I-45 NB Ramp To Highway 59 NB To Close For Six Months

[cspwal]

It's not helped by the 2 entrances from Scott and Cullen (both have a decent amount of cars in the afternoon) that immediately have to get over while downtown traffic can't get over until you pass the Scott entrance.  It's a big demonstration of why they made the downtown destinations ramp in the first place

[Triton]

How's the traffic going to I-69? My wife is going to UofH and just wait until that traffic starts in a couple of weeks. Curious if that got better or worse.

[samagon]

26 minutes ago, Triton said:

How's the traffic going to I-69? My wife is going to UofH and just wait until that traffic starts in a couple of weeks. Curious if that got better or worse.

 

traffic getting onto 59/288 south is still light, traffic getting onto 59 north is very heavy. I never imagined there were that many people going from Gulf fwy to 59 north.

[Triton]

13 minutes ago, samagon said:

 

traffic getting onto 59/288 south is still light, traffic getting onto 59 north is very heavy. I never imagined there were that many people going from Gulf fwy to 59 north.

That sounds terrible. I really see traffic getting worse after this rebuild because build up from other highways will be easier to back up other roads now...

[samagon]

2 hours ago, Triton said:

That sounds terrible. I really see traffic getting worse after this rebuild because build up from other highways will be easier to back up other roads now...

 

it seems they didn't understand very well the needs. there are 2 SB lanes and 1 NB, so people ride in the SB lanes, then cut over at the last minute.

[crock]

On 8/7/2019 at 8:17 AM, samagon said:

So, um, if the 'traffic fix' they hoped to implement is what has happened, then TXDOT needs to have some people sacked. 

 

the new solution is just as bad as it used to be.

 

if this is what the 45 project hopes to bring, they can keep it.

 

i don't think this was about traffic as much as safety (correct me if i'm wrong?) bc people would have gnarly accidents trying to switch at the last minute at night.  

because, yea..... if this was about less congestion, then all the engineers at TXDOT need to be fired and never allowed to work on road design ever again.  It is worse, and it is worse literally at all times of day.  before this, if you took i45north before rush hour, there was very rarely congestion, now there is congestion 100% of the time, 2pm-traffic, 9pm-traffic.  it is miserable.... and it will only be worse when UH starts.  

 

[samagon]

1 hour ago, crock said:

 

i don't think this was about traffic as much as safety (correct me if i'm wrong?) bc people would have gnarly accidents trying to switch at the last minute at night.  

because, yea..... if this was about less congestion, then all the engineers at TXDOT need to be fired and never allowed to work on road design ever again.  It is worse, and it is worse literally at all times of day.  before this, if you took i45north before rush hour, there was very rarely congestion, now there is congestion 100% of the time, 2pm-traffic, 9pm-traffic.  it is miserable.... and it will only be worse when UH starts.  

 

 

I never witnessed a gnarly accident. there were always slow speed fender benders, but nothing gnarly.

 

It's too soon to tell if these are abated, but you've still got people cutting over through traffic at the last second, both at the entry from scott/exit to downtown, and at the SB59/NB59 locations. so the potential for traffic stopping accidents hasn't gone anywhere.

[cspwal]

I'd argue that there's now more than one place for gnarly accidents.  Before it was just at the Scott entrance, but now it can be there or up on the 59 ramp

[Triton]

The real test begins when classes start at UofH on August 19th.

[samagon]

I'm not even convinced that most people realize the connection to 59 is complete.

 

the volume of traffic that used to go from gulf to 59 is still lower than I remember.

[samagon]

recently, NB traffic seems to be horribly bad beginning near the bridge for Brays Bayou, and then opens up at the split for 59.

traffic is still bad for 3 lanes going to 2 lanes in prep for the pierce elevated, it typically starts before Scott street, and the traffic for people choosing at the last second to go north on 59 rather than south is usually backed up to the Cullen overpass.

this is in the afternoon, like anytime between 4 and 6, I stay away from the freeways in the mornings, but I imagine it's much worse.

what was the purpose of this project again? 

did the construction project at 610 and gulf freeway finish and all lanes are open? if that's not complete yet, this is only going to get worse.. 

[JLWM8609]

18 hours ago, samagon said:

recently, NB traffic seems to be horribly bad beginning near the bridge for Brays Bayou, and then opens up at the split for 59.

traffic is still bad for 3 lanes going to 2 lanes in prep for the pierce elevated, it typically starts before Scott street, and the traffic for people choosing at the last second to go north on 59 rather than south is usually backed up to the Cullen overpass.

this is in the afternoon, like anytime between 4 and 6, I stay away from the freeways in the mornings, but I imagine it's much worse.

what was the purpose of this project again? 

did the construction project at 610 and gulf freeway finish and all lanes are open? if that's not complete yet, this is only going to get worse.. 

The purpose was to untangle the backup and eliminate weaving caused by traffic entering at Scott and getting off at 59/288 and to eliminate the left lane exit to 59/288. It succeeded in eliminating the left lane exit and weaving, but like you said, there's still a backup caused by 45 NB going from 3 to 2 lanes, and I think Scott St. traffic entering so close to the Downtown exit may be a culprit, too. Perhaps eliminating the Scott St. onramp and directing I-45 NB traffic from Scott to the Cullen onramp or through downtown along St. Joseph Pkwy or Pease would help along with making both lanes of the downtown exit from 45NB exit only so it whittles down to 2 lanes without that taper after the exit. 

 

I think the project at 610 is complete. Both new flyover ramps are open.

[samagon]

there's still plenty of weaving where the traffic splits for 45n and 59/288. this last minute merging is what causes the slow down that goes back beyond Wayside.

and there's plenty of weaving once you're on the ramp to 59/288, again people waiting for the last second to decide where they want to go.

instead of all the weaving happening in one place though, it is spread out, so I guess that might reduce accidents.

[TacoDog]

On 4/30/2021 at 12:11 PM, samagon said:

 

and there's plenty of weaving once you're on the ramp to 59/288, again people waiting for the last second to decide where they want to go.

I don't know if it's the local daily drivers doing this or the people like me who moved here <5 years ago and seldomly venture on certain major highways. A few dozen people can slow traffic down for hours. 

[Montrose1100]

On 4/30/2021 at 2:38 AM, JLWM8609 said:

The purpose was to untangle the backup and eliminate weaving caused by traffic entering at Scott and getting off at 59/288 and to eliminate the left lane exit to 59/288. It succeeded in eliminating the left lane exit and weaving, but like you said, there's still a backup caused by 45 NB going from 3 to 2 lanes, and I think Scott St. traffic entering so close to the Downtown exit may be a culprit, too. Perhaps eliminating the Scott St. onramp and directing I-45 NB traffic from Scott to the Cullen onramp or through downtown along St. Joseph Pkwy or Pease would help along with making both lanes of the downtown exit from 45NB exit only so it whittles down to 2 lanes without that taper after the exit. 

 

I think the project at 610 is complete. Both new flyover ramps are open.

45 really goes from 4 lanes to 2. 

I use the Scott Entrance when the train is blocking Cullen. Good to floor the pedal every once and a while to move over 3 lanes.

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

yep, it's spread out now. The bad bottleneck was caused by University of Houston traffic weaving through all at Scott St. 

[samagon]

so nearly 3 years later, I can safely say this was a $35 million dollar waste of money.

the goal was to reduce weaving and remove a left exit. which I presume both were done with a final goal to try and reduce traffic and accidents.

weaving is not at all reduced. there's just as many people weaving.

the incidents of accidents I witness on this stretch of road are about the same as it was before the move, and any travel times I have are no better than before.

I will say that the accidents I see are all very specifically located at the split exit to 59 in the NB lanes exclusively. so I guess there's that. but that might also be because I have no need to be on 45 anymore, so I don't see any of the accidents from people merging from 4 lanes to 2.

Edited December 4, 2023 by samagon

[Nate_56]

This project was really just an attempted temporary fix until the major freeway rebuild in a few years.

[samagon]

the accidents I've seen are all from people who are on the ramp to 59, the ramp to NB 59 (1 lane) will get backed up all the way behind Cullen overpass. so people will go into the left 2 lanes which are SB and wait till the last second and cut into the right lane for NB traffic. that bottleneck (1 lane to NB 59) is not being relieved with this project. 

the issue for the backup seems to just be that there is 1 lane going to NB 59, not that the curve of that ramp is too tight (indeed, as soon as you are going around that corner, the flow of traffic speeds up).

you can be hopeful that this project will be positively impacted by the next project, I just don't see it.

Edited December 7, 2023 by samagon