Completed Katy Freeway Pictures And Rendering

[editor]

Curious About How the New Katy Freeway Will Look?

If so, check out the Fall/Winter 2004 Edition of the Katy Freeway Reconstruction Program HiLight Newsletter, now available. The feature story, "The New Look of the Katy Freeway," highlights the results of the extensive efforts to incorporate enhanced landscape and aesthetic elements into the new roadway's design. Like the premier edition, throughout the newsletter you will find several hyperlinks that will take you to the "live" page on the Katy Freeway website for more information on the topics featured in the newsletter.

Also in this issue you will find:

. A Digital Rendering Depicting the Ultimate Build Out at A Major Intersection

. Construction Contract Updates

. Answers to More Frequently Asked Questions

. Information About the Katy Freeway Public Information Office

To view the newsletter now, just click on the link provided below.

http://www.newsrouter.com/KatyNewsletterIssue2.pdf

[jghall00]

Curious About How the New Katy Freeway Will Look?

If so, check out the Fall/Winter 2004 Edition of the Katy Freeway Reconstruction Program HiLight Newsletter, now available.  The feature story, "The New Look of the Katy Freeway," highlights the results of the extensive efforts to incorporate enhanced landscape and aesthetic elements into the new roadway's design.  Like the premier edition, throughout the newsletter you will find several hyperlinks that will take you to the "live" page on the Katy Freeway website for more information on the topics featured in the newsletter. 

Also in this issue you will find:

.  A Digital Rendering Depicting the Ultimate Build Out at A Major Intersection

.  Construction Contract Updates

.  Answers to More Frequently Asked Questions

.  Information About the Katy Freeway Public Information Office

To view the newsletter now, just click on the link provided below.

http://www.newsrouter.com/KatyNewsletterIssue2.pdf

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Massive deception. That rendering doesn't show the bumper to bumper traffic, and where did those walkers come from? It's a marketing ploy, this freeway will be congested in no time.

[pineda]

Same sell job we saw for the Grand Parkway. But if your job is marketing this project to sell it to investors, or TxDOT, you're most definitely not going to show angry road rage drivers in bumper to bumper traffic. That's why public participation is important in these multi-million dollar projects. They need people to show up and give another opinion besides the marketing teams.

[westguy]

I hate it when they call a stupid star stamped on concrete an "architectural element". Architects do not like crappy decorations like that.

[CincoRanch-HoustonResident]

One the schematics it says that at the GRand Parkway, it will be a full, 5 level interchange. The renderings look great, too.

[ssullivan]

One the schematics it says that at the GRand Parkway, it will be a full, 5 level interchange. The renderings look great, too.

The Grand Parkway/Katy Freeway interchange will eventually be a five level full interchange, but that's years away. That won't happen until the Grand Parkway is upgraded to a full freeway north and south of the interstate and funding becomes available for the interchange.

[pineda]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Ribbons of Green' landscaping plan to include west section of I-10

By: Norm Rowland, Staff, HCN 12/08/2004

Katy Freeway commuters may not have noticed it yet, but the Texas Department of Transportation has launched what it calls the Green Ribbon Project, a new corridor aesthetics and landscape master plan to be implemented along major Houston freeways, including Interstate 10 from Katy to Interstate 610 West.

Already implemented, TxDOT says in HiLight, a recently created newsletter, are a series of programs designed to "transform some of the concrete-dominated landscapes into ribbons of green."

TxDOT says it has formed partnerships with various stakeholders along the I-10 corridor, including the Memorial Villages, MetroNational, City of Katy, the Energy Corridor and the West Loop Management District to tailor the landscaping and hardscape features in their areas.

The department also is working with Harris County Precinct 3 to develop pocket parks near detention ponds along the way.

Specific objectives for the Katy Corridor include:

* Promote a design theme that is consistently applied.

* Highlight intersections as gateways to the cities and villages.

* Develop pedestrian and bike facilities adjacent to the freeway where possible.

* Establish and encourage programs for participation by city, village and district in landscape beautification efforts.

* Use existing plantings where possible.

* Use existing and created ponds to provide a pleasant and attractive visual element.

* Provide natural landscape areas along the freeway requiring minimum maintenance.

* Enhance or reestablish the natural landscape with native species appropriate to the ecosystem.

* Identify development zones within the corridor that emphasize or reinforce its individual aesthetic and historic character.

* Reduce negative impact of signs, signals, light poles, etc., through architectural treatment. Provide design concepts for elements such as bridges, signs, signals and lights that are consistent in their use of color, material and basic form.

"Plantings along Katy Freeway will improve the freeway environment for area residents and visitors alike," TxDOT says. "Additionally, plants absorb carbon dioxide, release oxygen and assist in the absorption of runoff water."

TxDOT said more than 75,000 trees will be planted, including native pines, oaks, hollies, sweetgums, cypress, elms, maples and sycamore.

"Trees of different sizes, spacing and species over t time will establish a canopy along the corridor and create a natural sound barrier. Additionally, grass zones are planned for areas where trees cannot be planted and detention pond slopes will be reforested down to the basin," TX DOT said.

Opponents of the Katy Freeway expansion project filed a federal lawsuit in an attempt to stop the project, which they said did not adequately address environmental concerns such as air pollution.

The suit was eventually dismissed and construction is on schedule from the West Loop to Katy. The last of the contracts are scheduled to be put out for bid early next year.

In addition to the greening of the scenery, TxDOT says architectural elements will be used to enhance freeway aesthetics on columns, retaining walls, lighting structures, bridge railings and the like.

"Distinctive treatments (such as the Texas star) are applied to architectural elements used consistently throughout the corridor to create harmony and rhythm without seeming obvious or overdone," TxDOT said.

TxDOT did not lay out a timeline for the aesthetic enhancements or say how they will be funded.

The cost of the expansion project, first estimated at about $1 billion, has escalated to about $2.4 billion, according to recent estimates.

[banking214]

Curious About How the New Katy Freeway Will Look?

If so, check out the Fall/Winter 2004 Edition of the Katy Freeway Reconstruction Program HiLight Newsletter, now available.  The feature story, "The New Look of the Katy Freeway," highlights the results of the extensive efforts to incorporate enhanced landscape and aesthetic elements into the new roadway's design.  Like the premier edition, throughout the newsletter you will find several hyperlinks that will take you to the "live" page on the Katy Freeway website for more information on the topics featured in the newsletter. 

Also in this issue you will find:

.  A Digital Rendering Depicting the Ultimate Build Out at A Major Intersection

.  Construction Contract Updates

.  Answers to More Frequently Asked Questions

.  Information About the Katy Freeway Public Information Office

To view the newsletter now, just click on the link provided below.

http://www.newsrouter.com/KatyNewsletterIssue2.pdf

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Question: Why not sink the freeway likes parts of the Southwest Freeway or Central Expressway in Dallas? I am sure money is the main factor, but from a pure aesthetic point of view, it would have looked much "cleaner".

[UrbaNerd]

Aye, I see that TXDOT is using the same design elements from the new Fort Bend Tollway (the retaining walls, railing, etc) Not very aesthetic, but, hopefully, the plant ivy or something to cover those up. We need better highway designers.

[tw2ntyse7en]

...

[GovernorAggie]

Wel, I think that lack of creativity is not a blanket fault of TxDOT, just the Houston District. Have you guys seen the designs on Dallas' High Five interchange or on El Paso's planned America's interchange or Austin's new tollways? Even the Tyler district is putting in respectable designs on their tollway, Loop 49.

Tyler Loop 49:

El Paso Americas Interchange:

Marsha Sharp Freeway in Lubbock:

SH 130 Austin

Dallas Project Pegasus (I-35/I-30)

Now there are some design elements in Houston's freeways, but for the most part, they seem pretty generic to me. These structures in other parts of the state look very customized for their areas.

[UrbaNerd]

How about those people who want to beautify the freeway overpass over Kirby? (is it 59, or 610, or both?)

[jt16]

How about those people who want to beautify the freeway overpass over Kirby?  (is it 59, or 610, or both?)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Haven't heard about this. I think 59 from 610 to the new section could use a serious upgrade. Not structurally, but asthetically. Where did you hear about this?

[UrbaNerd]

It was on channel 11. We had several threads about this, and in the news report, they spoke about the recent improvements to 610 near Bellaire, and I45 near The Woodlands.

[VelvetJ]

Check out these pics of the High Five in Dallas.

Link

[VelvetJ]

Quick question here for anyone. Why are some of the support structures on Houston's freeways left exposed to rust and create those rust stains on the support columns? I actually have brought this up in the past and was told by someone here that it's too expensensive to maintain painted freeways. I then see photos of some of the freeways in Dallas and those particular sections of their freeways are painted. Does anyone know the true answer? I personally am not a fan of the rust look like in the pictues below.

Link

[yall_are_nutty]

Love the rust look. Also love the painted concrete if done right. Not sure about the pastel colors on the high five yet though.

it's the plain concrete that looks bad to me over time.

[tw2ntyse7en]

...

[UrbaNerd]

^^

The BW8/ US59 stack, which was completed in like 1998 has numerous rust stains (If I remember correctly).

They really better fix up their act though, on the newer freeways, and stuff...

[GovernorAggie]

The Dallas High Five should be one of the standards for freeway reconstruction/expansion projects around the country. Another one should be the Marquette Interchange rebuild in Milwaukee:

http://www.mchange.org/page.jsp?&key=csd

The colors could take some getting used to, but I just like the clean look of the High Five.

[westguy]

I'm not sure how pleasant the High Five is. It's way too tall and the colors are pretty nasty.

[ssullivan]

I think all of the design elements in the photos above are being used in Houston right now. It's only been in the last 10 years that TxDOT has really made an effort to try to incorporate color and architectural detail in freeway construction projects. You can't compare freeways rebuilt in this city before the late 1990s to the new ones because they weren't using the new architectural standards back then. However, if you look at sections of 610 rebuilt since 2000 (mainly the West Loop), the rebuilt Eastex Freeway, the Southwest Freeway from the Kirkwood exit through Sugar Land, 249, the Gulf Freeway/Sam Houston interchange, and the Southwest Freeway between Shepherd and Mandell, you'll see all of the elements in the photos above and more. The fact that most of our freeways are very generic is not a result of TxDOT not caring about Houston -- it's more the result of when those generic freeways were built. Nothing in the pictures above from Tyler, Austin, Lubbock, or Dallas is construction from before 2000 -- in fact, most of those pictures are of freeways that aren't even built yet (or in the case of the Dallas Stemmons, haven't been rebuilt).

All new construction in Houston will incorporate those standards. I think it's a bit much to expect TxDOT to immediately go replace the plain jane support columns on freeways like the Southwest that was rebuilt in the early 1990s when these standards didn't exist.

[GovernorAggie]

Point taken ssullivan, but the Austin district did a nice job with the I-35/183 interchange (which is going on 10 years old I believe) as well as the I-35/290 interchange.

But the West Loop is by far the best example of aesthetics in Houston, with Katy freeway and even the 290 project in NW Harris right now (the piers resembling tree stumps). As far as already completed freeways go, I-45 North near BW8 is a good looking segment. However, I am disappointed in the lack of design work done on the 249/BW8 interchange. There's ocean scenes painted into the Texas cutouts on the retaining walls, but that's it.

Here's Austin examples from TexasFreeway.com

I-35 @ US 183 (completed in 1997 according to the site)

US 183 Viaduct work that apparently was finished in 1996 if I understand the map correctly

This one is much newer, though. US 290 @ I-35 (completed in 2001)

[ssullivan]

Point taken ssullivan, but the Austin district did a nice job with the I-35/183 interchange (which is going on 10 years old I believe) as well as the I-35/290 interchange. 

I like the 35/183 Austin interchange as well. It was one of the first projects that incorporated a lot of these elements.

As for the BW8/249 interchange, I was up there last week but didn't really get a good look at it. The ramp connecting the eastbound beltway to the northbound Hardy that opened about a year ago is pretty plain as well. I know some of these projects were designed some years ago and are just now being built, and TxDOT may not have gone back and redesigned it all to the new standards. Also both of those are relatively minor projects compared to the other big interchanges that carry a lot more traffic that are being built right now.

I also like the new 59/BW8 interchange on the north side of town near the airport. It's very nicely done.

[GovernorAggie]

Yeah, I agree about the 59/BW8 interchange.

BW8/Katy is going to be a very nice one, especially given how tall it will be, and all of the Grand Parkway/"fill-in-the-blank" freeway interchanges will also be very nice.

[VelvetJ]

From what I understand, the High Five in Dallas is also scheduled to have the changing fibre optic lights like on the bridges over 59 in Montrose.

Does anyone know if the West Loop and the West Loop/59 South exchange will be painted when finished or will it stay the color it is now?

[GovernorAggie]

i heard the same thing about the high-5. i don't know about the 59/610 paintin scheme. However, I remember when the guy who heads the Uptown Houston Association came to speak to one of my classes, he had pics of the compleeted West Loop and it was very impressive, from the design to the decorative lamps that were used.

[UrbaNerd]

I hope the West loop will look good once it is finished. The portion that runs through Bellaire already looks pretty cool, with the high walls, and plants and stuff..

[The Great Hizzy!]

I've seen schematics of the "completed" West Loop as well and I agree with Governor Aggie that it's very impressive.

I didn't know that tidbit about the US 59/Loop 610, though.

[westguy]

The Austin US 183 is interesting. You can see that it has concrete on the bottom of the deck instead of just the top. That would keep the columns from developing those nasty rust stains. I hope they don't plan to paint that.