Tag Archives: I-10

The I-45 project will be old enough to vote before it is finished

Posted on May 6, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Isn’t that nice? Often called a once-in-a-generation project, the planned $9.7 billion-plus rebuild of I-45 from downtown Houston north to Beltway 8, including a total reconstruction of the downtown freeway system, is expected to take a generation to build. A … Continue reading →

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If not for I-45 then for something else

Posted on March 5, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Money for highways never goes unspent. Drivers on Houston freeways likely can relate: Facing a slowdown when it comes to rebuilding Interstate 45, state transportation leaders are shifting gears and changing lanes. Unable to significantly move ahead with the controversial … Continue reading →

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So what’s the deal with that I-45 deal?

Posted on January 16, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Still to be determined. Houston, Harris County and the Texas Department of Transportation have an agreed path forward for rebuilding Interstate 45, and a lot of steps to get there. Details big and small remain works in progress and a … Continue reading →

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A walk through four districts, part 3: Try this at home!

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

In Part One I described my weird idea to take a stroll into four Congressional districts, something I decided I could do after taking a close look at the new map in Houston. In Part 2, I took you on … Continue reading →

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The road construction chaos that we know of for 2023

Posted on January 7, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Forewarned, forearmed, etc. A new year will mean major developments for some of the biggest highway projects in the region, but drivers should not expect them to be finished until 2024. The largest projects by the Texas Department of Transportation … Continue reading →

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Shepherd/Durham construction update

Posted on November 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good long story in the Chron. When the workers clear — still months away — Shepherd and Durham, along with some major side streets, will be remade, and in many ways reformed. The streets, dual thoroughfares that funnel traffic between Memorial Drive and … Continue reading →

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Unifying the opposition to massive urban highway projects

Posted on September 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good idea, ought to have some effect, but changing the overall culture and philosophy about transportation in Texas is a very big lift. Opponents of some of Texas’ largest transportation projects are unifying their messaging, pushing state highway officials to … Continue reading →

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Woodland Heights Civic Association opposes I-10 elevation proposal

Posted on September 6, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

That’s my neighborhood, and this is the email they sent out on Thursday about it. In recent weeks the WHCA has challenged TxDOT on their plan to elevate I-10 near our neighborhood between Heights Blvd. and I-45. Due to the … Continue reading →

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Elevating I-10

Posted on August 3, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

My antennae are up about this. A state proposal to elevate Interstate 10 near White Oak Bayou is raising concerns among neighbors, who worry about the effects a higher freeway would have on noise and drainage. The $347 million project, … Continue reading →

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In Houston, the trucks drive you

Posted on May 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Yet another driverless truck story. Autonomous freight trucking company Embark will make Houston the hub for its new Texas operations and launch an autonomous trucking route along Interstate 10 to San Antonio. The San Francisco-based company this month said it … Continue reading →

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The I-45 project gets a wee bit more expensive

Posted on April 3, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Eh, what’s another $750 million? Typically, $750 million is the total cost for a major highway project, one that would take years to spend that kind of money. In the case of TxDOT’s plans for a mammoth rebuild of Interstate … Continue reading →

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Metro approves I-10 Inner Katy BRT route

Posted on March 26, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Big step forward. Metro officials Thursday settled on the route for a busway along Interstate 10 that they predict will improve transit for urban and suburban travelers, whether they hop on board or not. The elevated busway planned along the … Continue reading →

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Get ready for more construction in 2022

Posted on January 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Happy New Year! Here are the places you’ll want to avoid driving in 2022. Flush with green, Houston area transportation officials have a whiteboard full of highway and transit projects poised to start in 2022, but rolling out all that … Continue reading →

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The Shepherd and Durham Major Investment Project

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Get ready for some major construction, but the end result will be well worth it. Beginning next month, those who travel along North Shepherd Drive and Durham Drive in the Heights are going to have to cope with road construction … Continue reading →

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Can you tell me how to get (safely) to Memorial Park?

Posted on July 17, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Safety is nice. A $200 million-plus plan to improve [Memorial Park] is aimed at making it a signature destination for all Houstonians. With that success, though, will come the same challenges anything popular in Houston faces: How will people get … Continue reading →

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Are you ready for some I-10 construction?

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Well, ready or not… State highways officials set out in 2004 to develop a plan to remake Interstate 45 and add managed lanes, only to face increasingly stiff opposition in the past three years from elected officials and community activists … Continue reading →

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Bike lanes coming to Shepherd/Durham corridor

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Nice. Houston officials with some regional help have nearly solved funding a $100 million rebuild of Shepherd and Durham that adds bike lanes, wider sidewalks, improved drainage and new concrete to one of the most car-centric corridors within Loop 610. … Continue reading →

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Is it finally going to be Infrastructure Week?

Posted on April 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this: Lawmakers have been talking about striking a deal to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure for years. It might take a pandemic to finally get them to do it, and Texas officials are already … Continue reading →

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Abbott imposes travel restrictions

Posted on April 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Where we are now. Gov. Greg Abbott is tightening travel to Texas by ordering some motorists from Louisiana to self-quarantine for two weeks. The new travel restrictions come as Louisiana’s status as a novel coronavirus hotspot grew Sunday to more … Continue reading →

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Metro slows its roll on system improvements

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Not a surprise. Houston-area transit officials will wait out a little more of the coronavirus crisis before soliciting bids on five of the first projects in their $7 billion construction bonanza for bus and rail upgrades. “Moving this by a … Continue reading →

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A better way to do I-45

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From Michael Skelley on Facebook: Here’s a new vision for I-45. -saves money -no displacement in low income areas -no destruction of White Oak Bayou -prevents TxDOT vandalization of EaDo -downtown amenities if we want to fund those ourselves This … Continue reading →

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Metro referendum is set

Posted on August 15, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go. Metropolitan Transit Authority board members voted Tuesday to ask voters in November for permission to borrow up to $3.5 billion, without raising taxes. The money would cover the first phase of what local leaders expect to be … Continue reading →

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What if we didn’t expand I-45?

Posted on June 24, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s an awful lot of money that comes with a ton of negative effects and which, if the I-10 expansion is any guide, will have short-lived positive effects. So maybe we should just, like, not do it? A massive remake … Continue reading →

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Still filled with dread about I-45

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Anyone got a paper bag I can breathe into? Strip away the enormity of rebuilding Interstate 45 and the promise of speedier trips along downtown Houston freeways, and two questions about the once-in-a-generation project remain: How many negative effects are … Continue reading →

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Buc-ee’s comes to Alabama

Posted on February 9, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Tomorrow, the world. Texas road stop institution Buc-ee’s has opened a store in Alabama, its first location outside the Lone Star State. Despite chilly weather, more than 100 people were lined up outside the Baldwin County store when it opened … Continue reading →

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Speed kills

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Good long read from the Chron about our dangerous roads and highways. There’s too much to cover here, so I just want to focus on the why we all speed so much. Houston drivers likely speed, at least in part, … Continue reading →

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“We (Heart) Houston” someplace else

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Your favorite Instagram spot is moving to a new location. The “We Love Houston” sign you’ve seen either near I-10 or in Instagram selfies is on the move. Artist and die-hard Houstonian David Adickes told Chron.com in previous interviews that … Continue reading →

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We could be getting to the end of 290 construction

Posted on January 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

By the end of the year. We think. Most major construction along the main lanes of U.S. 290 will end in 2018. Every new wide lane open. Every bridge built. Eleven lanes, including a reversible HOV lane, from Loop 610 … Continue reading →

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Lamenting the lost rail opportunity

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

What could have been. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett’s speech Tuesday may have included jabs at state lawmakers, but it was a hit with transit advocates for a single line. “We cannot go back in time and undo some poor … Continue reading →

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We will never stop widening our highways

Posted on November 13, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Eventually, everything will be used for extra highway capacity. For people in western Harris and Fort Bend counties, now is the time to sit down with your toddler and ask what kind of Interstate 10 they’d like to have. Texas … Continue reading →

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The process for I-45

Posted on July 27, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

This time it’s different, more or less. The region’s largest looming highway project – a massive rebuild of Interstate 45 from the Sam Houston Tollway to downtown Houston – has a lot of people looking into the rear-view mirror, pressing … Continue reading →

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Try to wrap your mind around what I-45 will look like post-construction

Posted on May 17, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Swamplot is here to help. HAVING TROUBLE SIFTING through some of the massive freeway jumbles in the latest plans for that major I-45 reroute between Downtown and the Beltway? This new video (making the rounds this month as TxDOT hosts a set of public meetings … Continue reading →

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TxDOT public hearings on I-45 widening scheduled for May 9th & May 11th

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox, from Jim Weston of the I-45 Coalition: The I-45 Project – Planning Stage is coming to an end!  This next meeting is a HEARING –  much different from the public meetings that TxDOT has been holding. This … Continue reading →

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TxDOT accelerates I-45 construction timeline

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Gird your loins. For many long-suffering Houston drivers, a solution to the infuriating bottleneck on Interstate 45 through downtown is likely something they thought they wouldn’t live to see. More than a decade ago, a plan pitched to solve the … Continue reading →

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