Aviation/Westside Airport
The West
Houston Region plays host to several airports, the newest being the Houston
Executive Airport just west of the City of Katy and north of Interstate 10.
Click for more details on
this privately funded project.
State Transportation System
Requires Additional Resources to Reduce Urban Roadway Congestion
Michael
Stevens, chairman of the Governor's Business Council's Transportation Committee,
has presented to the WHA Transportation Committee a description of the needs of
the state transportation system and the funding required to maintain the system
and grow it to reduce roadway congestion in Texas' urban centers. WHA has
two reports:
ISSUES UPDATE: CAN TEXAS URBAN
TRANSPORTATION NEEDS BE MET (click to follow link) and the Governor's
Business Council Transportation presentation (click on the following link to
view the PowerPoint presentation)
US 290
The Houston
District of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), in cooperation with
the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), is considering improvements in the US
290 corridor from IH 610 to FM 2920, a distance of approximately 38 miles
(including the Hempstead Highway corridor and the connections to the IH 610 West
Loop). The project will include expanded
general-purpose lanes, a toll facility in the Hempstead right of way, and a reserve for advanced
high-capacity transit (light rail/bus rapid transit).
Interstate 10 West, the Katy
Freeway
Almost 1/2 of the total project is
completed after only 3 years of construction. The full project will be completed December 2008.
Click here for the current letting and completion
schedule. Harris County and TxDOT
have completed an historic agreement for the joint development of the project. As the region’s most significant project,
has been accelerated with an early start and shortened construction schedule
(see
Katy Freeway)
Agencies are coordinating the
development of
arterials
and traffic management systems in the Katy Corridor in advance of
construction to help move traffic.
Sam Houston Parkway--Beltway 8
West
The Harris County Toll Road Authority
(HCTRA), operator of Beltway 8, is engaged in construction of one additional
lane in each direction from the Southwest Freeway (US 59 South) to Interstate 45
North. In addition, HCTRA is improving traffic flow for
EZ Tags at each of
the three toll booths along this section.
Roadway Access
The Texas Transportation Commission
has maintained an effort to modified "roadway access" rules. WHA has
consistently expressed our concerns about adoption of such rules. The
latest comments by WHA can be
seen at this link. The current
draft proposal by TxDOT is available at their website (Click
here for a link) The belief is that
TxDOT will delay considering rules for roadway access until a companion design
manual is completed. The Association has
reviewed the proposals and submitted comments to the Transportation Commission
and area legislators asking that those proposals be modified to reflect the
realities of developing in a large metropolitan area such as Houston and Dallas.
Read the comments here.
Transit Plan
2025
Metro has released for comment its
Transit 2025 Plan (click link for map) that will assess corridors
throughout their service area for the need for high capacity transit (HCT).
Metro and TxDOT have agreed upon an operating agreement allowing Metro
significant access to the expanded managed-use lanes in the center of Interstate
10.