Interstate 69 (Texas)

Highways in Texas Interstate • U.S. • TX (Loops • Spurs • Rec • FM)

Interstate 69 is a proposed interstate highway that would pass through the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas.

Route description

In Texas, I-69 will enter from Louisiana to the east and intersect with the U.S. Highway 59 corridor near Carthage and roughly follow US 59 to the south, serving Nacogdoches, Lufkin, Livingston, Shepherd, and Cleveland. In Lufkin, Interstate 69 will intersect with U.S. Highway 69, presenting some interesting directional signage.

In the Houston area, a number of possible routings of mainline Interstate 69 are possible. The designation could follow US 59, Interstate 610, Beltway 8 and the Sam Houston Tollway, State Highway 99 (Grand Parkway), or a new route. In the Houston area, I-69 will intersect Interstate 10 and Interstate 45. (See Houston Highway Construction for details)

From Houston, I-69 is again expected to follow the US 59 corridor southwest to Victoria, Texas. From there, the congressionally-designated corridor splits into three alternatives:

• West along the US 59 corridor to the Mexican border in Laredo via George West (where it will intersect Interstate 37). This leg will also intersect Interstate 35 in Laredo, which connects to Mexican Federal Highway 85 south of the border.
• Central along the US 59 corridor to George West, then turning south along the U.S. Highway 281 corridor to the Mexican border in Pharr.
• South along the U.S. Highway 77 corridor to the Mexican border in Brownsville, Texas (with connections to Mexican Federal Highway 180), intersecting I-37 northwest of Corpus Christi.

The routing of I-69 in Texas is being studied as part of the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) concept as the "I-69/TTC" component. The study also includes potential upgrades to the US 59 corridor north from Carthage to Texarkana, a federally-designated spur from the I-69 route, along with a state-designated "Port to Port" corridor from Laredo to Corpus Christi roughly following SH 44 east of Freer.

In any case, Texas is proceeding in the same fashion as Indiana, conducting environmental studies for its portion of I-69 in a two-tier process. The mainline route through Texas will be approximately 500 miles (800 km). On June 11, 2008, TxDOT announced they planned to limit further study of I-69 to existing highway corridors (U.S. 59, U.S. 77, U.S. 281, U.S. 84, and SH 44) outside transition zones in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Houston, and Texarkana.^[1]

Texas originally sought a public-private partnership to construct much of the route through Texas as a privately-operated toll road. However, on June 26, 2008, TxDOT announced that they had approved a proposal by Zachry American and ACS Infrastructure to develop the I-69 corridor in Texas, beginning with upgrades to the U.S. 77 corridor between Brownsville and I-37; the Zachry/ACS plan calls for only two tolled sections of the I-69 mainline (bypasses of Riviera and Driscoll) with most of the freeway being toll-free.^[2]

Original plans for the route included a potential overlap with the "TTC-35" corridor component as well, but the preferred alternative for that component follows I-35 south of San Antonio instead of entering the lower Rio Grande Valley.

Opposition and controversy

The project has been opposed in Texas by both environmentalists and property-rights activists, albeit for somewhat different reasons. See the article on the Trans-Texas Corridor for more details.

Some opponents see I-69 and the Trans-Texas Corridor as a U.S. component of Plan Puebla Panama, an economic development plan proposed by former Mexican President Vicente Fox and related to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and CAFTA. While this plan has seen little public discussion in the United States, it may color views of the project in Mexico and other countries.^{[original research?]}

References

1. ^ Texas Department of Transportation, "TxDOT Recommends Narrowing Study Area for Texas Portion of I-69," June 11, 2008.
2. ^ Texas Department of Transportation, "Transportation Commission Picks Developer for Texas Portion of I-69," June 26, 2008.

Categories: Interstate 69 | Interstate Highways in Texas | Proposed Interstate Highways