US 290, Houston, Texas (Planned)

Existing US 290 Source: http://www.dot.state.tx.us/HOU/eis/us290/meetings.htm (PowerPoint)

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people travel up and down US 290 between Loop 610 and FM 2920 in Waller, Texas. In the future, thousands more will join in that traffic flow because the population growth rate of the Houston region is exploding.

In fact, it is growing so fast that the population is expected to increase by approximately 41 percent between the years 2000 and 2025. For the US 290 corridor section between IH 610 and FM 2920, the current population of about 412,000 is projected to expand to 708,000 in that time frame.

With that kind of rapid growth, there will obviously be many more people driving on this road. And, with that, comes additional problems. If the corridor remained the same as it is today, that would mean US 290 motorists would experience significant amounts of traffic congestion and other aggravating transportation-related headaches.

To ensure US 290 can meet the current and future needs of the Houston area, the Houston District of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), in cooperation with the FHWA and the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA), are developing freeway capacity improvements in the US 290 corridor from IH 610 to FM 2920, a distance of approximately 38 miles (including Hempstead Road and the connections to the IH 610 West Loop).

The US 290 Program, which entails reconstruction of US 290 and Hempstead Road, covers a corridor of varying width that is approximately 38 miles long, extending from the interchange area of IH 10/IH 610/ US 290 northwest to FM 2920.

To learn more about the US 290 project, please visit www.my290.com/index.htm.

To learn about other major highway projects in the United States, please visit FHWA's Major Project website.