TxDOT Proposes Elevating I-10 near I-45

[Texasota]

Wait the total cost of the Inner Katy BRT is only 600 million even with TXDOT's shenanigans? What is this, a modern country still capable of building things?

[Twinsanity02]

On 5/18/2023 at 5:09 PM, Amlaham said:

If a project needs to be stopped, its definitely this one! 

Want it stopped? Hire the bunch contracted to build the Beltway 8 shipping channel bridge. I've driven by that for 1 year and seen no activity. Appears to be stopped cold.

[Amlaham]

52 minutes ago, JClark54 said:

METRO claims TxDOT's I-10 revamp will increase its BRT project costs: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/i-10-txdot-metro-bus-transit-18112410.php

 

To make room for TxDOT's managed leans, Metro will swing its BRT busway across the freeway closer to the Loop 610 interchange than initially planned, complicating both the design and the cost of land, Reddy said. That includes some right of way along the freeway on the border of Memorial Park.

The extra cost, which would jump the total price to around $600 million, could be filled by additional regional transportation funding, Metro CEO Tom Lambert said, doled out by the Houston-Galveston Area Council.

“We’re going to take a look at options for grant funding,” Lambert said, adding that federal officials have committed new funding to transit projects in coming years.

THEY WANT TO REBUILD I10 FROM STUDEMONT TO VOSS?!?! Right of way from MEMORIAL PARK??

i10 is legit in mint condition, there is legit hundreds of roads in and around our area that feel like driving in a 3rd world country. This is so unbelievably frustrating! 

[Texasota]

I mean, I'd love to see the feeders rebuilt as urban streets with much lower speed limits, but I doubt TXDOT agrees with me on that. Otherwise this seems like a truly insane project to prioritize. 

[texan]

So this project and the expansion of I-10 all the way to I-610 W is included in the draft 2024 UTP. This is awful and unnecessary. The least they could do if they have to spend $1.4 billion on it is cap it and allow the city and county to develop the top into a park.

[sapo2367]

[JLWM8609]

If SJL becomes mayor (🥴), she might push to stop this since it could take land from Memorial Park. She helped stop the proposed West Loop widening in the 90s that would've taken some land from Memorial Park.

[hindesky]

I just talked with a TXDOT worker who is supervising the installation of barricades on the empty lot next to Graffiti Park. I asked him about the core drilling I saw a few months ago on IH 10 west of Houston Ave. He confirmed that the drilling was for the elevated highway that is planned. Said it was for the engineers to determine what it would take to build the piers required to elevate the highway.

[Houston19514]

2 hours ago, JLWM8609 said:

If SJL becomes mayor (🥴), she might push to stop this since it could take land from Memorial Park. She helped stop the proposed West Loop widening in the 90s that would've taken some land from Memorial Park.

What makes you think it would take land from Memorial Park? 

[IWantTransit555]

I know it's well too late but I am still mad at the upcoming 45 project and how much it will waste aswell.

[JLWM8609]

On 7/11/2023 at 2:03 PM, Houston19514 said:

What makes you think it would take land from Memorial Park? 

 

[samagon]

 

On 7/11/2023 at 2:03 PM, Houston19514 said:

What makes you think it would take land from Memorial Park? 

video in link for the METRO BRT changes if there's managed lanes inside 610.

from the video, they will have to take land from the polo club too.

I am very comfortable in knowing that for some reason they won't get an inch of land from the polo club, so another solution that doesn't include taking land from either the polo club, or Memorial Park will come up.

[Houston19514]

12 hours ago, JLWM8609 said:

 

I presume you are referring to this language in the Chron article:  "That includes some right of way along the freeway on the border of Memorial Park."

That may or may not mean they plan to take land from Memorial Park. I read "on the border of" to mean "on the border", not across the border.

Further, (1) This is a Chronicle article so the chance of it being fully accurate are less than 100%. (2) The final plans are not yet done.  I doubt Metro even knows for sure if they would need land from Memorial Park, and I am quite certain they will do everything possible to avoid such.  Memorial Park is pretty much considered untouchable.

[samagon]

2 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

I presume you are referring to this language in the Chron article:  "That includes some right of way along the freeway on the border of Memorial Park."

That may or may not mean they plan to take land from Memorial Park. I read "on the border of" to mean "on the border", not across the border.

Further, (1) This is a Chronicle article so the chance of it being fully accurate are less than 100%. (2) The final plans are not yet done.  I doubt Metro even knows for sure if they would need land from Memorial Park, and I am quite certain they will do everything possible to avoid such.  Memorial Park is pretty much considered untouchable.

if you look at the video behind the link I posted, it's from METRO and they definitely depict their ROW as being right on top of the Polo Club and parts of Memorial Park.

it's early days as you say, the plans aren't finalized, we can all probably guess that the Polo Club isn't going to give their land over quietly, so it probably won't even happen that they will get any Memorial Park ROW.

so yeah, the chances of this being the solution are pretty slim.

I'd say that the takeaway here is that it is good to see/hear that TXDoT and METRO are working together this early into the planning phase, rather than working independently towards different solutions.

Edited July 18, 2023 by samagon

[twisterhunt]

On 7/9/2023 at 9:05 PM, texan said:

So this project and the expansion of I-10 all the way to I-610 W is included in the draft 2024 UTP. This is awful and unnecessary. The least they could do if they have to spend $1.4 billion on it is cap it and allow the city and county to develop the top into a park.

I wonder if this is just to make sure the funding is still allocated, or if it means this project actually has a chance of going forward? Specific to the proposal for elevating I-10, there was a hearing last July and comment period that ended quite some time ago...I haven't seen any updates on the TXDot page or summarization of public feedback. Maybe I'm naive to think TXDot will consider the feedback / make adjustments to their proposal for raising the freeway 🤔

[004n063]

On 8/28/2023 at 10:03 AM, hindesky said:

I-10 West Inner Katy project: about $1.14 billion to add four nontolled lanes between downtown Houston and the IH 610 Loop

TxDOT, sweetie, go on outside and bite the curb for me. I'll be out in a minute.

[freundb]

I don't know where they are gonna fit two extra lanes on each side of the freeway. 

[august948]

3 hours ago, freundb said:

I don't know where they are gonna fit two extra lanes on each side of the freeway. 

Just released conceptual for the extra lanes...

[august948]

5 hours ago, 004n063 said:

TxDOT, sweetie, go on outside and bite the curb for me. I'll be out in a minute.

TxDOT, sweetie, go start the grill.  Papa's going to throw on a big juicy steak for this one.  'Bout time they expanded the Katy inside the loop.   🥂

[samagon]

11 hours ago, freundb said:

I don't know where they are gonna fit two extra lanes on each side of the freeway. 

we can rest assured the polo club already is spending plenty of money to keep from losing any land.

and maybe a mod can make a new I-10 expansion thread to move some of these posts. 

Edited August 31, 2023 by samagon

[sapo2367]

On 8/30/2023 at 11:44 PM, august948 said:

Just released conceptual for the extra lanes...

From this thread -- here is the official rendering

 

[BigFootsSocks]

Ok but that's actually really well-done

[samagon]

23 hours ago, BigFootsSocks said:

Ok but that's actually really well-done

not at all believable though, T-Rex skeletons have never been discovered in the Houston area.

[Twinsanity02]

On 9/1/2023 at 2:14 PM, sapo2367 said:

From this thread -- here is the official rendering

 

Not Including the ramps, I count it as a 48-lane roadway. Even larger than the current Katy or anything in Argentina or wherever. We win! Though I must admit to one fact I

find difficult to believe.

No eighteen wheelers? In Houston?

Edited September 7, 2023 by Twinsanity02
Left out a fact.

[hbg.50]

28 minutes ago, Twinsanity02 said:

Not Including the ramps, I count it as a 48-lane roadway. Even larger than the current Katy or anything in Argentina or wherever. We win! Though I must admit to one fact I

find difficult to believe.

No eighteen wheelers? In Houston?

Why don’t they just build a double-decker like in the Bay Area?

[mkultra25]

7 hours ago, samagon said:

not at all believable though, T-Rex skeletons have never been discovered in the Houston area.

Yet. Hope springs eternal.

[august948]

On 9/1/2023 at 2:14 PM, sapo2367 said:

From this thread -- here is the official rendering

 

They can add 8 more lanes on the very top pushing the total to 56 lanes!

If we don't break ground on this we won't find those t-rex fossils.

[hindesky]

https://www.txdot.gov/projects/planning/utp.html

[twisterhunt]

I'm not sure how long this document has been out there, but some interesting updates / observations from the Public Meeting Documentation (https://ftp.txdot.gov/pub/txdot/get-involved/hou/i-10-heights-white-oak-bayou/072822-public-meeting-documentation.pdf). Tons of great info and plenty of public comments (the full doc is 1100 pages). Starting on Page 11 (Section D) there are a number of proposed design updates from the original sharing:

1. Reduced height of proposed I-10 mainlines / HOV structure
2. Existing forest area on the north side of I-10 near Houston Ave will be preserved
3. Potential additional connectivity for shared-use path under I-10
4. Use of 6 ft (vs. 3 ft) height barriers on elevated I-10 mainlanes / HOV

There are also a number of elevated / improved schematics in Section C versus the original TXDOT presentation. One aspect of the proposed Metro BRT project I had not fully appreciated is that the design drawings seem to suggest the BRT lanes will be elevated nearly 40 feet above existing I-10 HOV lanes until halfway between Studemont / Taylor and even ~20 feet above the existing elevated I-10 HOV lanes until around Houston Ave. While not as much a traffic volume / noise concern, quite an eyesore. 

Also, in the responses to public comments section TXDOT leaves the option open for additional noise abatement strategies. 

 

[mollusk]

How about some light abatement while they're at it?  I'm 1/2 mile from the Katy and even further from 45, but over the years it's gotten to where you can just about read at night in my back yard (which is opposite the house/garage from both).  We've had to put blackout curtains in the bedrooms, which weren't necessary before the giant light masts even when I lived closer.