A Look At The Past....The Gulf Freeway....

For those who have been intrigued by the construction of the longer than life project,  I-45 commonly called the Gulf Freeway.

 

Not  really a freeway: This view,  near the present-day El Dorado  Boulevard , shows a  typical section of the Gulf Freeway in July 1956. After its official  dedication, most of the Gulf Freeway was in fact a highway without access  control. TxDOT did not purchase access rights along the highway, so frontage  roads would need to be added for the entire length to Galveston to make  the Gulf Freeway a true freeway.

If they  waited to dedicate the highway until construction was completed - it still  wouldn't be dedicated!!!



Official  dedication: The  official opening of the Gulf Freeway between Houston and   Galveston took  place on August 2,  1952.  Motorcades from both Houston and   Galveston met at  the approximate midpoint near Dickinson for the  ceremony, which was held on the FM 517 overpass. A full-sized 12-page  brochure with an orange cover (shown at left) was distributed. The  designation as a freeway was somewhat of a misnomer, however. Only an  8.5-mile (14 km) section in Houston was  actually a freeway, and there were 32 at-grade crossings between   Houston and   Galveston . But it  just wouldn't have sounded right to call it the Gulf  Highway .  

This  traffic jam is just terrible - does not compute!!    More  construction....more lanes....more traffic...more  congestion...hummmm



Houston's first  congested freeway: By the  early 1960s rush-hour traffic jams were part of everyday life on the Gulf  Freeway. This 1965 photo shows the evening rush-hour backup at the beginning  of the freeway in downtown. Researchers at the Texas Transportation  Institute used the Gulf Freeway to investigate experimental traffic  

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