I-69 and the Grand Parkway: Johnny Johnson’s Best Guess in 2000

01 / December 2000

A chairman’s prediction was still a prediction

John W. “Johnny” Johnson had an idea for getting I-69 around Houston: bring it along US 59, then use the Grand Parkway to skirt the north and west sides of the city. The Texas Transportation Commission chairman spoke after addressing the Alliance for I-69 Texas at the Omni Hotel. It was an influential suggestion from someone who would help decide the route, but Johnson carefully described it as his best guess.

He expected a determination by the three-member commission and federal highway authorities to be at least three years away. The proposal would use Grand Parkway segments E, F and G, plus the already built Segment D between the Katy and Southwest freeways. That combination joined an existing western road to much more uncertain northern corridors. It did not turn the entire 170-mile loop into a selected interstate route.

The 2001 Grand Parkway planning account places these segments within the full loop and records the uneven stage of each one. Lettered segments can look interchangeable on an overall map; their construction status and development pressures were very different.

02 / Federal funds, tolls and land

One corridor might qualify for another source of money

Johnson saw two possible financial advantages. A shared section could qualify for interstate highway money, while tolls and donated right-of-way might reduce the public cost of I-69. The parkway association already sought land from owners who expected development to make their remaining property more valuable. Combining the roads could bring that existing arrangement into a project intended to carry traffic well beyond Houston.

Those were proposed ways to finance a road, not revenue already collected or federal funds already awarded. Drivers might gain another route around the city and might also pay to use it if toll financing was adopted. Landowners might contribute property, but the amount depended on their willingness to donate. The appeal lay in assembling several possible sources of help rather than relying on one construction appropriation.

Association director Diane Schenke welcomed the prospect of interstate funding but said the parkway could not wait for the I-69 decision. Northwest development was moving quickly. The more property was built on, the less likely owners were to donate it and the harder acquisition became. Waiting for a potentially larger funding source could therefore make the underlying route more expensive.

03 / Beltway 8 and the port

Going around Houston left a choice of sides

Johnson favored avoiding densely populated areas. Sierra Club president Frank Blake preferred using Beltway 8 east and south of Houston, connecting with Port of Houston truck traffic. He argued that adding lanes there would cost less and cause less environmental damage than the Grand Parkway route. Johnson answered that the port could be reached from the proposed Segment C through SH 288 to the Beltway.

That answer depended on another proposed parkway segment. The southwest route vote had advanced Segment C in October, but design, environmental work and funding remained. A useful connection on the regional map still needed those intervening pieces. The debate involved where trucks would enter and leave the route, as well as which arc around Houston they would follow.

The feasibility study reported in Sallee’s article put a western Beltway 8 option at about $600 million, an eastern Beltway option above $1 billion and a route roughly following the Grand Parkway at about $2 billion. The western Beltway option had the lowest cost-to-benefit ratio. These were study comparisons, not final bids, and Blake’s preferred eastern route was not the cheapest option listed.

04 / A national route and local development

The parkway’s land problem would not wait

The alliance promoted I-69 as a truck corridor from Mexico to the Northeast and Canada, and its meeting attracted officials from Laredo and Nacogdoches. The parkway association faced a much more local deadline: decide a corridor before development made it harder to obtain. Both groups wanted a road, but they were not working to the same timetable.

The west-segment photographs show what existed between the Katy and Southwest freeways by July 2001, including the Cinco Ranch exit in the opening image. Johnson’s proposal would have used that piece in a much larger route. In December 2000, the unresolved question was whether the financing advantage of a shared corridor justified its costs and impacts—and whether the parkway could afford to wait for the answer.