Upcoming construction on I-45 and US59 near downtown

[HoustonMidtown]

Upcoming projects to reduce congestion on northbound I-45 at US59

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Project-aims-to-untie-I-45-northbound-traffic-knot-5736953.php?cmpid=twitter-premium&t=6220c6aed20519a485

[JLWM8609]

Upcoming projects to reduce congestion on northbound I-45 at US59

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Project-aims-to-untie-I-45-northbound-traffic-knot-5736953.php?cmpid=twitter-premium&t=6220c6aed20519a485

 

Some suggested this as an idea to reduce traffic on another thread not too long ago.

[Slick Vik]

Good idea

[DNAguy]

Some suggested this as an idea to reduce traffic on another thread not too long ago.

 

Yes they did. Does that mean TxDOT is reading HAIF? 

 

 

If so, we should start a thread: Ideas for TxDOT!

[samagon]

Yes they did. Does that mean TxDOT is reading HAIF? 

 

 

If so, we should start a thread: Ideas for TxDOT!

 

I hope it does mean they are reading, and if so.

 

they need to close the ramp from 59 south to 45 north, redirect traffic to take i10 west to 45 north. 

 

also close the ramp from i10 west to 45 south, redirect traffic to take 59 south to 45 south.

 

from reading that article though, it was open for a public hearing back in 2011, and I posted that suggestion about a month ago, so looks like they've been sitting on it waiting for the idea to resurface here.

[Houston19514]

Yeah, except that TxDOT started planning this about 5 years ago, including public meetings 3 years ago.  It's more likely that people on this board got the idea, directly or indirectly from TxDOT than vice versa.

[Luminare]

Yeah usually these ideas take a long long time develop. For instance an active discussion is the Reroute of the Pierce Elevated and the major I-45 rebuild is still in preliminary design phase where they are just getting ideas. This means that a major rebuild of I-45 won't happen for another 5 years at the least. It's the same with this Project. 5 years ago they probably had some prelim meetings with people to field some ideas. Then a few years of designing, traffic studies, and research. Then 3 years ago they started major discussion with communities to discuss possible changes or improvements or concerns. As much fun as it would be for HAIF to have that kind of influence (which one day we might you never know) it's highly unlikely and that most the ideas probably came from those final meetings a few years ago.

 

EDIT: My theory is this was also an idea formulated after significant studies of the connections of 290, 610 and I-10. The design they are implementing there is exactly what is being done here. You position the exit to another highway at least a mile away making motorist commit sooner so you don't have the NASCAR "gotta get 6 lanes over at the last minute" effect. It's actually a very mature design philosophy which I hope they implement everywhere else (something that I'm actually quite shock by. TXDot....intelligent thought process...blasphemy!). They really need to do the same thing to the interchange of 59 to 610 to I-10. That is the worse bottleneck of all.

[JLWM8609]

Does anyone have any links to schematics for how these new ramps will be laid out?

[MaxConcrete]

Does anyone have any links to schematics for how these new ramps will be laid out?

 

The construction plans are available online at

http://www.dot.state.tx.us/business/plansonline/plansonline.htm

CCSJ - 0500-03-572

 

However, I cannot get the browser to display the images in the window. Non-IE browsers are most troublesome. Older versions of IE have the best chance of working. For the most recent version of IE, I have to download each page and then view it - very annoying. Generally you want to view pages with names like "project layout" or "plan profile".

[IronTiger]

Yeah usually these ideas take a long long time develop. For instance an active discussion is the Reroute of the Pierce Elevated and the major I-45 rebuild is still in preliminary design phase where they are just getting ideas. This means that a major rebuild of I-45 won't happen for another 5 years at the least. It's the same with this Project. 5 years ago they probably had some prelim meetings with people to field some ideas. Then a few years of designing, traffic studies, and research. Then 3 years ago they started major discussion with communities to discuss possible changes or improvements or concerns. As much fun as it would be for HAIF to have that kind of influence (which one day we might you never know) it's highly unlikely and that most the ideas probably came from those final meetings a few years ago.

 

EDIT: My theory is this was also an idea formulated after significant studies of the connections of 290, 610 and I-10. The design they are implementing there is exactly what is being done here. You position the exit to another highway at least a mile away making motorist commit sooner so you don't have the NASCAR "gotta get 6 lanes over at the last minute" effect. It's actually a very mature design philosophy which I hope they implement everywhere else (something that I'm actually quite shock by. TXDot....intelligent thought process...blasphemy!). They really need to do the same thing to the interchange of 59 to 610 to I-10. That is the worse bottleneck of all.

We've also discussed the 610/45/225 shift. My dream plan for that area would be removing the useless stub of 225 inside the Loop (no need to remind anyone of that freeway for good or bad), reconnect the streets east of Broadway (Woodruff and Roosevelt, say), and also in the process, make a true connection to Lawndale. I might post a plan later...

[BigFootsSocks]

The construction plans are available online at

http://www.dot.state.tx.us/business/plansonline/plansonline.htm

CCSJ - 0500-03-572

 

However, I cannot get the browser to display the images in the window. Non-IE browsers are most troublesome. Older versions of IE have the best chance of working. For the most recent version of IE, I have to download each page and then view it - very annoying. Generally you want to view pages with names like "project layout" or "plan profile".

So that just takes me to the home page and I have no idea what I'm looking at..

[urban909]

So that just takes me to the home page and I have no idea what I'm looking at..

 

Go to State Let Construction Projects and click on September 2014. When the window pops up click on Harris county and you will see the file CCSJ-0500-03-572. I can't get it to display on my computer at work but maybe you'll have better luck.

[BigFootsSocks]

That's what I did and it said it contains a 0KB file which means nothing's in there. Maybe because I'm using a Mac?

[IronTiger]

Definitely a terrible user interface, but I followed all that to the zero KB folders, then clicked the yellow button at the upper right to see the pages, but then I had to download them.

[urban909]

That's what I did and it said it contains a 0KB file which means nothing's in there. Maybe because I'm using a Mac?

 

I'm having the same issues on a Dell.

[BigFootsSocks]

No one told TXDOT to update to the 21st century...

[samagon]

So this project is finally starting...

 

http://www.chron.com/news/transportation/article/Changes-coming-to-downtown-I-45-interchange-10837963.php#photo-12143280

 

The schematic link farther up this thread is dead.

 

I wonder if they're still accessible anywhere?

[j_cuevas713]

This sucks! This is going to take forever to finish! The East End is screwed for a long time.

[Houston19514]

2 hours ago, samagon said:

So this project is finally starting...

 

http://www.chron.com/news/transportation/article/Changes-coming-to-downtown-I-45-interchange-10837963.php#photo-12143280

 

The schematic link farther up this thread is dead.

 

I wonder if they're still accessible anywhere?

 

I had been wondering what had become of this project.

[samagon]

26 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said:

This sucks! This is going to take forever to finish! The East End is screwed for a long time.

 

While this one is being constructed it's going to suck, but I think once complete, from what I have heard, it'll be a benefit for the local community. Where there is negative impact, it is outweighed by the positive. There's no ROW being taken from communities, they aren't removing local street access from the grid. The worst I see is that if you plan on entering the freeway at Scott street, or Cullen, you won't have access to 59. 

 

Maybe with enough local residential complaints (and UH too) there can be an entrance added down the line? 

 

The positive results should be reduced congestion, and less accidents from this sudden congestion.

 

Overall though, this is an example of smart and responsible planning/design vs the pierce elevated mess.

[j_cuevas713]

3 minutes ago, samagon said:

 

While this one is being constructed it's going to suck, but I think once complete, from what I have heard, it'll be a benefit for the local community. Where there is negative impact, it is outweighed by the positive. There's no ROW being taken from communities, they aren't removing local street access from the grid. The worst I see is that if you plan on entering the freeway at Scott street, or Cullen, you won't have access to 59. 

 

Maybe with enough local residential complaints (and UH too) there can be an entrance added down the line? 

 

The positive results should be reduced congestion, and less accidents from this sudden congestion.

 

This is an example of smart and responsible planning/design vs the pierce elevated mess.

Yeah you're probably right. I'm just tired of free construction everywhere, especially freeway construction 

[cspwal]

From the project tracker:

http://apps.dot.state.tx.us/apps-cq/project_tracker/

Quote

Project ID	050003605	District	Houston
Highway	IH 45	Project Length	1.64 Miles
From Limit	SP 5	County	Harris
To Limit	IH 69	Bid Received Date	2017-Jan
Description	Construct Entrance And Exit Ramps, Remove And Replace Existing Ih 69 Nb And Sb Direct Connectors	Project Class	INC
Project Note	This project is being developed by non-TxDOT resources. Estimates have been provided to TxDOT by these resources.	Strategic Score	0.00

 

The closest thing I've found to a schematic of it is the current pdf for the I45 north project.  That has ramps coming off spur 5 going to 59, that are unlikely to be demoed for the big project.

http://www.ih45northandmore.com/docs5/20160428_NHHIP_Seg3_Project_Updates.pdf

 

[samagon]

yeah, that was the best I could find too. I suspect that they will absolutely have to redo portions of the ramp from 45 to 59nb, as the current ROW of 59 is a block to the west of where the future will be.

 

it looks like the 45 to 59sb is kind of landing in the same spot.

[Triton]

2 hours ago, samagon said:

 

While this one is being constructed it's going to suck, but I think once complete, from what I have heard, it'll be a benefit for the local community. Where there is negative impact, it is outweighed by the positive. There's no ROW being taken from communities, they aren't removing local street access from the grid. The worst I see is that if you plan on entering the freeway at Scott street, or Cullen, you won't have access to 59. 

 

Maybe with enough local residential complaints (and UH too) there can be an entrance added down the line? 

 

The positive results should be reduced congestion, and less accidents from this sudden congestion.

 

Overall though, this is an example of smart and responsible planning/design vs the pierce elevated mess.

 

I feel like there's been some change in TXDOT over the past several years... might just be perception, but it feels like they're truly focusing on smart design now. They understand where people want to go across several lanes and try to eliminate problems like that. Where I live close to I-10 and I-45, they've been reconstructing the highway and all the little improvements here and there, including longer merge lanes for access ramps, all seem to be adding up to improve traffic flow. 

[mollusk]

7 hours ago, Triton said:

 

I feel like there's been some change in TXDOT over the past several years... might just be perception, but it feels like they're truly focusing on smart design now. They understand where people want to go across several lanes and try to eliminate problems like that. Where I live close to I-10 and I-45, they've been reconstructing the highway and all the little improvements here and there, including longer merge lanes for access ramps, all seem to be adding up to improve traffic flow. 

 

I'm going to miss all those Merges of Death (***sniff...***).  They made such a great flimsy justification for daily devotions to Our Lady of the Blessed Acceleration .

[mkultra25]

16 hours ago, mollusk said:

 

I'm going to miss all those Merges of Death (***sniff...***).  They made such a great flimsy justification for daily devotions to Our Lady of the Blessed Acceleration .

 

All parishioners are commanded to downshift twice while double-clutching and recite Verse 4 from Marinetti's Futurist Manifesto:

 

Quote

We declare that the splendor of the world has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing automobile with its bonnet adorned with great tubes like serpents with explosive breath ... a roaring motor car which seems to run on machine-gun fire, is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.

 

Although I suspect "Ora pro nobis" has probably been uttered far more often by countless drivers just prior to attempting one of those Merges of Death. 

[cloud713]

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff, The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has informed the University of Houston that it will close a significant portion of Spur 5 northbound from the University of Houston campus to downtown destinations beginning at 9 p.m., Friday, March 3. It will be closed for the next seven to nine months. All traffic that travels Spur 5 northbound (the fully elevated portion from UH to downtown exits) will be immediately detoured to the Scott St. exit ramp. Drivers will loop around and turn right to access the I-45 northbound frontage road to reach downtown. Only the elevated portion of Spur 5 northbound to downtown destinations is affected in the first phase of the I-45 Northbound Direct Connector Project. Drivers will still be able to access the I-45 northbound lanes from Spur 5.  Drivers traveling from UH to downtown are encouraged to find alternative routes and avoid Spur 5 northbound to downtown destinations. Additionally, all commuters should avoid the area of Scott St. at I-45 or expect delays. The work is part of the first phase of a construction project that will build a direct connector from I-45 north to I-69/US 59/SH 288 southbound and a second connector to I-69/US 59 northbound alleviating the bottleneck at the current I-45/US 59 split just south of downtown. Road construction is expected in this area until 2019. For more information visit www.houstontranstar.org for a complete list of closures related to this construction project.  The University of Houston will post updates on construction as they become available at http://www.uh.edu/af-auxiliary-services/parking/parking-on-campus/traffic-alert/45-construction.php.

[j_cuevas713]

And it begins... driving through the East End yesterday, I tried my best to envision a covered freeway park. I guess when it all comes together, it will really connect downtown to the East End. The good thing is a lot of the sidewalks and walkability will increase greatly on that end of town due to the construction. I guess I'm a little bummed to see a couple of historic buildings with so much potential get leveled to the ground. 

[HoustonMidtown]

[hindesky]

Luckily I have 2 options coming home from work in Baytown, IH10 to IH45 exit Bagby/Dallas or 225 to 610 to IH45 and downtown destinations exit. Unfortunately I took the second option the other day, it's a mess and will only get worse. I guess if I get off at Cullen and hop on Elgin would be better than dealing with the Scott St exit mess.