More than $1.3 billion to be spent on Houston freeway upgrades near downtown

HOUSTON – Houston is a bustling city on the move.

More people means more traffic and unfortunately, that has led to even more congestion on our already crowded freeways, resulting in longer, more painful commutes.

More than $1.3 billion will be spent upgrading freeways along with several other roads.

“The growth is here. We've seen it and of course we are planning for additional growth. We want to make sure we are widening these roadways to get folks traveling,” said Danny Perez with the Texas Department of Transportation.

Construction will start in about three years from now, with connectors and interchanges south of downtown such as SH 288 at I-45 and US 59.

I-45 will eventually be moved east of downtown and will run parallel with I-69 and US-59.

The Pierce Elevated will be turned into a parkway.

The smaller projects will be done first so the road work will not happen all at once.

“We will try to minimize the impact on the traveling public so we'll do some work on the weekend and in the evening, but we will definitely have suitable routes. We don't want to shut down anything if we don’t have to,” Perez said.


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