I-10 And Beltway 8

[Hunter]

I read some where that when construction of the I-10 and beltway 8 interchange starts they will have to tear the whole thing down and start over due to width problems. What I heard was that the area needed to widen I-10 was not wide enough due to the supports holding up Beltway 8.

Anyone else hear this? Can anyone please expand?

[CincoRanch-HoustonResident]

Whole thing comming down. Sixteen years of life, and now gone.

[ssullivan]

Yes it will come down and be rebuilt, a section at a time. But it will be a couple of years still before that phase of construction starts.

The ramps between the two highways are in places that would not work with the widened Katy Freeway. The existing ramps to/from the Katy westbound would end up in the middle of the new freeway if the interchange wasn't rebuilt.

The 610/Katy interchange is also being almost completely rebuilt as part of the Katy expansion.

[tw2ntyse7en]

...

[ssullivan]

it's ugly anyway (BW8) - tear it down, and rebuild it with the same look as the High Five in Dallas.

As for I610 - are they going to tear the whole thing down or are they going to leave it two-faced - meaning the east half of the overpass & the east half of Post Oak overpass remaining the old contruction, with the west half having the new construction?

Glen

No it's going to be totally rebuilt. The Post Oak overpass is only half completed; the old bridge will be torn down and replaced with the rest of the new bridge. Same thing with 610. Those bridges are like that now because TxDOT had to demolish old structures to build the new ones, but at the same time, had to keep traffic flowing.

And don't worry, it will all look similar to the Dallas High Five Interchange. All new freeway construction in Houston is getting those same architectural elements. Go look at the underside of the Eastex, West Loop, Southwest in Sugar Land, 249, and several other freeways built/rebuilt after 1999 to see this. The existing Katy/Sam Houston interchange was built in the late 1980s according to the statewide design standards of the time. Interchanges in other cities in Texas built at that time look the same way. But the new one, as with the rest of the Katy, will look much better.

[GovernorAggie]

Has anyone seen the schematics for the new Katy/610 interchange? It will be a crazy yet amazing looking structure. Not only will you have the current ramps rebuilt better, but you will also have ramps from the Katy Tollway in the middle going to 610. So in essence, you will have two complex interchanges built into one. I think the same will be the case at BW8.

As a side note, the best thing about the reconstruction of 290 will be if they can do something with the 290/BW8 stack. It's massive and goes on forever, but I hope we see a better design for this gateway.

[ssullivan]

That 290 interchange is really ugly.

And yes, the 610/Katy interchange will be quite complex. There will also be a number of ramps from the interchange's direct connector ramps to the 610 frontage roads so that drivers coming from the Katy can exit to streets like Post Oak Blvd. without actually entering the 610 mainlanes.

[GovernorAggie]

Yeah, the "Hot Links".

You can also see how huge 610/Katy will be b/c of that structures built that look to carry another roadway above the new Katy EB/610 SB ramp. I think it will be the Katy Tollway EB/610 SB ramp, but I have go back and check. If so, I can't imagine the height of that ramp!