So long US-59, Hello IH-69

[Dopo]

I bet people are gonna steal this sign on a weekly basis

[DejaBlue]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I bet people steal this sign on a weekly basis

That might cause some accidents and people in court going "We were just doing what the sign told us to! We were following directions!"

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I bet people are gonna steal this sign on a weekly basis

Ha ha, that's awesome

[MikeyAusmus]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I bet people are gonna steal this sign on a weekly basis

Im sure TxDOT will do the same thing to IH-69 signs that they do to US-69 signs... weld them to the post! haha

[MikeyAusmus]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

So far only the area through Corpus shows up as I-69 on Google

Look on a web browser on a computer... Google hasn't updated it on mobile phone maps.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by MikeyAusmus

Look on a web browser on a computer... Google hasn't updated it on mobile phone maps.

Zoom in to Robstown, TX.... you'll see it.

[malfunction]

Originally Posted by chris_ut

The highway going from Beaumont to Tyler is numbered 69, will they be renaming that to avoid confusion?

That's US 69. The word I've read about is that it might receive a new number, probably 175 from Dallas.

[case44]

Originally Posted by MikeyAusmus

When completed south to Brownsville, TX traffic should significantly increase on "IH-69". When connected north to IH-49 and IH-20, it will pick up even more so and when connected through to Indianapolis, IN IH-69 will be the next IH-35...

I really wish TxDOT would attempt to incorporate TX-99 to either IH-269 or IH-469 to help divert traffic away from the central metro area.

Grand Parkway won't be done all the way around anytime soon. Keep in mind that the Southwest and Eastex Freeways are expanded and vastly improved, and since U.S. 59 through town is completely rebuilt already, making that stretch part of I-69 makes the most sense. Plus, that brings tourists into the city that otherwise wouldn't.

[case44]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

Dee will sure be happy then. He is always excited about the increased growth between Lufkin/Nacogdoches and Houston. He seems to think that the Metro will stretch all the way to Nacogdoches County. That would be a helluva big area, Polk and Angelina counties separate Nacogdoches county and the Houston Metro, so that would be adding 3 new counties.

I see Livingston (Polk County) being added, but Lufkin and Nacogdoches are so far away. I See Wharton and Bay City joining our metro way before Lufin and Nacogdoches. They are often mentioned by our newscasters and weather people as if they are already in the metro.

Well, Nacogdoches won't be in the metro, but you'll soon have a faster connection to that location, as well as Shreveport (which will eventually be the control city on the north I-69 signs instead of Cleveland). I wouldn't consider Wharton to be part of the metro, either, but again, it won't be long until you have that faster connection, free of any at-grade crossings, flashing lights, or signals.

Originally Posted by chris_ut

The highway going from Beaumont to Tyler is numbered 69, will they be renaming that to avoid confusion?

There is a written rule somewhere that states that a U.S. highway and an interstate having the same number cannot intersect in the same state. I've read on Wikipedia the possibility of U.S. 69 being truncated south of Jacksonville, TX, and seeing U.S. 175 replacing it going down through Lufkin and on to Port Arthur. No timetable yet on it, but that idea is being explored. We should know something soon. Alternately, U.S. 271 from Tyler could be extended southward, too, as a possible replacement for U.S. 69, but that is highly unlikely.

Originally Posted by houstonfan

Cool! Will the name East Tex Freeway still stick? I always get so confused when I hear traffic reports, they talk so fast that I can't process the names quickly enough. I wish they'd use "IH10, Hwy 290" etc instead of the long names.

The Eastex Freeway name will stay, as it is relative to the cities in which it serves. Cities tend to use names to portion off sections of freeways. U.S. 59 will now be a secondary designation thanks to the new I-69 label. Traffic reporters will likely begin saying, "I-69 Eastex or I-69 Southwest inbound/outbound, etc." It's going to take some time to adjust.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by case44

Well, Nacogdoches won't be in the metro, but you'll soon have a faster connection to that location, as well as Shreveport (which will eventually be the control city on the north I-69 signs instead of Cleveland). I wouldn't consider Wharton to be part of the metro, either, but again, it won't be long until you have that faster connection, free of any at-grade crossings, flashing lights, or signals.

I can't imagine Bay City to be joined to Houston either but it is part of the Houston CSA. Matagorda County and Wharton are stacked. In Fact Wharton is closer to Houston, better connected via 59, and easier to get to than Bay City. For the likes of me I have no idea why Bay city is in and Wharton is out.

Wharton is only about 15 miles passed Rosenberg with quite a few commercial areas in between.
The closest sizeable Houston metro city to Bay City is Angleton and that is about 25 miles away.

The Houston Development has spread west on 10 all the way to Sealy. Sealy is a straight shot north of Wharton. Hard to believe but yeah, Wharton is no further west than Sealy

I like the central part of Houston too much to imagine leaving as far SW as Wharton or as far west as Sealy or as far north as Huntsville.

Periphery counties are easy to tack on to metropolitan areas though because their populations are so small. The threshold is 15%. So The population of Matagorga county is 36K. Lets say that the non farm working population is 35% of that. To get to the threshold for joining with Houston there only needs to be 1800 people working in either direction or a combination of the two.
That is a very low threshold to meet.

Places like Beaumont, although it is closer than Huntsville is harder to join because the population is much larger so getting to that 15% threshold is much easier. I dunno, but I69 is gonna sure increase the interaction between Wharton and Houston.