TxDOT Seeks Public Input On I-45 North Improvements

I-45 North, Houston

October 9, 2012

TxDOT is holding public meetings this week to discuss improvement plans for a Houston freeway that listed as one of the most congested corridors in Texas.

Loading the player ...

TxDOT has been studying various I-45 improvement plans for about ten years now, and officials say a final decision is still a few years off.

Right now, the agency is having public meetings as part of an environmental impact study that covers I-45 from Beltway 8 to downtown, as well as adjacent corridors like the Hardy Toll Road.

TxDOT's Raquel Lewis says they're still looking at a variety of options to ease traffic flow.

"What our objective is for this study is to look at how do we provide added capacity, particularly in the form of managed lanes that alleviate congestion."

And Lewis says those options may or may not include new construction.

"Well in some cases, it's more capacity. In some cases, the alternatives are better operations. In some cases, it's looking at what parallel routes can be improved to alleviate congestion on the existing facility."

TxDOT is also working under constraints when it comes to rights-of-way in certain areas.

"Particularly from Cavalcade to Quitman, and that was a result of our previous study."

The first public meeting is tonight at Davis High School on Quitman. The other is Thursday night at Aldine Ninth Grade School on the North Freeway. Both meetings begin at 5:30.

support also comes from