Farm to Market Road 1093
Farm to Market Road 1093 (FM 1093) is a 50.476-mile (81.233 km) farm to market road in the U.S. state of Texas. It begins in Eagle Lake at FM 3013 and heads east to Interstate 610 in Houston. In Houston, a portion of FM 1093 is also a portion of "Westheimer Road", which continues east of I-610 without the FM 1093 designation.
East of Loop 610, Westheimer Rd. becomes Elgin at Bagby St. (Midtown District) and terminates at Spur 5 adjacent to the campus of the University of Houston.
Westheimer Rd. is named after M.L. Westheimer, who owned a farm in the 1920s near what is now the Uptown District of Houston. His nephews include Mark Westheimer, a locally famous attorney, and David Westheimer, author of Von Ryan's Express and many other novels.
The official designation for FM 1093 from SH 99 to Loop 610 is Urban Road 1093, though this moniker is not stated on road signs or addresses, or even anywhere outside of the Texas Department of Transportation's official files.
In Houston, FM 1093 is a major thoroughfare through west Houston and outlying neighborhoods, with sections 8 lanes wide, not including turning lanes.
History
FM 1093 was designated in 1949, more than a decade before the I-10 Katy Freeway opened. As west Houston was sparsely populated at the time, the road served mainly as a transportation route for cargo in and out of Houston. In the 1960s, the west side went through major growth after the Katy Freeway was foreseen, and neighborhoods and businesses quickly developed. 1093, popularly known in the city as Westheimer, became a major thoroughfare for westside residents traveling into Uptown Houston and Downtown Houston.
Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Westheimer became clogged with offices, restaurants and strip malls all along its route (notably including the Westchase District). Due to major traffic, the road's lane capacity expanded many times as popularity continued to grow.
Effects of Westpark Tollway
The Westpark Tollway, opened in 2005, was purposely designed to lessen Westheimer's traffic flow and serve as a thoroughfare for travelers from George Bush Park and Bellaire. Both the Westpark Tollway and 1093 run almost parallel to each other, changing the opposite's traffic flow. West of State Highway 6, FM 1093 and Westpark Tollway merge into one route, with FM 1093 forming the free frontage roads, while the Westpark Tollway forms the main lanes.
The tollway has not drastically diverted traffic on Westheimer and is open solely to EZ Tag users. The tollway is designed to provide easier access to freeways such as Highway 59 and others which 1093 doesn't serve. Before the Katy Freeway was significantly modernized and widened (west of the I-610 Loop) in 2008-2009, congestion on Westheimer and Westpark Tollway was far heavier than it is currently.
Junction list
References
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