Work winding down, slowly, on U.S. 290
The finishing touches are coming along on a seven-year widening of a key northwest Harris County highway
T om MacNeil finds it funny sometimes, his traveling down a clogged frontage road in Cypress alongside rows of brand-new roadway.
“I daydream about driving on those lanes someday,” he said over lunch Wednesday near Mueschke Road.
Someday will be here pretty soon, the Texas Department of Transportation says, although the work on those frontage roads will be among the finishing touches of the seven-year widening of U.S. 290.
“There is going to be a lot of action this summer,” said Frank Leong, TxDOT area engineer for western Harris County, which covers the U.S. 290 project. “People are going to see a lot of opening this summer.”
Crews have already opened all the main lanes of the freeway from the Grand Parkway to Waller County, and
work is now concentrated on key overpasses — such as at Huffmeister and FM 1960.
Cypress-area drivers will be some of the last to have final relief, as work continues on frontage roads in their area. Still, progress was met Wednesday with optimism from area drivers.
“It’s encouraging to see lanes, actual lanes,” Cindy Mitchum said as she waited for a friend at a coffee shop near U.S. 290 and FM 1960.
In every major spot, any work that remains is mostly aboveground and related to laying a roadbed and then putting steel and concrete on top of it. Utility relocations, which delayed many segments of the project for months, are completed. Most pipes and culverts related to drainage are in place.
That includes one of the most crucial parts of the job for most commuters into and out of the area via U.S. 290, the connection with Loop 610.
“It is going to happen very quickly because everything is out of our way now, and the contractor is ready to go,” Leong said.
When completed, largely by year’s end, U.S. 290 will be five lanes in each direction from Loop 610 to Texas 6, and four lanes in each direction from Texas 6 to Waller County. A bidirectional HOV or HOT lane will operate from Loop 610 to the county line.
The work spans 13 contiguous projects along 38 miles, for a total construction cost of $1.8 billion, including rebuilding frontage roads in both directions. Growth in northwest Harris County led to the massive endeavor, perhaps the largest freeway building effort in local history in terms of miles of road rebuilt.
It’s been a massive headache for commuters and businesses. Many restaurants and shops were displaced. Others have seen business decline as drivers avoided the area. Some Houston motorists have just made a habit of not using the freeway.
“Never, if I can help it,” Denise Schrader said. “It’s scary, especially if there is a truck.”
Leong said officials know drivers have been severely impacted, but their focus is on the finish line.
“People are going to see it coming together,” he said.
It’s likely large swaths of the project from Loop 610 to the Sam Houston Tollway will open this summer, Leong said, once work is completed and crews can transition northbound drivers on Loop 610 to the new ramps.
Traffic from Loop 610 northbound shares the ramp from Interstate 10 to westbound U.S. 290. Eventually, Loop 610 traffic will move back to a similar split at U.S. 290 to the old interchange, where left lanes curved onto U.S. 290 and the right lanes continued on Loop 610.