Transportation in Houston

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Urban sprawl and hot, humid summers have made automobiles the favored means of transportation in Houston, Texas. Houston also has excessive ozone levels and is ranked among the most ozone-polluted cities in the United States.

Houston’s freeway system includes 575.5 miles of freeways and expressways in the 10-county metro area.^[1] The State of Texas plans to spend $5.06 billion on Houston area highways between 2002 and 2007. Houston freeways are heavily traveled and often under construction to meet the demands of continuing growth. Interstate 45 south has been in a continuous state of construction, in one portion or another, almost since the first segment was opened in 1948. Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) planners have sought ways to reduce rush hour congestion, primarily through High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane for vans and carpools. Timed freeway entrances, which regulate the addition of cars to the freeway, are also common. Houston has an extensive network of freeway cameras linked to a transit control center to monitor and study traffic. One characteristic of Houston's freeways (and Texas freeways in general) are its frontage roads (which locals call "feeders"). Alongside most freeways are two to four lanes in each direction parallel to the freeway permitting easy access to individual city streets. Frontage roads provide access to the freeway from businesses alongside, such as gas stations and retail stores. New landscaping projects and a longstanding ban on new billboards are ways Houston has tried to control the potential side effects of convenience.

Houston has a hub-and-spoke freeway structure with multiple loops. The innermost is Interstate 610, forming approximately a 10 mile diameter loop around downtown. The roughly square "Loop-610" is quartered into "North Loop," "South Loop," "West Loop," and "East Loop." The roads of State Highway Beltway 8 and their freeway core, the Sam Houston Tollway, are the next loop, at a diameter of roughly 25 miles. A proposed highway project, State Highway 99 (The Grand Parkway), would form a third loop outside of Houston, though some sections of this project have been controversial. Currently, the completed portion of State Highway 99 runs from just north of Interstate 10, west of Houston, to U.S. Highway 59 in Sugar Land, southwest of Houston, and was completed in 1994. The next portion to be constructed is from the current terminus at U.S. Highway 59 to State Highway 288 in Brazoria County.

Houston also lies along the route of the proposed Interstate 69 NAFTA superhighway that will link Canada, the U.S. industrial mid-west, Texas, and Mexico.

Further information: List of Houston highways

Contents 1 Mass transit 2 Airports 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Mass transit

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, or METRO, provides public transportation in the form of buses, trolleys, and lift vans.

METRO began running light rail service (METRORail) on January 1, 2004. Currently the track is rather short—it runs about 8 miles (13 km) from Downtown Houston to the Texas Medical Center and Reliant Park. METRO's various forms of public transportation still do not connect many of the suburbs to the greater city, causing Houstonians to rely on the automobile as a primary source of transportation. Prior to the opening of METRORail, Houston was the largest city in the United States devoid of a rail transit system by a very large margin.

Following a successful referendum held locally in 2004, METRO is currently in the beginning design phases of a 10-year expansion plan to add five more sections to connect to the current rail system. An 8.3 mile (13.4 km) expansion has been approved to run the service from the Uptown District (the Galleria area) through Texas Southern University, ending at the University of Houston campus.

[edit] Airports

Houston is served by two commercial airports—the largest of which is the George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). The airport is the ninth-busiest in the United States for total passengers, and 19th busiest worldwide. Houston is the headquarters of Continental Airlines, Bush Intercontinental is Continental Airline's largest hub, with more than 750 daily departures (more than 250 of which are Continental flights).

Bush Intercontinental currently ranks second in the United States for non-stop domestic and international service (221 destinations), trailing only Atlanta Hartsfield with 250 destinations. The United States Department of Transportation has also recently named George Bush Intercontinental Airport one of the top ten fastest growing airports in the United States.^[2]

The second-largest commercial airport in Houston is the William P. Hobby Airport (named Houston International Airport until 1967). The airport operates primarily small to medium-haul flights and is the only airport in Houston served by Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways. Business travelers on shorter routes to Houston from within the United States tend to prefer Hobby over Bush Intercontinental.^{[citation needed]}

The third-largest airport and former U.S. Air Force base, Ellington Field, is primarily used for government and private aircraft. At one point, Continental Express operated flights across the city to Bush Intercontinental primarily for residents of southeast Houston and Galveston County. Passenger flights, however, ended on September 7, 2004.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the state of Texas selected the Houston Airport System as Airport of the Year for 2005, largely because of its multi-year, $3.1 billion airport improvement program for both major airports in Houston.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Houston Highway Construction

	City of Houston History | Geography | Economy | Culture | Politics | Architecture | Transportation | Education | Houstonians
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