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carl oh · 02-27-2021, 05:29 PM

Any suggestions on a good route to avoid Houston .

**hamm2018** · 02-27-2021, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carl oh

Any suggestions on a good route to avoid Houston .

We have been thru Houston 3-4 times in the last couple of years and we did not have any issues with traffic. Going up from Padre Island on way to miss the big part of Houston is hug the coast and head to Baytown.
But we have never done that section so can't tell you how the roads are in that area.

Dadeoo · 02-27-2021, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carl oh

Any suggestions on a good route to avoid Houston .

Short answer: No, you can't avoid Houston and its metro area.

It's like trying to get to CT from Delaware... you can't avoid the NJ/NYC metro area without a huge detour of a couple of hours and hundreds of miles.

Long answer: We drove down from Big Thicket in east Texas to Padre Island last week and our new RV GPS put us on TX-59/I-69 right thru downtown Houston at about 12 noon on a weekday. I thought our GPS was crazy. But Google and Waze did the same route. We had to stop once for about 5 minutes in a construction zone (TX 59 is being converted to I-69).

The routing the GPS put us on has NO tolls and is a truck route suitable for big rigs. Traffic was heavy, but moving. At times the shoulders had Jersey barriers and you do have to pay attention to the GPS and road signs to make sure you STAY on TX-59/I-69 all the way thru. So I suggest you use a GPS that has traffic data and select NO tolls for routing preference, and you can get thru Houston just fine.

Sue46 · 02-27-2021, 06:38 PM

Go through on a Sunday morning.

rk911 · 02-27-2021, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sue46

Go through on a Sunday morning.

that's what we did coming through from the east. no issues.

TXiceman · 02-27-2021, 07:37 PM

Your best bet is to take I-10 into Houston, and 59 or I-69 out of Houston and head to Corpus Christi. Getting through Houston after about 9 AM and before 3PM is not too bad as long as there are no wrecks. You can check TXDOT for road construction information before you make the trip. The alternates of the 610 loop, the beltway 8 (Sam Houston Toll Road) can be a nightmare.

Ken

DKRITTER · 03-01-2021, 07:44 AM

Last time we did something like this we took Beltway 8 around the bottom of HOU. Wasn't great but wasn't horrible. Timing is everything.

Isaac-1 · 03-04-2021, 11:43 PM

If you have time to kill you can take the coastal route from Lake Jackson on the south end to Winnie on I-10 about 70 miles east of Houston, going through Galveston, across on the ferry and along the coast to High Island. Only real issues are the toll bridge at the south end of Galveston island (I think it is $2 cash only), the bridge was built in the 1960's, though by the looks of it one would guess it is much older, it is a mostly flat bridge a bit over a mile long, and narrow with no shoulders, and thankfully a low speed limit (40 mph?) and usually not much traffic (google says 1,200 cars per day as of 2011, curb to curb lane width 27.9 ft). Then there is Galveston where the vast majority of main highway has a speed limit of 45 mph or less (for nearly 30 miles). Then there is the potential wait for the ferry crossing to the Bolivar peninsula, during the day they tend to run every half hour, or more often, though on busy / holiday weekends the line can be over 2 hours long to get across. Thankfully that is rare, of the ferry is free, and makes a great 15-20 minute relaxing ride.