The Once and Future King

Southwest Freeway Reopening Gateway to a Brighter Future

By Rob Pattterson

U.S. Highway 59, or the Southwest Freeway, has been the gateway to Houston's downtown since the early 1960s when it was the largest and most modern freeway in the city. But the busiest radial freeway in the state, which carries more than 240,000 vehicles a day, was in need of a makeover.

From 1989 to 2002, the Texas Department of Transportation rebuilt the freeway from Loop 8 to Mandell Street, creating what is now known as the Gateway to Houston. With its steel arch bridges and aesthetic features and landscaping, U.S. Highway 59 won a Special Recognition for a Structure Project award in 2003 from the National Partnership for Highway Quality for design excellence and innovation.

Now the final segment of the reconstruction is under way in a $71 million, two-phase project that completes the new freeway past Spur 257 and rebuilds the spur feeding into Houston's center city. Although it is only 1.7 mi. long, the final component of the freeway improvement has presented special challenges for TxDOT and Houston contractor Williams Brothers Construction Co., which had to do the job while keeping part of the freeway open.

Originally slated for a November 2003 start date, the project was delayed until after this year's Super Bowl in Houston at the request of the city's mayor. Completion is targeted for February 2007.

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"The freeway is more than 40 years old, and it was starting to show its age," said Quincy Allen, area engineer for TxDOT. Along the last stretch of the project, it runs through two residential neighborhoods, creating quality-of-life and traffic concerns for local residents.

"We had 15 years of public involvement relating to environmental issues on this project before we went to construction," Allen added. "We looked at everything from how we were building it in terms of traffic control to what we were building, what it's going to look like above ground and below ground, how wide, how many lanes and where the sound walls are." Since work has been under way, noise complaints from the construction have been minimal.

In addition to expanding the freeway from 10 lanes to 12 and adding two HOV lanes, U.S. Highway 59 is undergoing a nearly 40-ft. change in grade from the highest point-an 18 ft. elevated roadway- to its lowest, some 20 ft. below the surface. As the shift occurs, travel across the site remains open on Montrose Boulevard, one of the area's major thoroughfares.

Two temporary metal bridges were placed along the opposing lanes of Montrose. The northbound part of the elevated freeway was demolished as traffic in both directions was rerouted to the southbound lanes. Half of the new roadway path was excavated. Once the new northbound freeway is completed, the process will begin again on the other side.

When both parts of the highway are completed, two steel-pad arch bridges will be installed on Montrose one after the other, allowing traffic to continue to flow on the busy boulevard. One temporary bridge will be removed and replaced by the arch bridge, which will then carry vehicles over the new highway as the other new bridge is erected. Another of the distinctive arch bridges, custom designed for TxDOT, will cross the freeway at Graustark Street.

The freeway is more than a new, expanded roadway. To make the gateway aesthetically pleasing, walls on both sides feature a fractured-fin longitudinal finish and special cantilevered lighting, Allen said.

To meet the goals of the Houston Green Ribbon Project, more than $750,000 in landscaping will grace the last part of the new freeway. "It'll minimize mowing, look good, and requires less maintenance," Allen said. Ivy on the retaining walls will add to the greenery.

In order to protect the roadway from flooding during wet weather, "We're building one of the biggest pump stations in Texas on this job; two pump stations with six pumps each," Allen said. Two detention ponds on the right of way will hold water for 72 hours to avoid overloading the downstream systems. Plantings and screen walls around parts of the ponds will make them visually pleasing.

Responding to local input, a new temporary exit has been added at Main Street, which will be made permanent when the project is completed. The 2,700 ft. raised roadway of Spur 257, with exits to Richmond, Alabama and Louisiana and feeding into Brazos, will be 2 ft. higher than the previous road to meet federal standards.

The project is around the halfway mark and on schedule, said Allen, "operating on an accelerated construction schedule with interim milestones and incentives for the contractor if he's early and penalties if he's late."

"We've got a good contractor who is really busting his rear end and doing a first rate job. We're thankful for our relationship with them and for their efforts," Allen said. "Working with the high volume of traffic and trying to go as quickly as we can and keep safety a priority is a significant challenge, there's no two ways about it."