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Will Clayton Parkway


djrage

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What is the back story on this stretch of road west of us59/I-69 near Humble? The large median makes me think it's the right of way for a freeway. Google searches turn up nothing. The Texas Freeway website has nothing. Aerial views from Google Earth of WCP resemble other locations around town that were cleared for future highways but never came to be. (225/Harrisburg Freeway, Red Bluff/Fairmont Parkway, 122 Bay City Freeway) . Anyone know?

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Will Clayton will get grade separated main lanes much like JFK does into the airport--one day. It's been a part of the master plan. Much of it will also be shifted further south with terminal reconstruction--one day. Check out the master plan for IAH at www.fly2houston.com .

 

That's pretty interesting. Makes sense that they would have all kinds of long range plans as the Houston area grows and air traffic increases. I definitely like the idea of putting an overpass at JFK and Greens Rd, and direct connectors at 59/69 and Will Clayton. And that Humble Parkway stretching all the way from Greens Rd to 1960 and beyond would provide another way in and out of the area. 

 

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The part where Houston Freeways discusses Will Clayton (originally Jetero Blvd.) talks about how even though it was designed to be a freeway in the long run, never had any actual concrete plans to do so. By the time the airport opened in 1969, new urban freeway construction was on its way out, due to public concern over freeways and funding issues. The fact that the east entranceway (Will Clayton) was never very busy anyway led it not be put on any planning documents.

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Well there it is. Confirms my suspicions. Thanks everyone!

It's also worth noting that by the time Jetero was built and new freeway construction was on the fast decline, mass transit WAS discussed going to the airport, but it was just talk and no plans were made to actually hook up mass transit to the airport.

When the Hardy Toll Road was built and the airport connection was rebuilt (not to mention the completion of Beltway 8 as a full toll road), those indirectly had the effects of making Will Clayton a freeway irrelevant. Partially growth patterns dictated this--the northeast part of Houston is the least developed, and not even the Beltway was completely completed until maybe the late 2000s.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Airport and Continental employees planted all those beautiful trees a few years ago in the median.  That would be a nightmare to tear them down for concrete.  

 

In another 10 years that median will be an absolutely impenetrable thicket. Looks like everything was planted about twice as dense as I would have expected, not bad, just unnaturally dense for a landscaped space.

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  • 7 years later...
On 12/2/2014 at 2:26 PM, Nate99 said:

 

In another 10 years that median will be an absolutely impenetrable thicket. Looks like everything was planted about twice as dense as I would have expected, not bad, just unnaturally dense for a landscaped space.

Are there still plans to build the direct connectors from Will Clayton to 59?

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