Texas people.

[monkeychops]

Ill be driving from Texarkana to Galveston.....is 59 the best way?

Should Houston be avoided at 5 pm on a sat?

any advice will be appreciated.

btw I know the superbowl is in Houston....

[Dmpsix]

Originally Posted by monkeychops

Ill be driving from Texarkana to Galveston.....is 59 the best way?

Should Houston be avoided at 5 pm on a fri?

any advice will be appreciated.

Houston is f**king awful anywhere

Hwy 290, I-10, hwy 288 and hwy 59 are all hell on traffic from 4:00 pm till 8:00 pm.

http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/layers/

I'm from San Antonio, but Houston probably has the worst traffic in Texas.

[Sir Nuke]

monkeychops.....seeing as how I have lived in the Houston area for 42 DRIVING years.....it is NOT as bad as Dmpsix leads you to believe, HOWEVER, at that time of day, nearly ANY large city is going to have a lot of traffic. so to minimize it....the best way for you to get to Galveston would be to come down 59S, on the north side of town you get on BELTWAY 8 (the toll road), get on it going EAST....follow it all the way around to I-45S.....you will experience some traffic on I45s because of the time of day, and everyone is leaving town going home, BUT that takes you straight to Galveston.

[Steve Dallas]

I've avoided Houston after Camaro5Fest there a few years ago. I joined a group coming down I10 from Baton Rouge and traffic was just terrible. I ended up leaving the group to head south to the coast and following 82 through Creole & Cameron and taking a ferry.

[monkeychops]

thanks all.

sir nuke

what about 146 thru Baytown and on to texas city....I could get on 321 out of Cleveland and take it to Dayton and pick up 146.

by looking at a map that seems to be a way to avoid Houston all together.


we will be driving on a Sat....the traffic is a lot lighter in Chicago area on Sat....is that the case in Houston?

[Dmpsix]

Originally Posted by monkeychops

thanks all.

sir nuke

what about 146 thru Baytown and on to texas city....I could get on 321 out of Cleveland and take it to Dayton and pick up 146.

by looking at a map that seems to be a way to avoid Houston all together.


we will be driving on a Sat....the traffic is a lot lighter in Chicago area on Sat....is that the case in Houston?

SirNuke is right. However the original post was for Friday lol and Friday's are uglyyyyyyy....(I'm from San Antonio, so maybe I'm spoiled) but Houston is a huge city, so like he said, huge city = huge amount of traffic.

Saturdays however are a different story, it's not too bad at all on Saturdays.

[Expunge]

59 South to 610 East/South to 225 East to FM146 South all the way down until it merges to 45 South just shy of Galveston will avoid the lions share of congestion and avoids all tolls.

If you go beltway 8 you will need a toll tag as they have removed the toll booths along that side of the loop.

Houston at 5pm on Saturday is normally ok, but the Superbowl is F'ing up downtown traffic,(I work in downtown Houston) so you definitely want to take the 610 loop and avoid going through downtown.

[flipstyledsm22]

59 south is the most straight shot from where you're at, but if you want some nice scenery, an additional 1.5 hours through Sabine National Forest will give you things to look at and put you on some nice twisty roads. It'll put you out on the east side of Houston before Baytown on I-10... from there, take 146 south. Hwy 146 is the BEST WAY to Galveston if you ask me.

Additionally, Houston is notorious for weekend construction and temporary weekend closures. Transstar will be your best friend on helping you avoid those areas. Traffic on the weekends are pretty light, but the super bowl will effect that greatly. Take the longer country route and just avoid all the major city BS... you'll be in a better mood when you arrive to G-town! Btw, don't forget your fishing rods! Big trout catching is starting to slow, but they are still biting!

[Andrew4180]

Originally Posted by monkeychops

thanks all.

sir nuke

what about 146 thru Baytown and on to texas city....I could get on 321 out of Cleveland and take it to Dayton and pick up 146.

by looking at a map that seems to be a way to avoid Houston all together.


we will be driving on a Sat....the traffic is a lot lighter in Chicago area on Sat....is that the case in Houston?

That's the direction id recommend, come down 59, hit 321 in Cleveland and pick up 146 in Dayton, it'll take you through Baytown, La Porte (where I lived most of my life), Kemah, Texas City, and merge onto 45 into Galveston, its a bit longer by the estimated travel time, but you shouldn't have any issues with traffic there.

[sherob]

Originally Posted by Andrew4180

That's the direction id recommend, come down 59, hit 321 in Cleveland and pick up 146 in Dayton, it'll take you through Baytown, La Porte (where I lived most of my life), Kemah, Texas City, and merge onto 45 into Galveston, its a bit longer by the estimated travel time, but you shouldn't have any issues with traffic there.

*DING*

Yeah this weekend will be cray cray!

Lived in Houston from 1979 to 2007... saw it GROW!!!! Hwy 6 was a 2 lane road... Westhiemer was a 2 lane road from Wilcrest to Hwy 6... Wilcrest was a gravel road from Bellaire to Westhiemer... Lived in the Shamrock Hilton for 2 weeks on Shell Oil's dime... man, that place was the schizz!

When I come back to see my family, I can't believe I dealt with that traffic every friggin day. I listen to people in Denver complain about traffic, and I

[flipstyledsm22]

Originally Posted by sherob

*DING*

Yeah this weekend will be cray cray!

Lived in Houston from 1979 to 2007... saw it GROW!!!! Hwy 6 was a 2 lane road... Westhiemer was a 2 lane road from Wilcrest to Hwy 6... Wilcrest was a gravel road from Bellaire to Westhiemer... Lived in the Shamrock Hilton for 2 weeks on Shell Oil's dime... man, that place was the schizz!

When I come back to see my family, I can't believe I dealt with that traffic every friggin day. I listen to people in Denver complain about traffic, and I

You're so OLD

Wonder how many marriages failed because of the draw bridges and no cell phones back then...

[sherob]

Originally Posted by flipstyledsm22

You're so OLD

Wonder how many marriages failed because of the draw bridges and no cell phones back then...

Hey... I'll make you carve "sorry" in to stone one naught naught times if you keep that up!!!

[mlee]

Here's the biggest tip for your trip. Don't take 59 all the way down.

At Carthage take the 214 loop around town and get on Hwy 315 it will take you right back down to 59 South but eliminate 15 min from your trip and nice wide roads too. You can see what I'm talking about in the pics below.

No need to take any detours on Saturday in Houston. I drive downtown every day from work and Sat might be a little heavy but definitely not worth a detour. Use Waze if it's SuperBowl weekend or something like that but you should be all good.

[flipstyledsm22]

Shoot, it use to be he could take 87 all the way down to Galveston from Center. But now from Port Arthur it's all McFaddin beach until you get to High Islands. I've traveled it plenty of time in my old 4X4 (that long run of beach), but I wouldn't attempt it in a car or any other 2WD vehicle. Great redfish catching on that beach during the change of seasons from summer to fall.