The Busiest and the Newest: This View Looking West Near Chimney Rock

The busiest and the newest: This view looking west near Chimney Rock shows two of Houston’s spoke freeways: the Southwest Freeway, Houston’s busiest freeway, and the Westpark Toll Road, the newest and smallest addition to Houston’s freeway system. (Photo: November 2002) The Spokes In the world of the loop and radial freeway system, downtown is the center of the uni- verse. Call it the hub. Houston’s eight spokes converging on downtown are just about the limit of what a downtown freeway interchange system can handle. But as space opens away from downtown, the next tier of six spokes takes root, mostly along Loop 610. Even the Beltway gives birth to a spoke. Houston’s system of spokes is one of the most extensive and well-balanced among the major cities in the United States. In fact, Houston’s freeway system does look a lot like a compass. This similarity didn’t escape the freeway system’s designers, who gave many of Houston’s radial freeways compass-point names. The North, Northwest, Southwest, South, East, and Northeast-Crosby freeways are all key increments in Houston’s freeway compass. Houston’s spoke freeways exhibit their own form of magnetism by being powerful attractors of development. Pervasive frontage roads along the spokes have brought commercial development right up to the edges of the freeways. The spokes are the scene of some of Houston’s most fascinating freeway history, as well as some of the biggest plans for the future. 144 Houston Freeways Gulf Freeway, Interstate 45 South The Gulf Freeway launched Houston into the freeway Gulf Freeway era on September 30, 1948. As the history of the Gulf Previous designation US 75 Freeway unfolded, it became a classic story of the rise of the American urban freeway and the myriad of issues Designated as freeway 1943 that would accompany it. Intertwined in the story of the First freeway section open September 30, 1948 Gulf Freeway is the demise of the urban electric rail- Freeway complete 1970 (to NASA 1) way, the unprecedented demand for new freeways in the 1976 (to Galveston) postwar era, huge suburban development, malls, traffic Reconstruction 1959–1997 jams, the development of better freeways, urban protest, and the never-ending battle to catch up to demand. The Max traffic volume, 2001 266,000 vehicles per day newly dedicated Gulf Freeway was ahead of its time, yet it Future construction Expand freeway from couldn’t keep up with the times. It would be brought into Beltway 8 to Galveston the modern era, not just once, but twice. While the Gulf Freeway was at the forefront of many national freeway issues, it also became the prototypi- cal Houston freeway. From the very beginning it was a freeway with continuous frontage roads, spawning the development and commercial clutter that would become characteristic of Houston’s freeways. The ongoing—some would say never-ending—improvement of the freeway would become a way of life for Houston’s freeway system. Perhaps as a fitting reward for its first 50 years of struggle, in 1997 it received the most impressive instance of Houston’s newest freeway trademark: the five-level stack interchange. The Gulf Freeway story, while pres- ently in a quiet mode, is certainly not over. A wave of expansion will push southward from Beltway 8 in the future, giving the freeway its widest and most modern sections yet. Origins The beginnings of the Gulf Freeway corridor can be traced to the formation of the Galveston-Houston Elec- tric Railway (GHE) in 1905. Stone and Webster, which at that time actively purchased and consolidated electric railroads and power utilities, took control of GHE in 1906 Houston Mayor Oscar Holcombe and immediately changed the originally proposed route of Freeway champion: was the strongest promoter of the Gulf Freeway in the late the railway. Instead of following the shore of Galveston 1930s and early 1940s. In 1940, he negotiated the city of Bay, the GHE would have a direct route between Houston Houston’s acquisition of the right-of-way of the electric and Galveston. The route selected in 1906 was 50.5 miles railway operating on the corridor. (Photo: HMRC RGD5- (81 km) long and featured a 34-mile (54 km) perfectly 7481) straight section. In 1908 GHE entered into agreements to participate in the new concrete Galveston causeway. Pas- Houston to near the present-day Bellfort intersection, just senger service on the GHE began December 5, 1911. The south of Loop 610. Between Bellfort and Galveston, the GHE distinguished itself as one of the fastest interurban Gulf Freeway closely parallels the GHE alignment.1 railways in the nation, earning the title of “Fastest Interur- Even before the demise of the Galveston-Houston ban in the United States” in 1925 and 1926 in a nationwide Electric Railway there was talk of a “super-highway” be- speed contest conducted by Electric Traction magazine. tween Houston and Galveston. Ross Sterling, Houstonian The last day of service on the GHE was October 31, 1936. and chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, The track inside the Houston city limits from downtown proposed the highway in 1930. The alignment contem- to Park Place was taken over by Houston’s transit opera- plated at the time would have begun near the present-day tor, the Houston Electric Company, and continued to be Houston Hobby Airport and generally followed the Gulf used for streetcar service. The Gulf Freeway would ulti- Freeway corridor to the intersection of SH 6 and SH mately follow the alignment of the GHE from downtown 146—the Texas City Y. However, the Depression dashed The Spokes 145 �� any hopes of constructing the highway. Ross Sterling be- �� came governor of Texas in 1931 but saw his proposal for �� road construction bonds die at the end of the 1931 Texas legislative session.2 By the late 1930s a new champion for the Gulf Free- �� way emerged: Houston Mayor Oscar Holcombe. Oscar �� Holcombe served as mayor for a total of 22 years between 1921 and 1958. During his terms from 1939 to 1944, he set the wheels in motion for construction of the Gulf But planning for the freeway continued, and in October Freeway. On April 12, 1940, Holcombe announced that 1943 the Texas Transportation Commission entered into the city of Houston had reached an agreement with the an agreement with the city of Houston and Harris County Houston Electric Company for the termination of electric to develop the facility, referring to it as the relocation of streetcar service in Houston. Houston Electric would be US 75. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 revived the allowed to abandon its four remaining streetcar routes, project by providing funding for new highway construc- including the Park Place line on the former GHE right- tion. Funds were released in October 1945 after the con- of-way, and the city of Houston would be responsible clusion of World War II.3 for the rail removal. In return, the city would receive a By early 1946 plans had been formulated for the free- $50,000 payment from Houston Electric and ownership way, and on January 31 TxDOT released drawings of the of the former GHE right-of-way. The GHE railway right- planned design. The next day the Houston Post featured of-way varied in width from 60 to 100 feet (18 to 30 m), a large report on the project to build the “highway of the and a 230-foot-wide (70 m) corridor would be needed future,” showing artists’ depictions of the freeway, its for the six-lane freeway with frontage roads. Because of overpasses, and the frontage roads. The inclusion of con- the increased tax burden due to World War II, it would tinuous frontage roads as a matter of design policy was a not be possible to immediately raise the funds needed to characteristic that would set the Gulf Freeway apart from purchase the additional right-of-way along the corridor. most emerging freeways in the nation and would also set 146 Houston Freeways �� Before the freeway: These photos show the Galveston-Houston Electric Railway, which occupied �� the Gulf Freeway corridor in Houston prior to the construction of the freeway. The interurban service operated from December 5, 1911, to October 31, 1936. The tracks in Houston continued to be used by Houston Electric, Houston’s streetcar operator, until the shutdown of streetcar operations on June 9, 1940. In the upper photo, passengers board the Galveston Flyer in downtown Houston circa 1929. The �� lower photo shows the electric railway viaduct at the railroad crossing near the present-day University �� of Houston. The viaduct was demolished after abandonment of the railway, and construction of the freeway began in 1946. (Photos: upper, HMRC MSS 200-375; lower, HMRC MSS 145-4) The Spokes 147 The first freeway generation sees the future take shape: Schoolchildren cross the Gulf Freeway construction zone at Telephone Road in October 1948. At the time of this photo, the first section of the freeway north of Telephone Road had just opened. (Photo: Houston � � �� Chronicle) � � � �� the standard for future Houston freeways. Although pre- �� vious freeways outside of Houston had been constructed with frontage road or “quasi” frontage road sections, particularly in New York City and Detroit, those frontage road sections were more on a case-by-case basis and were not part of a policy for comprehensive use of frontage A Houston rarity: This view looks �� roads. The terminus of the freeway at downtown Houston north at the Broadway intersection in would distribute the traffic among four city streets in an �� early 1952.

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