HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Starting Monday morning, a big construction project may impact your commute — TxDOT’s I-10 White Oak Bayou project.
The five westbound lanes of traffic on the I-10 Katy Freeway in the Heights area will be cut down to just three open lanes.
The Taylor Street exit is closed, and that’s where the lanes taper down to three. All five westbound lanes reopen again near the Heights Boulevard exit.
One of the biggest pieces of the project is that Houston Avenue will run under I-10 — so there will be no more Houston Avenue Bridge.
The Houston Avenue Bridge is the one that gets hit by 18-wheelers dozens of times a year, typically resulting in hours-long traffic backups.
The other goal of the project is to help with road flooding in the area.
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The area has seen it time and time again, during Hurricane Beryl and many other storms, White Oak Bayou can fill up quickly and put I-10 underwater.
The mainlanes of I-10 in the Heights area will be elevated in order to keep them from flooding during major weather events.
The construction will also impact the MKT Heights Hike and Bike Trail.
Starting Monday, parts of the trail near Studemont Street will be temporarily closed. The impacts to the trail should be over by early February.
The Houston Avenue Bridge work is scheduled for mid-2025 through late 2027. The entire project won’t be finished until late 2028.
