The nightmare that is Hwy 290 (Houston, The Woodlands: 2015, live, safety)

[Be Happy 2]

I travel I 10 to downtown from Hwy 6 all the time and I don't think it's bad. In the morning there's going to be traffic no matter what freeway you get on. I 10 runs okay minus a little stop and go near the beltway and close to 45. It would be much shorter if I could hop on 290 but forget about it.

[Malvie]

The other fun thing about 290---

When they expanded the Katy freeway, there was a lot of room on each side, plus the old Katy railroad bed. Some businesses were affected (remember the Fiesta?) but mostly they didn't have to tear a LOT of stuff down.

Where are they going to expand 290?

They will likely have to use the LBJ/Central Expressway model: bury the freeway with feeder roads as cantilevers on top. That's expensive.

Best alternative is to get HCTRA to ramp up construction on the proposed Hempstead Tollway---take old Hempstead Rd. and do the same thing to it they did to Hardy and Westpark. HCTRA goes much faster than TXDOT.

That would at least provide an alternate/safety valve for 290 if they do find the funds to reconstruct it.

And for those who weren't here/don't remember, you should have seen the ORIGINAL intersection of 610/290 before they rebuilt it in the 80's. Believe me, the current incarnation is actually BETTER.

I drive past 290 every day on the Beltway, and just actively am glad I chose to live where I do instead of anywhere close to that beast.

[TimBomb]

If theres only one thing I learned on my first day in the Houston area, its to stay away from 290. It's the traffic, the redneck country and my sisters' families. I'll take the ghettos anyday

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by desertsun41

I still cringe when some poster comes on here telling us they want to move up the 290 corridor and asking about the commute inbound. Imagine jumping off a 30' building every day? Same experience.

290 is the abortion of Texas. Of course if they did not install that illegal (oops your govt can do as they please) HOV lane which serves so few, that extra area could have been used to create an extra lane plus a shoulder in each direction. Instead it only serves very few yet we all had to pay for it and can't use it. Isn't that some type of discrimination? Hmmmmmm..................

Yeah my mom is planning on moving to Houston and was looking into the Cypress area. I told her if you move up there; don't expect me to come and see her lol

[Trae713]

Originally Posted by Malvie

The other fun thing about 290---

When they expanded the Katy freeway, there was a lot of room on each side, plus the old Katy railroad bed. Some businesses were affected (remember the Fiesta?) but mostly they didn't have to tear a LOT of stuff down.

Where are they going to expand 290?

They will likely have to use the LBJ/Central Expressway model: bury the freeway with feeder roads as cantilevers on top. That's expensive.

Best alternative is to get HCTRA to ramp up construction on the proposed Hempstead Tollway---take old Hempstead Rd. and do the same thing to it they did to Hardy and Westpark. HCTRA goes much faster than TXDOT.

That would at least provide an alternate/safety valve for 290 if they do find the funds to reconstruct it.

And for those who weren't here/don't remember, you should have seen the ORIGINAL intersection of 610/290 before they rebuilt it in the 80's. Believe me, the current incarnation is actually BETTER.

I drive past 290 every day on the Beltway, and just actively am glad I chose to live where I do instead of anywhere close to that beast.

They aren't doing that. Just going to tear down a lot of businesses.

Home

[westhou]

Originally Posted by TimBomb

If theres only one thing I learned on my first day in the Houston area, its to stay away from 290. It's the traffic, the redneck country and my sisters' families. I'll take the ghettos anyday

How is it Redneck Country? I grew up in Cypress and it's just like any other suburb.

[JL]

The more people move to Houston, the worse traffic will be...just part of the growing pains. When accidents do happen, it just compounds it. There was an accident on 59s going towards Rosenberg just past Sugarland earlier in the week and traffic was awful.

[CRBoyd91]

Originally Posted by Malvie

The other fun thing about 290---

When they expanded the Katy freeway, there was a lot of room on each side, plus the old Katy railroad bed. Some businesses were affected (remember the Fiesta?) but mostly they didn't have to tear a LOT of stuff down.

I guess you don't remember it being one of the largest ROW acquisitions in history. Not to mention that whole neighborhood street they had to tear down in Spring Branch. I believe it was called Buckingham or something.

One really sad thing about 290 is that it's really not even that old. Some of it was actually converted to a freeway rather recently on the outskirts of Cypress. I just wonder who's idea the design was. The same thing happened on the original Katy Freeway; the guy in charge of design for the outer part (outside of 610) decided a minimal right-of-way and minimum number of lanes would serve Houston better because who would ever expect anything to pop up outside of 610. On the other hand, another person was in charge of the design inside 610. That freeway is still there today and is still pretty nice in terms of design and especially considering that it was built in the early 60's.

[MrSykes]

Between 610 and the beltway is the worst. Narrow lanes, very narrow/virtually non-existent shoulders, lots of commercial traffic, aggressive motorists weaving in and out of traffic at 75-80 mph. When something does go wrong, things go south quickly.

[Trae713]

Originally Posted by CRBoyd91

I guess you don't remember it being one of the largest ROW acquisitions in history. Not to mention that whole neighborhood street they had to tear down in Spring Branch. I believe it was called Buckingham or something.

One really sad thing about 290 is that it's really not even that old. Some of it was actually converted to a freeway rather recently on the outskirts of Cypress. I just wonder who's idea the design was. The same thing happened on the original Katy Freeway; the guy in charge of design for the outer part (outside of 610) decided a minimal right-of-way and minimum number of lanes would serve Houston better because who would ever expect anything to pop up outside of 610. On the other hand, another person was in charge of the design inside 610. That freeway is still there today and is still pretty nice in terms of design and especially considering that it was built in the early 60's.

290 west of Fry isn't bad. But I mean, there is pretty much nothing left west of Fry (besides the Outlet Mall, Fairfield, and Bucees).