I-45 would move, sink and shift from Pierce Elevated in TxDOT plan

Traffic travels along the Pierce Elevated, Monday, April 20, 2015, in Houston. Traffic travels along the Pierce Elevated, Monday, April 20, 2015, in Houston. Photo: Cody Duty, Houston Chronicle Photo: Cody Duty, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close I-45 would move, sink and shift from Pierce Elevated in TxDOT plan 1 / 32 Back to Gallery

A massive plan to add managed lanes along Interstate 45 and potentially to reconfigure downtown freeway access will debut publicly Thursday, years after state officials started discussions of what could be the largest freeway rebuilding project ever undertaken in the Houston area.

In documents posted Tuesday, planners outlined broadly the proposal to add two managed lanes to I-45 from the Sam Houston Tollway in northern Houston to U.S. 59 south of the city’s central business district. A public meeting to detail the proposal is scheduled Thursday.

Though the project stretches for roughly 16 miles, it’s the southernmost four miles that have received the most attention. In the plans posted, TxDOT proposes to depress the freeway – much like U.S. 59 west of Spur 527 – between Cavalcade and Quitman streets.

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Residents who have tracked the project for years are anxious to see what TxDOT has settled on as a preferred design. Read more about how nearby residents see the project on HoustonChronicle.com.

“I am really looking with dreaded anticipation for what they are going to propose,” said Jim Weston, president of the I-45 coalition. “There’s a lot of engineering and lots of questions about the design that really, I feel, TxDOT hasn’t answered. So I really want to see what the plan is. I am hoping it is something that respects the community.”

In downtown, sweeping changes are planned, including realigning the freeway to run parallel to U.S. 59. Moving the freeway would mean eliminating the Pierce Elevated, which carries I-45 across the central business district.

Downtown officials blame the Pierce for cutting off some areas of downtown, because the wide, elevated freeway acts as a barrier and his limited development around it.

“It is in some ways an awkward piece of urban structure that never has fit well,” said Bob Eury, executive director of the Houston Downtown Management District.

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The garbled connections that link downtown freeways have been the source of congestion that’s spread in every direction from the center of Houston. Realigning I-45 also reworks some of those connections, officials said.

Broken into three segments — the Sam Houston Tollway to Loop 610, the Loop to Interstate 10 and I-10 to U.S. 59 — the portions of I-45 rank 11th, 9th and 16th on the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s most congested highways in Texas. Nearby segments of I-10, U.S. 59 and Texas 288 also rank within the top 30.

By settling on a preferred route, TxDOT can do more specific analysis and prepare a federally required environmental report. That’s the first step in rebuilding the freeway.

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Officials have said the construction would likely occur in stages, starting downtown, but only after officials identify sources for the billions of dollars the project will cost.

In the northernmost areas — mostly bordered by commercial properties — it is a simple but massive widening project. Officials plan to add a frontage road lane in each direction, but to keep the freeway in its normal configuration, taking additional right of way on the west side of the freeway from the tollway to Airline Drive, then shifting to add property east of the freeway from Airline to Loop 610.

Within Loop 610, the freeway would be widened and remain above most local streets, south to Cavalcade. Between 10 feet and 80 feet of additional right of way will be acquired to add the managed lanes, shoulders and bike and pedestrian amenities along the frontage roads.