The Motorcyclers

According to Bestitude, the Katy Freeway is part of Interstate 10 in Texas. The Katy Freeway runs from Katy to downtown Houston. The highway is one of the busiest in the world, with 14 through traffic lanes on a long stretch, subdivided with 2 toll lanes and 5 general purpose lanes in each direction, plus frontage roads. The Katy Freeway runs through the fast-growing west of Houston, through the so-called ‘Energy Corridor’. The Katy Freeway is 42 kilometers long.

Travel directions

The Katy Freeway at Beltway 8.

The Katy Freeway begins in Katy, a suburb that is considered Houston ‘s first suburb from the west. The highway already has 2×4 lanes with frontage roads on both sides with 2 to 3 lanes in each direction. One then crosses SH 99, also known as the Grand Parkway, which forms the outer ring of Houston. One then already passes through the westernmost neighborhoods of Houston. A first connection follows in the form of Mason Road, which connects various new suburbs with the I-10. The highway will then have 2×4 lanes with two HOVlanes in the median strip. The single-storey frontage roads are also present. You then pass through a fairly large park, the George Bush Park in which a commercial strip has been constructed. One then crosses the Barker-Cypress Road, which leads to the suburb Cypress to the north. One then crosses SH 6, which together with FM 1960 forms a ring road around Houston of underlying type. The environment is becoming more urban with office buildings along the highway. From SH 6 there are 7 lanes in each direction, 5 general purpose lanes and 2 managed lanes in each direction.

An intricate stack interchange follows with the intersection of the Sam Houston Tollway, the toll road that forms a ring road around Houston. The highway will then be equipped with 5+2+2+5 lanes for a long time, plus frontage roads, bringing the total number of lanes on some routes to 24 lanes. Several north-south axes are crossed in the older neighborhoods of Houston, which are very green because of the many trees. These are quite prosperous neighborhoods with a lower building density than the new suburbs around the city.

Another stack junction follows, this time with Interstate 610, Houston’s inner ring road. This interchange is less substantial than the one with the Sam Houston Tollway. Also, the Katy Freeway no longer has continuous frontage roads from this point. The toll lanes also terminate at the I-610 interchange. From this point, the highway has 2×5 lanes on a somewhat older alignment. The highway crosses two railroad lines and is partly sunken by older neighborhoods of Inner Houston. Just before the interchange with Interstate 45 follows an elevated HOVfacility on an overpass, which passes through the interchange between I-10 and I-45 and terminates in Downtown Houston. The interchange between the two highways is very complex, the I-10 and I-45 briefly run side by side, with four lanes, the elevated HOV runway and connecting roads. At this junction, the Katy Freeway ends and the East Freeway continues to Baytown and Beaumont.

History

Construction history

The original westbound corridor from Houston was initially SH 73, later US 90. During World War II, corridors in Houston that needed improvement were explored, and in 1942 a northern bypass of US 90 was initially chosen, which would later become I-610. In 1946, the construction of a full-fledged freeway over the US 90 corridor through Houston was approved, which was extended westward in 1953 to Katy, then still 30 kilometers outside of Houston.

It was decided to construct the highway in two different right-of-ways, a wide corridor within I-610 and a narrow corridor beyond. This would later turn out to be a historic mistake, but the enormous growth of western Houston could not be properly foreseen at the time. Work on converting US 90 to a freeway began in 1954 and the first grade separation with Blalock Road was opened in 1956. The first proper stretch of highway opened on November 13, 1962 between what would later become the interchange with I-610 and Blalock Road, a stretch of more than 6 kilometers. In the period 1966-1967 the rest of the highway opened up to Katy.

The section within I-610 was modeled on the freeways in Los Angeles, immediately with 2×5 lanes, but without continuous frontage roads. Part of it was sunken in Houston’s older neighborhoods. Getting the right-of-way on this stretch proved to be one of Houston’s most expensive at the time. This section between I-45 and I-610 was constructed between 1965 and 1968 and was opened for 8 kilometers on December 20, 1968.

Opening history

First adjustments

The original Katy Freeway west of I-610 quickly proved to be a driver’s nightmare, with the massive growth of western Houston and the development of the ‘Energy Corridor’ as a major work site, traffic rapidly increased and became the highway with 2×3 lanes and two lane frontage roads flooded with traffic. By 1981, just 13 years after it opened, 180,000 vehicles a day were traveling on the Katy Freeway. In order to slightly reduce the traffic pressure and to offer buses in particular a fast passage, the Katy Transitway was put into use in 1984, an HOV alternating lane that was constructed on the existing left emergency lanes.

In 1989 the 5-level stack with the Beltway 8 was completed. This was Houston’s first 5-level stack. This would turn out to be the shortest-lived stack node, and has already been replaced by an even larger stack 17 years later due to the widening of the Katy Freeway.

widening

The Katy Freeway before widening in 2002.

The Katy Freeway was congested relatively soon after opening. Between 1970 and 1980, Harris County’s population grew by 700,000 people, much of it on the west side of Houston. In the 1970s, many energy companies moved their offices to the so-called ‘Energy Corridor’ along the Katy Freeway. Due to the extreme congestion from the 1980s onwards, use of the Katy Transitway increased sharply, with 10,400 vehicles per day on the alternating lane in 2002. This made it Houston’s most used transitway.

From the 1980s, studies were conducted on how best to improve the Katy Freeway. However, from the 1980s, TxDOT also struggled with a major shortage of financing for major road projects. In 1985, a study was widely supported to build an overpass highway over 27 kilometers on top of the Katy Freeway. In 1986 TxDOT came up with a study that examined whether a layout of 5+3+3+5 lanes was possible. The cost was estimated at $1.3 billion at the time. Due to the high costs, the project could not proceed with construction.

However, it became clear that a viaduct highway would be too expensive in any case over such a large distance. That is why it was decided to buy a parallel railway line, so that a wide right-of-way was created in which only a few houses and businesses had to be expropriated. In 1992, Union Pacific’s 45-mile railroad was purchased for $78 million. In 1997, the preferred alternative was established, with 4 general purpose lanes and 2 managed lanes, plus frontage roads. Between connections, weaving stripswhich, for the most part, would actually have 5 general purpose lanes available in each direction between SH 6 and I-610. This cross section required a right-of-way of 145 meters wide. For this purpose, the frontline buildings on the north side of the highway, mainly consisting of small businesses and parking lots, have been expropriated. It was also decided at the time that public transport should be facilitated on the corridor. A large park-and-ride was planned for this in Addicks, which would be accessible to buses from the managed lanes.

The final plan was adopted in 2001. The record of decision was issued by the FHWA on January 15, 2002. A few months later, a pilot dynamic tolling program was approved. It was the first toll lane project on an Interstate Highway, but not the first in the United States, as toll lanes already existed on State Route 91 in California. Opposition to the megaproject was limited in the planning phase, but increased after the 2002 record of decision was issued. It went to court, and objections to the project were finally dismissed by a federal court on April 9, 2004.

The project was more of a complete reconstruction than a widening. Construction started in 2004, first on the western part of the project, and in 2005 also on the eastern part. Between 2006 and 2008 the stack node with the Beltway 8 was completely replaced. During the large-scale road works, the existing capacity was maintained, with 3 lanes in each direction, plus the alternating lane, which was moved several times during the construction phases. The project was commissioned in phases and was completed in October 2008. Toll collection started in 2009on the managed lanes. During construction, attention was paid to the aesthetics of the highway, for example the ‘Lone Star’, the symbol of Texas, was placed on viaduct pillars, especially around the interchange with Beltway 8. The project ultimately cost $2.8 billion. The project was completed in 5 years and 4 months. By conventional means, it would have taken at least 10 years. The project was carried out without federal funding.

After the widening

The Katy Freeway at Beltway 8.

At the time of the work, 250,000 vehicles were driving daily at the busiest point, an extreme amount for 2×3 lanes and an alternating lane. After the project was completed, traffic volumes increased enormously, between 2009 and 2013, the busiest point grew from 246,000 to 383,000 vehicles per day. It quickly became the busiest highway in Houston, and the second busiest highway in the United States. This was partly due to a shift away from alternative freeways, such as decreasing traffic volumes on the Westpark Tollway, the Southwest Freeway and to a lesser extent the Northwest Freeway. The intensities also decreased on the secondary road network, for example on the FM 1093, from 76,000 to 55,000 vehicles.

Due to the explosive population and job growth in the Houston area during the recession of 2008-2009, traffic around the Katy Freeway continued to increase, and with it congestion. Partly due to increasing congestion, the use of toll lanes has grown steadily. They were the most used toll lanes in the United States in 2013.

In 2017, an 8-kilometer section between SH 6 and Beltway 8 was widened to one lane in each direction by changing the markings. The extra capacity has been added to the existing pavement. Here the general purpose lanes have been widened from 4 to 5 per direction.

Future

Downtown Houston

At downtown Houston, I-10, I-45, and I-69 converge. It is planned to demolish the I-45 ( Gulf Freeway ) overpass on the south side of downtown, and reroute traffic along the east and north sides of downtown. To this end, I-10 ( East Freeway ) and I-69 ( Southwest Freeway ) will be drastically widened. The junction between I-10 (Katy Freeway & East Freeway) and I-45 (Gulf Freeway & North Freeway) will also be modified and widened.

Northwest of Downtown Houston, the four freeways (Katy Freeway & East Freeway, Gulf Freeway & North Freeway) converge at a complex 4+4+4+3 lane interchange, plus a 2×1 overpass for HOV users. There are currently 17 lanes here. It is planned to widen this to 28 lanes, consisting of 10 lanes, with 4+3+4+3+4+2+2 lanes at ground level, and another 2+2 and 1+1 lanes on two viaducts. Here are the lanes of I-10, I-45, HOV lanes, managed lanes to the North Freeway and through express lanes of I-10 from the Katy Freeway to the East Freeway.

Managed lane extension

It is planned to eventually extend the managed lanes of the Katy Freeway westward from SH 6 to FM 359 in Brookshire. The procedures for this started in 2017. The extension is 30 kilometers long, which would bring the total length of the express lanes to 50 kilometers. Construction may start at the end of 2023.

Widest highway in the world?

After opening, the claim was soon made that the Katy Freeway would be the widest highway in the world, with a stated number of 23 to 26 lanes. However, this is exaggerated. The highway usually has 4 to 5 general purpose lanes and 2 managed lanes in each direction, usually 12 to 14 lanes for through traffic. One can only get to more than 20 lanes by also counting weaving lanes, exits and frontage roads.

Traffic intensities

The stack interchange between I-10 and Beltway 8 that existed between 1989 and 2006.

Intensities east of the connection.

Managed lanes

Annual average intensities. Does not concern road section intensity, but the total number of users of the managed lanes, per fiscal year.

Toll

The Katy Freeway at Beltway 8.

The Katy Freeway has managed lanes in the median strip, where tolls are collected. These managed lanes run from State Highway 6 to I-610, with 2 lanes in each direction. In fact, it is a toll road within a highway. The managed lanes are physically separated from the toll-free lanes. The toll lanes are free for HOV users.

The toll is variable according to a fixed schedule. The toll costs are up to $7.00 during rush hour and $1.00 outside. The toll lanes have fewer connections than the regular lanes, with two connections to transit centers and 4 options for entering and exiting the toll road.

Lane Configuration

The number of lanes excluding frontage roads.