Interstate 45
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|||||||||||||
| Interstate 45 Main route of the Interstate Highway System |
|||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
| Length: | 285 mi (459 km) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South end: |  Texas 87 in Galveston, TX |
||||||||||||
| Major junctions: |
 I-10 in Houston, TX I-20 in Dallas, TX |
||||||||||||
| North end: |  I-345 in Dallas, TX |
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
Interstate 45 (abbreviated I-45) is an intrastate interstate highway located entirely within the state of Texas, United States. Its odd number indicates that it is primarily a north-south highway. Unlike most of the other interstates ending in "5", it is not a border-to-border highway.
Its southern end is in Galveston, Texas, (where the mile count begins) at the intersection of State Highway 87 and Spur 342; its northern end is in Dallas, Texas, at Interstate 30. (Interstate 345, an unmarked interstate, seamlessly carries traffic from the I-45 terminus at I-30 to US 75's southern terminus at Spur 366. [1])
Contents |
[edit] Freeway Name Designations
- Gulf Freeway between Galveston to Downtown Houston
- Pierce Elevated through Downtown Houston from south of I-10 to US-59/State Highway 288
- North Freeway Downtown Houston to The Woodlands.
- Julius Schepps Freeway from I-20 to downtown Dallas
[edit] Route Description
| Cities (Population > 2,000) |
|---|
| Bold cites are AASHTO control cities.[2] |
[edit] Gulf Freeway
The stretch of I-45 connecting Galveston with Houston is known as the Gulf Freeway. It was the first freeway in Houston, opened in stages from 1948 to 1952 as part of U.S. Highway 75. At the north (Houston) end, it connects to the North Freeway via the short Pierce Elevated, completed in 1967.[3] The section north of the curve near Monroe Road/State Highway 3 in southeastern Houston was built on the right-of-way of the former Galveston-Houston Electric Railway, which entered downtown on Pierce Street.[4][5]
After several interchanges, I-45 crosses the Galveston Causeway and passes Tiki Island. The split with State Highway 6 and State Highway 146 (to State Highway 3) may be the beginning of the Gulf Freeway[citation needed]; old U.S. Highway 75 south of this junction was upgraded on the spot.[6]
The Gulf Freeway generally parallels State Highway 3 (old US 75) about 1 mile (1.5 km) to the west, bypassing La Marque, Dickinson and South Houston. It includes interchanges with several other freeways: the Emmett F. Lowry Expressway (Farm to Market Road 1764), NASA Road 1 Bypass (freeway under construction) and the Sam Houston Tollway, meeting the north end of State Highway 3 in southeastern Houston. (This part of SH 3 β on Winkler Drive and Monroe Road β is not part of old US 75.) A center reversible HOV lane begins just south of the Sam Houston Tollway.
In Houston, I-45 meets Interstate Highway 610 and State Highway 35 at a complicated interchange[7]. At the merge with Spur 5, a short freeway spur to the University of Houston, elevated collector-distributor roads (also part of Spur 5) begin. The C/D roads and the HOV lane end at Dowling Street, the original end of the Gulf Freeway. Just past Dowling Street is an interchange with U.S. Highway 59 (Eastex Freeway and Southwest Freeway) and State Highway 288 (South Freeway), after which I-45 technically becomes the North Freeway[8] as it runs along the northwest half of the block between Pierce Street and Gray Street as the Pierce Elevated.
[edit] Intersections with other interstates
- Interstate 610 (twice) in Houston, Texas
- Interstate 10 in Houston, Texas
- Interstate 20 in Dallas, Texas
- Interstate 30 in Dallas, Texas
- Interstate 345 in Dallas, Texas[1]
[edit] Spur Routes
- Unmarked Interstate 345 in Dallas, Texas. I-345 is just 1.4 miles (2.25 km) long and connects the end of I-45 to the end of US 75 along the east side of downtown Dallas. It is signed northbound as US 75 and southbound as I-45. [1]
 |
Auxiliary routes of Interstate 45 | |
| Current and Future (F) | Former | |
 |
Texas | |
[edit] Multiplexes
[edit] U.S. Highway 190
- U.S. Highway 190 joins I-45 for 26 miles from Huntsville, Texas to Madisonville, Texas
[edit] U.S. Highway 287
- U.S. Highway 287 joins I-45 for 18 miles from Corsicana, Texas to Ennis, Texas. U.S. 287 signs are only posted (with I-45) from the northern end of Business Loop 45 in Corsicana to the Ellis County line.
[edit] Lane configuration
From south to north, the following lane counts are for mainlanes only [9]:
- 3 lanes each way between Spur 366 in Galveston and FM 1959
- 4 lanes each way between FM 1959 and U.S. 59 in Houston (note: I-45 is multiplexed in a collector-distributor arrangement with State Highway 35 between Spur 5 and Dowling Street in Houston, which gives a total mainlane count of 7 lanes in each direction)
- 3 lanes each way between U.S. 59 and McKinney Street in Houston
- 4 lanes each way between McKinney Street and Beltway 8 (North Belt)
- 5 lanes each way between Beltway 8 (North Belt) and FM 1960
- 4 lanes each way between FM 1960 and northern terminus of the Hardy Toll Road
- 5 lanes each way between the Hardy Toll Road and Research Forest Drive (in The Woodlands)
- 4 lanes each way between Research Forest Drive and FM 1488
- 2 lanes each way between FM 1488 and Navarro/Ellis county line
- 3 lanes each way between Navarro/Ellis county line and SM Wright Freeway in Dallas
- 5 lanes each way between SM Wright Freeway and Interstate 30
- 4 lanes each way between Interstate 30 and Interstate 345
[edit] HOV lanes
The reversible high-occupancy vehicle lane begins in downtown Houston at the intersection of St. Joseph Parkway and Dowling Street, with easy access inbound to St. Joseph Parkway and outbound from Pierce Street. It runs down the median of the Gulf Freeway, mostly at the same level as the main lanes. Ramps are provided for access to and from the following roads:
- Eastwood Transit Center - full access
- Interstate Highway 610 north frontage road - full access
- Monroe Road and Monroe Park & Ride - full access
- Fuqua Park & Ride and South Point Park & Ride - full access
- Frontage roads north of Dixie Farm Road (Farm to Market Road 1959) - towards downtown, with a ramp stub for continuation
The North Freeway HOV begins in downtown Houston near the U of H Downtown campus, with easy access inbound on Milam Street and outbound on Travis Street. Ramps and entrances are provided for access from the following roads:
- Interstate Highway 10 westbound exit and entrance only - full access
- Quitman Street - full access
- Airline Drive (to Crosstimbers Road) - full access
- N. Shepherd (to N. Shepherd Park & Ride) - full access
- Farm to Market Road 525 (Aldine Mail Route) - full access
- Kuykendahl Park & Ride - full access
- Farm to Market Road 1960 (to Spring Park & Ride) - full access
Ends a mile north of Farm to Market Road 1960
[edit] Notes
- I-45 is not only an intrastate Interstate, but is also the shortest major Interstate (ending in 0 or 5). I-45 is also the longest intrastate Interstate not to touch any state or national borders (Interstate 87 in New York is longer but reaches the Canadian border).
- Interstate 45 gained notoriety during Hurricane Rita in 2005. Thousands of Houston area evacuees jammed the roadway trying to leave. As a result, the freeway became a parking lot. Gas stations ran dry and hundreds of people's cars simply ran empty, their occupants having to spend the night along the shoulder. Four-hour drives suddenly became 24-hour drives. Even though the Texas Department of Transportation started contraflow lane reversal at FM 1488, it didn't alleviate the traffic jam deep into the city, as that starting point was even north of The Woodlands, which is close to Conroe, the northern terminus of the greater Houston area.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c http://www.dot.state.tx.us/tpp/hwy/ih/ih0345.htm TxDOT Highway Designation File: INTERSTATE HIGHWAY NO. 345
- ^ http://users.adelphia.net/~pwolf/controlcities.html American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials control cities.
- ^ TexasFreeway - Interstate 45 South, the Gulf Freeway
- ^ Houston Streetcars - Galveston-Houston Interurban
- ^ Texas State Highway Department, General Highway Map - Harris County Texas, Supplementary Sheet 3 of 4, 1936 (revised to November 23, 1939
- ^ Texas State Highway Department, General Highway Map - Galveston County Texas, 1936 (revised to November 23, 1939)
- ^ Satellite image of Gulf Freeway and Interstate 610 interchange. Google Maps. Last accessed September 25, 2006.
- ^ Clearing up confusion of multiple highway names Houston Chronicle, November 20, 2005.
- ^ Notes and Index Houston Freeways, Erik Slotboom.
- 2005 Rand McNally "The Road Atlas 2005" - newest feature- interstate mileage by state
[edit] External links
- Interstate 45 at Larry's Phat Page
- METRO - Gulf Freeway HOV system & map
| Main Interstate Highways (multiples of 5 in pink) |  |
|||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 29 | 30 |
| 35 | 37 | 39 | 40 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 49 | 55 | 57 | 59 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 66 (W) | 68 | |
| 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 (W) | 76 (E) | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | ||
| 83 | 84 (W) | 84 (E) | 85 | 86 (W) | 86 (E) | 87 | 88 (W) | 88 (E) | 89 | 90 | ||||||
| 91 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 99 | H-1 | H-2 | H-3 | |||||||
| Unsigned | A-1 | A-2 | A-3 | A-4 | PRI-1 | PRI-2 | PRI-3 | |||||||||
| Lists | Main - Auxiliary - Suffixed - Business - Proposed - Unsigned Gaps - Intrastate - Interstate standards - Replaced |
|||||||||||||||
