Hwy. 290, Beltway 8 interchange project set to begin early next

Improvements to the Beltway 8 and Hwy. 290 interchange aim to ease congestion during morning and evening rush hour, which is increased by conflicting traffic movements caused from limited access to and from Hwy. 290, Senate Avenue, FM 529 and West Little York, according to a summary released by the Texas Department of Transportation.

Plans for the interchange—referred to as Project G—were finalized by TxDOT last month, and the project was advanced from a later construction letting time frame due to identified funding, according to TxDOT. The $110.4 million bid was awarded to civil engineering firm Webber LLC by the Texas Transportation Commission at their Sept. 27 meeting.

The estimated total cost for Project G is $170 million, which includes rebuilding Hwy. 290 between W. Little York and FM 529 with four main lanes and a three-lane frontage road in each direction, along with costs associated with right-of-way acquisition.

"Building this project sooner rather than later does save money as construction costs escalate," said Karen Othon, public information officer for TxDOT. "With more than 258,000 vehicles a day traveling Hwy. 290, this project will address the issue of congestion at the interchange."

Collector-distributor ramps located between the main lanes and frontage roads will combine ramp movements to reduce disruptions in traffic flow.

"[TxDOT] will build a two-lane collector-distributor in each direction separate from the main lanes to allow entering and exiting traffic to merge, thereby improving access for traffic entering or exiting to and from the main lanes," Othon said. The outbound collector-distributor ramp will allow vehicles to exit and access Senate Avenue or FM 529 while allowing motorists to enter the highway from W. Little York.

Reversible managed lanes will run three lanes across parallel to Hwy. 290, according to TxDOT's plans. The lanes will run inbound in the morning and outbound in the evening and will be operated by the Harris County Toll Road Authority.

Project G will also add continuous frontage roads, which will run over the Union Pacific railroad track adjacent to Hwy. 290 to move motorists around Senate Avenue.

Construction on Project G is scheduled to begin in February 2013 and is estimated to be complete by 2016.