610 South & Woodway/Memorial

[MissyYoshiAiko]

First of all, I live off of I-10 and Silber, so I don't appreciate the construction 'changes' they've made recently (removed Silber exit from I-10, removed various entrance ramps from I-10 around Silber & Antoine).

Anyway, the traffic on the main lanes and feeder of 610S & Woodway/Memorial has become blood-curlingly frustrating lately! There's two, yes TWO exit ramps onto the feeder between Memorial and Woodway, both within ~1000 ft of each other. Everyone who is exiting is trying to make their way across to turn right onto Woodway.

Is this for real? Did no one at TxDOT figure out that this would be a complete nightmare? Especially since people who live off of I-10 close to 610/I-10 have no choice but to take feeder roads if they need to get to 610S.

I know this board is very knowledgeable, so does anyone have any insight to any future changes that could alleviate this complete lack of IQ?

[ricco67]

Welcome to the system and I agree. The lack of a Silber Exit drives me a little crazy since I go to Edwards quite a few times. I say blow up the interchange and try again. I was hoping that the construction on I-10 would improve the area, but I was totally wrong.

I feel like I gotta pop and party pill before I head to Edwards.

[CDeb]

The West Loop between US 290 and US 59 is one of the most high traffic corridors in the city, exceeded in daily volume only by the Southwest Freeway between Shepherd and the Beltway. In congested corridors, sometimes there are no options in freeway design that can eliminate the tradeoffs between frontage road operation and mainlane operation. Since the frontage roads exist to serve the mainlanes (and not vice versa), the philosophy of TxDOT and all other transportation agencies (that I am aware of) is that mainlane operations will always take priority over frontage road operations.

The "double exit" for Woodway and Memorial Drive is an excellent design in terms of alleviating congestion on 610 S caused by high weaving volumes. The long northernmost exit ramp allows drivers wishing to access Woodway/Memorial to exit without weaving across the mammoth volumes entering from I-10 E/W. The southernmost exit ramp allows people from I-10 to exit there.

The first alternative to this configuration is to only have the southernmost exit, creating a disastrous weave that would back up traffic on southbound 610 as people attempting to exit try to pick their way through the traffic entering from I-10. This would also slow entering traffic from I-10, backing it up through the ramps and onto I-10, not a desirable condition for a brand new $2 billion freeway. Another alternative would be to only have the first exit, and traffic from I-10 would have to exit Post Oak and u-turn in order to access Woodway/Memorial. Given the frontage road volume that already exists between Woodway and Post Oak, this would be disastrous as well.

As traffic volumes continue to rise, efficiency in freeway design takes on added importance. Well-placed and well-designed entrance and exit ramps can have nearly as much impact on freeway capacity as an added lane. Poorly-placed ramps can effectively cut the capacity of a freeway as if removing a lane.

With that in mind for your particular situation, an EB I-10 entrance ramp located east of Silber would force that traffic to weave across traffic attempting to exit onto 610, causing congestion in the vicinity of that exit. A possible option would be to take the WB frontage road to Chimney Road/Wirt and u-turn in order to access EB I-10 once this entrance ramp is open (if it isn't already). I admittedly drive in this area before 6am, so I don't know how bad this option would be in other times of the day. But keep in mind that the freeway is still under construction. Construction traffic is supposed to suck. It's a temporary inconvenience for a greater future payoff.

Another possible option would be to allow frontage road traffic to access the direct connector between I-10 EB and 610 SB, but without knowing the volumes, I don't know what impact this would have on the direct connector. Perhaps this would be something to contact TxDOT about, but I would suggest losing the insulting tone of your post here.

[Corbusier]

I agree because I have to do it all the time.

my way around is take Memorial exit and take Memorial to Silber. it solves from having to avoid the traffic back-up (or potential back-up). and TxDOT designed the lanes to merge before the I-10 was complete to allow for all the traffice merge/exit.

also, I've noticed it hasn't been that bad lately, but the traffic on I-10 starts backing up at Chimney Rock/Wirt.

[20thStDad]

I used to hit I-10 EB from 610N in the afternoon, and what they did with that made it much worse. The branch off to 10E isn't until the last 100 feet of the ramp, so those of us going east have to sit behind the standstill traffic of everyone going west forever. Whoever made that ramp arrangement must not have thought about that.

[banking214]

I agree because I have to do it all the time.

my way around is take Memorial exit and take Memorial to Silber. it solves from having to avoid the traffic back-up (or potential back-up). and TxDOT designed the lanes to merge before the I-10 was complete to allow for all the traffice merge/exit.

also, I've noticed it hasn't been that bad lately, but the traffic on I-10 starts backing up at Chimney Rock/Wirt.

"my way around is take Memorial exit and take Memorial to Silber."

I do this as well. I am fortunate to get off work at 4, however, the traffic is still horrible on 610 toward I-10. There are times when I wish I had a big Hummer and could just plow over everyone in front of me. I tend to have a little road rage at times.

[musicman]

First of all, I live off of I-10 and Silber, so I don't appreciate the construction 'changes' they've made recently (removed Silber exit from I-10, removed various entrance ramps from I-10 around Silber & Antoine).

Moving the silber entrance (eastbound) sure has helped the merging situation onto i-10. before you had to cross multiple lanes to make it to i-10.

[Porchman]

Anyway, the traffic on the main lanes and feeder of 610S & Woodway/Memorial has become blood-curlingly frustrating lately! There's two, yes TWO exit ramps onto the feeder between Memorial and Woodway, both within ~1000 ft of each other. Everyone who is exiting is trying to make their way across to turn right onto Woodway.

I exit on the second ramp (the direct ramp not the fly-over). I am truly honing my aggressive driving skills as I merge across the 3 lanes of solid traffic to make my right on Woodway.

[desirous]

I have a friend that lives on Silber, and I haven't had any issues with access. Westbound on I-10, I exit to Katy Rd, which turns into the I-10 feeder. Going from the West Loop, I exit Antoine and make a U-turn. Notice how the Antoine exit also says "Silber Rd" -- the U-turn is official policy. Overall, that's a small sacrifice for the few in favor of the many through-drivers.

As for accessing SB 610 from Silber... I simply don't. I don't go south on 610 if I can help it, because the mainlanes are horribly backed up half the time. The atrocious Woodway light is the least of my concerns when 610 mainlanes are backed up from Richmond to Katy Rd at 5 mph. During the times I do dare go that way, feeder traffic is correspondingly low.