I-10 Widening Project Continues in Texas

The current work will expand the freeway to three lanes in each direction and shift a notorious bottleneck farther west.

1 minute read

May 20, 2021, 10:00 AM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Drivers who travel between Houston and Austin are familiar with exactly where traffic usually slows down. "Coming from Houston, it is just past Katy," says Kristina Hernandez, a resident who makes the drive frequently. Now, reports Dug Begley for the Houston Chronicle, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is expanding Interstate 10 there as "part of a generation-long goal of having three lanes in each direction along I-10 from Houston to San Antonio." The current project, which will cost close to $570 million, will shift the bottleneck that now occurs in the area near Sealy farther west. "When the work is completed in mid-2022, drivers will have three lanes in each direction through Sealy, as opposed to the well-known bottleneck west of Brookshire."

Local leaders hope the expansion will benefit Sealy's economy by making the 50-mile trip to and from downtown Houston faster. "The work comes with changes in Sealy’s appearance, however. New freeway lanes and frontage roads — in many spots the work is replacing rural two-way frontage roads typically on one side of the interstate with more urban and suburban styled one-way boulevards on both sides — will mean new businesses and intersections."

Thursday, May 13, 2021 in Houston Chronicle

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