Transportation in Houston

This is a documentation of the routes, highways, parking requirements, or anything related to transportation in Houston.

Roads and highways

Houston has a hub-and-spoke freeway structure with multiple loops. The innermost is Interstate 610, forming approximately a loop around downtown. The roughly square "Loop-610" is quartered into "North Loop," "South Loop," "West Loop," and "East Loop." The roads of Beltway 8 and their freeway core, the Sam Houston Tollway, are the next loop, at a diameter of roughly 25 miles. A proposed highway project, State Highway 99 (The Grand Parkway), would form a third loop outside Houston, though some sections of this project have been controversial. As of June 2016, two portions of State Highway 99 have been completed: a 14.5-mile segment completed in April 2008 that runs from Interstate 10 in Mont Belvieu to Business State Highway 146 in Baytown, east of Houston; and a 71-mile segment completed between August 1994 and March 2016 that runs from Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 in Sugar Land, southwest of Houston, to Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 in New Caney, northeast of Houston. The next portions to be constructed are from the current terminus at Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 in Sugar Land to State Highway 288 in Brazoria County, and from the current terminus at Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 in New Caney to the current terminus at Interstate 10 in Mont Belvieu.

Houston also lies along the route of the proposed Interstate 69 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) superhighway that will link Canada, the U.S. industrial mid-west, Texas, and Mexico.

Mass transit

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, or METRO, provides public transportation in the form of buses, trolleys, and lift vans.

METRO began running light rail service (METRORail) on January 1, 2004. Currently the track runs approximately 13 miles (20.8 km) from Downtown Houston to the Texas Medical Center and Reliant Park Southbound and to the Northline Mall Northbound. METRO operates an extensive park-and-ride bus system to serve many of Houston's outlying suburban areas. Most of the park-and-ride buses run in barrier-separated high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes that provide direct service from park-and-ride parking lots to major employment destinations. Prior to the opening of METRORail, Houston was the largest city in the United States without a rail transit system.

Following a successful referendum held locally in 2003, METRO is currently in the beginning design phases of a 10-year expansion plan to add five more sections to connect to the current rail system. An 8.3 mile (13.4 km) expansion has been approved to run the service from the Uptown through Texas Southern University, ending at the University of Houston campus.

In addition, Harris County Transit operates some services in the portion of Clear Lake City in Houston.Clear Lake/La Porte/Seabrook 5
" Harris County Transit. Retrieved on January 15, 2010.

Airports

Airports within the city limits

Houston is served by two commercial airports—the largest of which is the George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). The airport is the 11th-busiest in the United States for total passengers, and 16th busiest worldwide. Bush Intercontinental is United Airlines second largest hub, with more than 650 daily departures (more than 450 of which are United flights).

Bush Intercontinental currently ranks second in the United States for non-stop domestic and international service (221 destinations), trailing only Atlanta Hartsfield with 250 destinations. In 2006, the United States Department of Transportation named Bush Intercontinental one of the top ten fastest growing airports in the United States.

The second-largest commercial airport in Houston is the William P. Hobby Airport (named Houston International Airport until 1967). The airport operates primarily small to medium-haul flights and is the only airport in Houston served by Southwest Airlines.

The third-largest airport and former U.S. Air Force base, Ellington Airport (formerly Ellington Field), is primarily used for government and private aircraft. At one point, Continental Express operated flights across the city to Bush Intercontinental primarily for residents of southeast Houston and Galveston County. Passenger flights ended on September 7, 2004.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the state of Texas selected the Houston Airport System, which manages Bush, Hobby, and Ellington, as Airport of the Year for 2005, largely because of its multi-year, $3.1 billion airport improvement program for both major airports in Houston.

Andrau Airpark, a privately owned airport, was located in Houston until 1998; it was demolished and as of 2008 contains the Royal Oaks Country Club