hardy Toll Road terminus.

[Chris]

I-45 statistics (source: http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot/get-involved/hou/i45-pel/022718-exhibit-boards.pdf)

[TXtoNJ]

There is very little space for adding new lanes to I-45 between Conroe and Beltway 8. Any significant expansion, such as 2 or more additional lanes in each direction, would either require elevating those additional lanes above the existing highway or clearing a great deal of property to expand outward.  Either scenario would be very costly. If an elevated option is pursued that could actually serve as a Hardy Toll Road extension.

They could go with an LBJ North sort of cantilevering combined with elevated roadways in other parts. I would imagine they would want any double-deckered portion depressed through The Woodlands.

[MaxConcrete]

There is very little space for adding new lanes to I-45 between Conroe and Beltway 8. Any significant expansion, such as 2 or more additional lanes in each direction, would either require elevating those additional lanes above the existing highway or clearing a great deal of property to expand outward.  Either scenario would be very costly. If an elevated option is pursued that could actually serve as a Hardy Toll Road extension.

I agree, any major expansion is going to be very difficult, costly and disruptive. With the $7 billion I-45 project between downtown and BW 8 already consuming most available funding in the 2020s, a less costly plan is most realistic to actually get improvements done.

I'm predicting that the recommendation is going to be mainly intersection improvements and the addition of auxiliary lanes where feasible. The intersection improvement program will include adding the remaining 6 unbuilt connectors at the Grand Parkway. Auxiliary lanes are needed around the Grand Parkway and Hardy Toll Road.

[Bobby5280]

One thing metro Houston needs very badly is improvements to surface street grids to filter traffic better. They can add more capacity to freeways as much as they like, but as long as so many neighborhoods have every freaking surface street, business entrance and driveway spilling out directly onto the main thoroughfares we're still going to see really stupid traffic jams at any time of day. Those jams often clog intersections and then back up onto the freeways. I've been caught up in traffic jams in Houston, even late at night, due to woefully inefficient street grid design.

Some of the newer residential development neighborhoods have their street layouts filtered where there's only a couple or so entrances/exits onto the main arterials. Unfortunately very few of the commercial and industrial zones in Houston have followed the same approach. Driveways and intersections are all over the place. I remember one drive on Gessner Rd next to Memorial City Mall in the middle of the day on a weekend. I was trying to get to I-10 nearby. It took half an hour to travel less than half a mile to get on I-10. There's half a dozen traffic signaled intersections in that short stretch along with lots of driveways. Each red light seemed to take forever to run its cycle. I could have walked or even crawled faster than that infuriating garbage.

[rte66man]

Traveled to Houston this week.  I was again reminded that depressing any lanes for an I-45 expansion isn't feasible due to the frequent flooding.  You could pump out the water but it would have no place to go.  I would disagree about elevating lanes through the Woodlands.  There are already high ramps at 242.

[TXtoNJ]

Traveled to Houston this week.  I was again reminded that depressing any lanes for an I-45 expansion isn't feasible due to the frequent flooding.  You could pump out the water but it would have no place to go.  I would disagree about elevating lanes through the Woodlands.  There are already high ramps at 242.

And people who don't live here don't understand - the added detention volume from the depressed freeways is a feature, not a bug. That's water that's not otherwise in a creek or a neighborhood.

[Chris]

I've read that most newer malls have parking lots that are designed to flood as a last resort detention pond. Some media saw the street flooding as a design failure, but evidently the Houston street system is designed to store water in case of flooding. Of course Hurricane Harvey was an extraordinary event. It dumped twice as much rain as flood-proof role model Netherlands receives in an entire year.

[Bobby5280]

And people who don't live here don't understand - the added detention volume from the depressed freeways is a feature, not a bug. That's water that's not otherwise in a creek or a neighborhood.

I wouldn't think a depressed freeway would be big enough to make any significant difference to flood water volume. We've had flash floods and valley-wide floods here in SW OK. Seeing some of that in person has me thinking that's a lot more water than any freeway or parking lot is going to hold.

And then there's the matter of freeways serving as evacuation routes along hurricane-prone coasts. Most people are going to be gone before the storm hits. A freeway in a trench is going to collect more than just flood water. Once the water levels finally recede a whole bunch of stuff may be left behind blocking the highway.

[rte66man]

Traveled to Houston this week.  I was again reminded that depressing any lanes for an I-45 expansion isn't feasible due to the frequent flooding.  You could pump out the water but it would have no place to go.  I would disagree about elevating lanes through the Woodlands.  There are already high ramps at 242.

And people who don't live here don't understand - the added detention volume from the depressed freeways is a feature, not a bug. That's water that's not otherwise in a creek or a neighborhood.

I am a past resident of Houston and have been coming here for business reasons for the past 30 years.  I understand very well how Houston floods. They are certainly doing better that 30 years ago.

Detention ponds have a large footprint.  Where along the proposed route would you put them?  Willow Waterhole greenspace ?

[Anthony_JK]

Traveled to Houston this week.  I was again reminded that depressing any lanes for an I-45 expansion isn't feasible due to the frequent flooding.  You could pump out the water but it would have no place to go.  I would disagree about elevating lanes through the Woodlands.  There are already high ramps at 242.

And people who don't live here don't understand - the added detention volume from the depressed freeways is a feature, not a bug. That's water that's not otherwise in a creek or a neighborhood.

I actually have family that live in North Houston, so I perfectly understand.

The main issue with flooding in H-Town is that waaaay too much land is concreted over by sprawl, and there's really no place for any water to settle but the depressed freeways. Smarter land use and tighter zoning regulations requiring space for runoff and detention would definitely help ease the situation. Obviously, an extreme event like Harvey would exacerbate matters, but with climate change making such events happen more often, the sense of urgency should be greater.

As far as I-45 north of Houston goes: maybe you could do a cantilevered or tunneled express lane/MaX lane setup like I-635 in Dallas, or a raised lane cantilevered effect through The Woodlands, extended south to the northern terminus of the Hardy Toll Road. That seems to be the default choice these days.

[TXtoNJ]

The water settling in the freeways is a good thing. I'll take a day of traffic inconvenience over houses flooding where they never have before.

[MaxConcrete]

Work to rebuild and widen to 3x3 between New Waverly and Huntsville is progressing well and it looks like it will be complete by the end of the year. Photos taken today.

[Plutonic Panda]

Max, I really appreciate your updates and they inspire me to go out and get some photos of some where I’m at in LA and OKC. Thanks again for these. I haven’t been to Houston in almost 4 years.

[MaxConcrete]

I drove through this section of IH-45 today.

South of mm 106, everything is complete and open.

North of mm 106, all southbound lanes are open. (The new pavement starts north of SH 19 in Huntsville.) On the northbound side, the pavement is done but traffic is still on two lanes. The only remaining work is restriping and installing some overhead signs.

All (or very nearly all) work at the SH 19 interchange in Huntsville is done.

The next section is through Huntsville, and the plans include 3x3 for through traffic and 2x2 lanes for local traffic. This is currently listed at $193 million for September 2021 bidding.
https://www.dot.state.tx.us/insdtdot/orgchart/cmd/cserve/let/2022/walker.htm#067507097

TxDOT is proceeding with soliciting consultants to prepare plans for upgrading all the remaining 2x2 between Houston and Dallas. There was recently a meeting, with the work estimated to cost $2.4 billion. According to the schedule in the link below, sections should be ready to start construction between 2024 and 2027.
https://www.txdot.gov/business/consultants/architectural-engineering-surveying/meetings/033021.html

[MaxConcrete]

Today bids were opened for the next project as the expansion progresses northward. Today's bid opening is for work through Huntsville. It will widen the freeway to 3x3 and add 2x2 collector-distributor lanes for local traffic for  most of the length. The winning bid is $203 million by Houston's Williams Brothers Construction.
http://www.dot.state.tx.us/insdtdot/orgchart/cmd/cserve/bidtab/09023201.htm

County:   WALKER   Let Date:   09/02/21
Type:   WIDEN ROAD - ADD LANES   Seq No:   3201
Time:   0 X   Project ID:   F 2022(009)
Highway:   IH 45   Contract #:   09213201
Length:   3.559   CCSJ:   0675-07-097
Limits:   
From:   0.3 MILES NORTH OF SH 19   Check:   $100,000
To:   SH 30   Misc Cost:   
Estimate   $198,856,064.31   % Over/Under   Company
Bidder 1   $202,938,414.98   +2.05%   WILLIAMS BROTHERS CONSTRUCTION CO., INC.
Bidder 2   $210,853,767.95   +6.03%   WEBBER, LLC
Bidder 3   $224,125,911.72   +12.71%   JAMES CONSTRUCTION GROUP, LLC

[kernals12]

I can't help but think this is partially motivated as a way to turn up the heat on Harris County to get them to support the NHHIP.

[MaxConcrete]

I can't help but think this is partially motivated as a way to turn up the heat on Harris County to get them to support the NHHIP.

I don't think the Huntsville job has anything to do with NHHIP. This project has been planned for a very long time and is part of the northward progression of expansion from Houston that has been ongoing for 20 years. As I noted in a prior post, TxDOT has the process underway to upgrade all remaining 2x2 to 3x3 between Houston and Dallas.