State Highway 225 (SH 225) is an east–west

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

in the

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

area between the Interstate 610 Loop in Houston and State Highway 146/future State Highway 99 in La Porte. It is identified as the La Porte Freeway over its entire length. The freeway passes near several refineries, chemical plants, and tank farms as it passes through La Porte and Deer Park.

History

The La Porte-Houston highway was dedicated in 1929, following a route along most of the current alignment. The highway was designated on December 21, 1935, with the western terminus of the route at

US 75 U.S. Route 75 is a north–south U.S. Highway that runs in the central United States. The highway's northern terminus is located at the Canadian border near Noyes, Minnesota, at a now-closed border crossing. From this point, the highway ...

. The first section of freeway along the route was authorized in 1945 and opened in 1952. It connected the

Gulf Freeway Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. While most primary Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, ...

(then still designated US 75) with the La Porte-Houston highway. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) officially designated the new freeway section as part of SH 225 on August 25, 1954, with the western terminus now at State Highway 35. The alignment for the freeway replacement of the La Porte-Houston highway was set during the 1950s. The route passed through a part of

Milby Park Milby may refer to: Surname * Ada Milby (born 1983), Filipino-American rugby player * William Cosgrove Milby (dead 1877), Canadian politician * Sam Milby, Filipino actor and musician Other uses * Milby, North Yorkshire, England * MiLBY Awards< ...

, which caused legal problems due to a clause in the will that deeded the park land to the city. The city of Houston refused to sell the right-of-way, so TxDOT acquired it via

condemnation Condemnation may refer to: * Damnation, the antithesis of salvation * The act of eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the com ...

, triggering a lawsuit by Milby's daughter that was resolved in 1961. Construction of the freeway began in 1964, with sections completed through 1970. Construction halted due to funding issues in the 1970s, resumed again in the early 1980s, halted again in 1984, and was finally complete in 2000. On April 2, 1969, TxDOT extended the route of SH 225 to

US 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south U.S. highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. Highway System, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA Corridor Highway System. It par ...

in downtown Houston, in anticipation of construction of the Harrisburg Freeway (see below), replacing Spur 97, and the section of SH 225 from Spur 97 to SH 35 became part of I-610.

The Harrisburg Freeway

The Harrisburg Freeway is the name of a once-planned freeway extension of SH 225 into downtown Houston. The extension was never completed due to lack of funding and neighborhood opposition along its proposed route. The extension was originally proposed in a 1960 traffic study, with the aim of relieving congestion on the Gulf Freeway. The recommended alignment followed Harrisburg Boulevard through a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. In 1962, TxDOT agreed to build interchanges for the proposed freeway at Interstate 610 and the terminus at US 59 (the planned western terminus is located east of present-day

Minute Maid Park Daikin Park (originally Enron Field and formerly Astros Field and Minute Maid Park) is a retractable roof stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. It opened in 2000 and is the home ballpark of the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). ...

). In 1969, after delaying for several years due to a backlog in freeway construction, the Texas Transportation Commission put the Harrisburg Freeway in the state highway system. As the process of selecting the route and obtaining approval for the freeway began, neighborhood activists proposed an alternate route from the one tentatively proposed. The alternate route would skirt the neighborhood, running near the

Houston Ship Channel The Houston Ship Channel, in Houston, Texas, is part of the Port of Houston, one of the busiest seaports in the world. The channel (geography), channel is the conduit for ocean-going vessels between Houston-area terminals and the Gulf of Mexico, ...

and

Buffalo Bayou Buffalo Bayou is a slow-moving river which flows through Houston in Harris County, Texas. Formed 18,000 years ago, it has its source in the prairie surrounding Katy, Texas, Katy, Fort Bend County, Texas, Fort Bend County, and flows approximately ...

. As planning continued, opposition developed over both the original route and a short-lived 1979 proposal by the

Texas Turnpike Authority The North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) is a not-for-profit government organization that maintains and operates toll roads, bridges, and tunnels in the North Texas area. Functioning as a political subdivision of the State of Texas under Chap ...

to make the freeway a tollway. The competing routes remained under study until 1973, when the original route was announced as the recommended alignment. The route was approved by the Houston-Galveston Area Council, despite appeals from neighborhood activists. However, the construction never got off the ground. The

environmental impact statement An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An E ...

for the project was rejected by the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...

, and TxDOT put the project on hold due to a shortage of highway funds. The Harrisburg Freeway was never revived, and the city of Houston finally deleted it from the ''Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan''.

Route description

SH 225 is a freeway located in

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the Office of Management and Budget, United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands, is the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical ...

that links the southeast side of Houston with Pasadena, Deer Park, and La Porte. The freeway lanes begin just inside the I-610 inner beltway of Houston at Broadway Street and Lawndale Street. It heads east to an interchange with I-610 before continuing through the southeast side of Houston. The freeway enters Pasadena and passes through the northern portions of the city as it runs to the south of the

. It continues east to the Sam Houston Tollway before it enters the city limits of Deer Park. The freeway does not interchange with any other state highways in Deer Park, but it does have an exit at Independence Parkway (former SH 134) which provides access to

San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site The San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site includes the location of the Battle of San Jacinto. It is located off the Houston Ship Channel in unincorporated Harris County, Texas near the city of Houston. The site was designated a National Hi ...

. The freeway continues to the east to its eastern terminus at an interchange with SH 146/future SH 99 in La Porte just south of the

Fred Hartman Bridge The Fred Hartman Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge in the U.S. state of Texas spanning the Houston Ship Channel. The bridge carries of State Highway 146 (SH 146), between the cities of Baytown and La Porte (east of Houston). The bri ...

Exit list

References

{{reflist Transportation in Harris County, Texas

225 __NOTOC__ Year 225 ( CCXXV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Fuscus and Domitius (or, less frequently, year 978 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 225 ...

Freeways in Texas