Interstate 69 in Texas

Interstate 69
Route information
Maintained by TxDOT
Length:	74.9 mi (120.5 km)
Existed:	December 5, 2011 (2011-12-05) – present
Major junctions
South end:	US 59 in Rosenberg
	I-45 in Houston I-10 / US 90 in Houston
North end:	US 59 near Cleveland
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Future Highways in Texas Interstate US State Toll Loops Spurs FM/RM Park Rec ← SH 68 US 69 →

Interstate 69 (I-69) in the U.S. state of Texas is an extension of that existing Interstate Highway that will pass through the eastern part of the state and along the Gulf Coast to Victoria, where it will split into multiple segments with I-69E terminating in Brownsville, I-69C terminating in Pharr, and I-69W terminating in Laredo.

The first segment of I-69 in Texas was opened in 2011 near Corpus Christi. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approved an additional 53 miles (85 km) of US 77 from Brownsville to Raymondville for designation as I-69, which was to be signed as I-69E upon concurrence from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). FHWA approval for this segment was announced on May 29, 2013.^[1] By March 2015, a 74.9 mile section of US-59 had been completed and designated as I-69 through the Houston Metropolitan Area.

Route description

The congressionally designated I-69 corridor begins at the Mexican border with 3 auxiliary routes:

• I-69W begins at the entrance to the World Trade International Bridge, which connects to Mexican Federal Highway 85D (Fed. 85D), near the border in Laredo. It is co-signed with both US 59 and Loop 20 (Bob Bullock Loop) and extends 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to I-35 (which connects to Fed. 85 south of the border). It will continue on US 59 east to George West, where it will intersect I-69C, it will then intersect I-37 east of George West, and it will then continue east to Victoria.
• I-69C (with connections to Fed. 97) begins in Pharr at I-2 and is designated for 18 miles (29 km) through Edinburg and co-signed with US 281. It will continue north along US 281 to George West, where it will intersect I-69W and terminate at this point.
• I-69E begins just north of the Veterans International Bridge, which connects to both Fed. 101 and Fed. 180, near the border in Brownsville and continues for 53.3 miles (85.8 km) through Olmito, where it intersects I-169 and through Harlingen, where it intersects I-2 and past Raymondville and co-signed with US 77, it is also co-signed with US 83 from Brownsville to Harlingen. The route will follow the US 77 corridor north to Corpus Christi, where a 7.8-mile (12.6 km) segment is already designated as I-69E and co-signed with US 77 and also intersects I-37, and it will then continue north to Victoria.

I-69/US 59 in Houston looking east

What is now I-69/US 59 (Southwest Freeway) in 1972

I-69W and I-69E will merge just south of Victoria, Texas, where mainline I-69 will follow US 59 northeast to Fort Bend County. In the Houston area, I-69 follows US 59 (Southwest Freeway) from Fort Bend County to the west loop of I-610. I-69 then follows US 59 (Eastex Freeway) from the north loop of I-610 to the Liberty-Montgomery county line. The segment of US 59 inside Loop I-610, through downtown Houston, was approved for designation as I-69 by the FHWA on March 9, 2015 and approved for signage as I-69 by the Texas Transportation Commission on March 25, 2015.^[2]

I-69 will follow US 59 to the north, serving Cleveland, Shepherd, Livingston, Lufkin, Nacogdoches, and Tenaha. At Tenaha, I-69 will head into Louisiana along the US 84 corridor. The segment of US 59 from Tenaha to Texarkana will be signed as I-369.

Since the first section of US 77 between Corpus Christi and Robstown was signed as I-69, it implied that the I-69 mainline would follow the coastal (US 77) route from Victoria to Brownsville. This also implied that the branch along US 59 from Victoria to Laredo and the branch along US 281 from George West to Pharr would be signed as either three-digit spurs of I-69 (I-x69) or as separate two-digit Interstate Highways. While federal legislation designating the south Texas branches as I-69 suggested that these routes may be designated as "I-69E" (east, following US 77), "I-69C" (central, following US 281), and "I-69W" (west, following US 59), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Special Committee on Route Numbering rejected the Texas Department of Transportation's request for these three designations along the proposed I-69 branches, citing that AASHTO policy no longer allows Interstate Highways to be signed as suffixed routes. Stating that the I-69E, I-69C, and I-69W designations for the three I-69 branches south of Victoria were written into federal law, the initial denial of TxDOT's applications were subsequently overturned by the AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways, and the approval for the I-69E, I-69C, and I-69W branch designations were confirmed by the AASHTO Board of Directors, pending concurrence from the Federal Highway Administration during the AASHTO Spring Meeting on May 7, 2013. During this same meeting, the section of US 83 between Harlingen and Penitas was conditionally approved to be designated as I-2, with FHWA concurrence. The US 83 freeway in south Texas was widely anticipated to receive an I-x69 designation instead of I-2. In any case, Texas is proceeding in the same fashion as Indiana, conducting environmental studies for its portion of I-69 in a two-tier process. The mainline route through Texas will be approximately 500 miles (800 km). On June 11, 2008, TxDOT announced they planned to limit further study of I-69 to existing highway corridors (US 59, US 77, US 84, US 281, and SH 44) outside transition zones in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Houston, and Texarkana.^[3]

Texas originally sought a public-private partnership to construct much of the route through Texas as a privately operated toll road under the failed Trans-Texas Corridor project. However, on June 26, 2008, TxDOT announced that they had approved a proposal by Zachry American and ACS Infrastructure to develop the I-69 corridor in Texas, beginning with upgrades to the US 77 corridor between Brownsville and I-37; the Zachry/ACS plan calls for the majority of the freeway to be toll-free; the only two tolled sections would be bypasses of Riviera and Driscoll.^[4]

Original plans for the route included a potential overlap with the "TTC-35" corridor component as well, but the preferred alternative for that component follows I-35 south of San Antonio instead of entering the lower Rio Grande Valley.

History

By July 2011, Texas has been proceeding with upgrading rural sections of US 59, US 77, and US 281 to interstate standards by replacing intersections with interchanges, and converting two-lane stretches to four lanes by adding a second carriageway to the existing roadway.

A stated goal of TxDOT's I-69 initiative is that "existing suitable freeway sections of the proposed system be designated as I-69 as soon as possible".^[5] A bill was introduced and passed by the House of Representatives that allows interstate quality sections of US 59, US 77, and US 281 to be signed as I-69 regardless of whether or not they connected to other Interstate Highways.

Meanwhile, TxDOT has submitted an application to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) to designate 75 miles (121 km) of US 59 in the Houston area and eight miles (13 km) of US 77 near Corpus Christi as I-69, as these sections are already built to Interstate standards and connect to other Interstate Highways. In August 2011, TxDOT received approval from FHWA for a six-mile (9.7 km) segment of US 77 between I-37 and SH 44 near Corpus Christi, and was approved by AASHTO in October 2011.^[6] Officials held a ceremony on December 5, 2011, to unveil I-69 signs on the Robstown–Corpus Christi section.^[7] On May 29, 2013, the Robstown–Corpus Christi section of I-69 was re-signed as I-69E.

At the May 18, 2012, AASHTO meeting, 35 miles (56 km) of US 59 (Eastex Freeway) from I-610 in Houston (on the loop's northern segment) to Fostoria Road in Liberty County were also approved as ready for I-69 signage, pending concurrence from the Federal Highway Administration.^[8] FHWA later granted concurrence and with the final approval of the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC), the 35-mile (56 km) stretch was officially designated as I-69.^[9] It was announced on February 6, 2013, that FHWA had approved a 28.4-mile (45.7 km) segment of US 59 (Southwest Freeway) from I-610 in Houston (on the loop's western segment) to just southwest of Rosenberg,^[10][11] The TTC gave final approval later that month and signage was erected on April 3, 2013.^[12][13] The remaining segment of the original 75-mile (121 km) submission (the section within Houston between the northern and western sections of I-610) was approved for designation as I-69 by the FHWA on March 9, 2015, and approved for signage as I-69 by the TTC on March 25, 2015.

On May 29, 2013, the TTC gave approval to naming completed Interstate-standard segments of US 77 and US 281 as I-69. On July 15, 2013, the Interstate markers were unveiled.^[14] US 77 through Cameron and Willacy counties are signed as I-69E. That includes 53 miles (85 km) of existing freeway starting at the international boundary in the middle of the Rio Grande in Brownsville and running north past Raymondville. The 13 miles (21 km) of US 281 freeway in Pharr and Edinburg are signed as I-69C.^[15]

On November 20, 2014, The TTC voted to add two new sections totaling 6.1 miles (9.8 km) to I-69 in South Texas.^[16] The first section is 1.6 miles (2.6 km) of newly finished freeway near Robstown in Nueces County and was co-designated as I-69E/US 77^[16] and the second section is a 4.5-mile (7.2 km) section of new freeway on the north side of Edinburg in Hidalgo County which was co-designated as I-69C/US 281.^[16] The designations were approved by the Federal Highway Administration and by AASHTO.^[16] As a result, there is now a total of 192 miles (309 km) of I-69 in Texas (including I-2).

Exit list

County	Location	mi	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Fort Bend	Rosenberg			93	US 59 south / Spur 529 north – Victoria	Current southern end of US 59 overlap; at-grade intersection with Spur 529; southern end of freeway; no northbound entrance; current southern end of I-69
				—	Bamore Road	Southbound exit closed until July 2018
				—	SH 36 – Rosenberg, Needville
				—	FM 2218 – Richmond
				—	Reading Road	Southbound exit closed until early 2018
	​			—	FM 762 – Richmond, Rosenberg
	​			104	Williams Way Boulevard	Access to Oak Bend Medical Center
	Sugar Land			105	SH 99 (Frontage Road) / FM 2759 (Crabb River Road)	Access to Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital
				106	Brazos River Turnaround
				107	University Boulevard
				108	First Colony Boulevard / Sweetwater Boulevard	Access to Methodist Sugar Land Hospital
				109	SH 6 – Sugarland Airport
				110	Sugar Lakes Drive / Williams Trace Boulevard	Access to St. Luke's Sugar Land Hospital
				111	Dairy Ashford Road / Sugar Creek Boulevard
				113	Alt. US 90 – Sugar Land, Stafford
	Stafford			112	Kirkwood Road / West Airport Boulevard
Harris	Houston			114	Wilcrest Drive / Murphy Road (FM 1092 south) / West Bellfort Avenue
				115	Sam Houston Tollway
				116	Beltway 8 (Frontage Road)	No direct southbound exit (signed at Wilcrest Drive)
				117	Bissonnet Street
				119	South Gessner Road / Beechnut Street	Access to Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital
				120	Fondren Road / Bellaire Boulevard
				121A	Hillcroft Avenue
				121B	Westpark Tollway east	Northbound exit only
				121C	Westpark Tollway west	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				121D	Westpark Drive	No direct northbound exit (signed at Hillcroft Avenue)
				122A	Fountainview Drive	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				122B	Chimney Rock Road	Signed as exit 122 northbound
				123	I-610 – IAH Airport, Hobby Airport	I-610 exit 8A
				124	Newcastle Drive	No direct northbound exit (signed at Weslayan Road)
				125A	Weslayan Road
				125B	Edloe Street, Buffalo Speedway
				126A	Kirby Drive
		128	206	126B	Greenbriar Drive / Shepherd Drive
				127B	Richmond Avenue / Downtown Houston via Louisiana Street (Spur 527)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				127A	Main Street	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; access to Texas Medical Center
				128A	Fannin Street	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; access to Texas Medical Center
				128B	SH 288 south – Lake Jackson, Freeport
				—	McGowen Avenue / Tuam Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; access to St. Joseph Medical Center
				129B	Gray Avenue / Pierce Avenue – Downtown Destinations	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; access to St. Joseph Medical Center
				129A	I-45 – Dallas, Galveston	I-45 exit 46; access to George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport
				130	Polk Street – Downtown Destinations	Northbound exit only
				131	Jackson Street – Downtown Destinations	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				132	I-10 (US 90) – San Antonio, Beaumont	I-10 exit 770
				133A	Lyons Avenue / Quitman Street
				133B	Collingsworth Street / Kelley Street
				134	Cavalcade Street	No direct northbound exit (signed at Collingsworth Street)
				135	I-610	I-610 exit 20; signed as exits 135A (west) & 135B (east) southbound
				136A	Crosstimbers Road / Kelley Street	Signed as exit 136 southbound
				136B	Laura Koppe Road	No direct southbound exit (signed at Tidwell Road)
				137	Tidwell Road
				138	Parker Road / Jensen Drive / Saunders Road
	​			139	Little York Road
	​			140A	Hopper Road	No direct northbound exit (signed at Little York Road)
	​			140B	East Mount Houston Road
	​			141	Aldine Mail Route
	​			143A	Lauder Road	No direct northbound exit (signed at Aldine Mail Route)
	​			142	Old Humble Road / Lee Road (FM 525 Spur)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Houston			143	FM 525 (Aldine Bender Road)
				144A	Beltway 8 (Sam Houston Parkway)
				145C	Beltway 8 (Frontage Road)	No direct northbound exit (signed at FM 525)
				144B	Greens Road
	Humble			145	Rankin Road
				147A	Will Clayton Parkway – Bush Intercontinental Airport
				147B	FM 1960 / Bus. FM 1960 – Humble	Access to Memorial Hermann Northeast Hospital
				148	Townsen Boulevard	No direct southbound exit (signed at Hamblen Road / Sorters-McClellan Road)
Montgomery	Kingwood			150	Loop 494 / Hamblen Road / Sorters-McClellan Road
				151A	Kingwood Drive
				153	Northpark Drive
	​			158	FM 1314 – Porter, Conroe
	​			156	Community Drive	Northbound exit to Community Drive
	​			157	SH 99 Toll (Grand Parkway) – Spring	I-69 Northbound flyover to Westbound SH 99 Toll
	​			159A	SH 99 Toll (Grand Parkway) – Spring	Southbound exit to I-69 and Community Drive
	​			159	FM 1485 / Loop 494 – New Caney	Southbound exit to Loop 494; U-turn under the freeway
	​			160	Loop 494 / Roman Forest Boulevard	Northbound exit to Loop 494; signed as exit 162 southbound
	Patton Village			161	SH 242
				163	Creekwood Lane	Signed as exit 165 southbound
	Splendora			166	FM 2090 – Splendora
				167B	East River Drive
	​	167	269	167A	Fostoria Road	Northbound exit to Fostoria Road, signed as exit 167 southbound
Montgomery–Liberty county line	​	168	270	168	US 59 south / I-69 southbound lanes begin / Fostoria Road	Current northern end of US 59 overlap; Montgomery–Liberty county line; southbound exit to Fostoria Road, exit 167; northern end of freeway
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

References

External links

Route map: Google

Interstate 69
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