No Westpark Tollway EB exit at or anywhere near Highway 6??? (Katy: 2013, zoning)

[Htown2013]

I just realize that the West park Tollway has no eastbound exit at or anywhere near Highway 6. What the heck were the developers thinking by omitting this?? Highway 6 is one of the major north-south thoroughfares in the Energy Corridor. It is crazy with all the Katy/Fulshear development that no eastbound exit was placed at or anywhere near Highway 6.

[Dopo]

Try existing WB to go South on Highway 6
BTW, Good luck, I tried it several times and I still can't figure it out.
I always end up exiting NB and then wondering what the h... I'm doing driving NB when I wanted to go SB.

Seems as if they did that in purpose to make it difficult for people that use Highway 6 to use the tollway

[Htown2013]

I actually looked at this area and thought it was quite nice - very family friendly and better than I was expecting, but the lack of a Westpark Tollway exit at or anywhere near Highway 6 that would more than double my commute really kills it for me. I cannot believe they would design it that way. Wow.

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Try existing WB to go South on Highway 6
BTW, Good luck, I tried it several times and I still can't figure it out.
I always end up exiting NB and then wondering what the h... I'm doing driving NB when I wanted to go SB.

Seems as if they did that in purpose to make it difficult for people that use Highway 6 to use the tollway

At least they have Highway 6 exits going WB. There is absolutely nothing going EB. This design flaw kills anything west of 99 for me.

[houstonfan]

The westpark tollway is clogged up at peak hours anyway, so not sure if it'd really 'double' your commute time. People take the exit at Clodine/Westheimer prkway and go up Westheimer parkway to the energy corridor. Agreee it's not ideal, but really, if you look at 90/610 or 59/610 interchanges, it's a parking lot anyway, so you're probably faster taking Westheirm parkway.
In any case, I think west of 99 is too far out there but that's a personal opinion.

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by houstonfan

The westpark tollway is clogged up at peak hours anyway, so not sure if it'd really 'double' your commute time. People take the exit at Clodine/Westheimer prkway and go up Westheimer parkway to the energy corridor. Agreee it's not ideal, but really, if you look at 90/610 or 59/610 interchanges, it's a parking lot anyway, so you're probably faster taking Westheirm parkway.
In any case, I think west of 99 is too far out there but that's a personal opinion.

Is the Westpark tollway really that clogged going EB for the portions west of Highway 6? Places like Cross Creek Ranch to Highway 6 (if there were an exit there) are estimating 15 minutes w/o traffic. What is it really like with traffic?

Again another design flaw. Why did they only build it with 2 lanes each way. I understand that the original ITB portion had a tight right-of-way, but couldn't they have built it with 3 or 4 lanes each way west of BW8 or 6 with a major interchange where that ROW ended?

[gsmj]

I think exit space was the key issue. They don't own all the space in the ROW; part of it still belongs to someone else for future commuter rail expansion.

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by gsmj

I think exit space was the key issue. They don't own all the space in the ROW; part of it still belongs to someone else for future commuter rail expansion.

There are always creative solutions to problems such as these, but they tend to be more costly.

[RPS13]

Cross Creek Ranch to the Westheimer/1093 exit via the Westpark Tollway is going to take you about 15-20 mins until about 6:30-7:00 AM. Then figure on an extra 5-10 mins until probably 8:00-8:45 AM. The light at Katy-Gaston really kills it, and for some reason people feel the need to go through the light doing below 15-20 mph, so it can back up severely later on in the morning.

The main problem with the Westpark Tollway being 2 lanes is you get short merge lanes and people zoning out in the left lane and just forgetting to maintain their speed on hills (going over surface streets). So you'll randomly get slow downs to 35-45 mph for no reason even with just moderate traffic in the mornings.


I've been taking I-10 out west in the afternoon just because there are more lanes so you're less likely to be stuck behind someone who has found someone else doing <50 mph in the right lane and decided to pace them all the way to the end of the tollway. There just isn't enough lane discipline in the US for a moderately congested 2 lane tollway to work well.


The lack of exits on WP Tollway does baffle me as well, and there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason behind it.

[Nick_tx]

Originally Posted by Htown2013

Is the Westpark tollway really that clogged going EB for the portions west of Highway 6? Places like Cross Creek Ranch to Highway 6 (if there were an exit there) are estimating 15 minutes w/o traffic. What is it really like with traffic?

Again another design flaw. Why did they only build it with 2 lanes each way. I understand that the original ITB portion had a tight right-of-way, but couldn't they have built it with 3 or 4 lanes each way west of BW8 or 6 with a major interchange where that ROW ended?

Yes, it is that bad. I have to hear my wife complain about it everyday. It's one of the reasons we're moving.