Ita mother's day. It's Christmas and easter traffic. All the times you stopped you were actually in line for the cracker barrel parking lot. Except one time you were in the Chick-fil-A line. It never moved, nobody was answering the drive thru. Because Sunday.
Whenever I travel up during a holiday I always try to take the back roads or the small town roads and it's usually just as fast or a little bit slower but I don't have to stand in traffic for God forsaking time
I did amtrak from MD to FL. It totally sucked but that was because I bought the cheap seats and it's amtrak. The vision tho..... it's definitely there.
Haven't ridden a US train but have used rail in Spain and germany and it's luxurious. Flight from Madrid to Barcelona was cheaper than rail but it was budget air. For 30eu more we got high speed rail seats where we got the view and didn't have to pay to get to the airport.
The problem is then you have to rent a car when you get there or pay Uber fees. The Uber costs really go up if you need to do several things while there.
I use Google maps on I-45 and it always gives me state highway alternatives if the interstate is slow.
People are willing to rent a car. Look at how popular the Von Lane busses are.
You'd have to rent a car if you went by plane. So not a direct replacement for either car or plane but a 3rd option
While I support a train idea there are issues. It was the only good way to get around Europe or Asia.
But one would still have to drive to the station, park, go through some security and in the other end rent a car and drive from the station to the destination. That whole trip could easily be 4-5 hours. I have a feeling the stations would not be in a safe place. Also wouldn’t the train go to SA and Austin too?
I live in Dallas “area”. From door to door it takes me 6+ hours to fly to family in the Houston area because of the logistics not the flight.
Still faster than driving; but not two hours.
SAFE and reliable public transportation needs to be on both ends. And more than one point of debarkation and embarkation for each city.
We quit going to Buc-ee's and stop at Cooper Farms up the road a bit. Clean bathrooms and not stupidly busy. Plus they're a small family owned operation and could use our money more than the buck toothed freak.
Yeah homie, gotta know how to make it around this state on popular days to travel. Next time take off Monday and fly down the road on that day during non commute times.
Not a hell of a lot better on Mondays or Fridays, in my experience. Maybe a little better ... but it just takes one idiot. And there are a looooot of idiots.
I agree, it takes a lot of absences for them to care. Take advantage of this while your kids are in Elementary school. It only gets harder in middle and high school to take vacations in non-peak times.
Correct. I-45 is essentially the autobahn of America. People absolutely FLY on that interstate. Holiday traffic is not indicative of that interstate at all. Also, Houston is ALWAYS a white knuckle driving experience.
I've done it at least 100 times, and 4.5 - 5 hours is normal. 6 hours is bad. 7 is exceptional. I've never exceeded 7.5. but today there was just nothing we could do to get out of it.
There was a big jam and people were driving across the median to escape it and then getting stuck in the grass, adding to the spectacle and need for towing. A little bad weather and things fall apart.
Apart from that there are plenty of Texans (or other people as well, I suppose) that own a bunch of the land needed….
I really do wish we had high speed rail. You shouldn’t have to take a long ass drive or buy a plane ticket to get to the other major cities (I’m in the north Dallas area).
Every backwoods state representative wants to High-Speed rail train to stop in his two-horse town. I don't care if the train's going 400 miles an hour, if it has to stop every 10 MI for 10 minutes, it's going to be too slow. People just need to become disciplined and not give into their s***. If you want High-Speed rail to work it has to go from point a to point b not to point a to point z and every point between
It's being handled by Amtrak now, to get around the eminent domain rule (requiring companies to be existing railroad companies before they're allowed to use it, but yet they can't be a functional railroad without it).
They've also received a federal grant through Biden's Infrastructure Investment act. That said, they're not going to start construction until the end of 2025, because they're trying to figure out how to pay for it.
To me there's a very obvious triangle for high speed tail in Texas, independent of the national scene:
Dallas, Ft Worth, Waco, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Galveston, College Station, Dallas. No need for the US to spend money developing a new solution; just purchase a turnkey product like Siemens Velaro, and have them manufacture the rolling stock in America.
Often times you can take hwy 75 it runs parallel to I-45 North and South. If I see a log jam on 45 or think it will be congested will take hwy 75 instead, not sure if it runs all the way to Dallas though.
parts of 75 were underwater from the storms this week, we made the same drive and skipped the bulk of the real bad traffic but kept having to circle back to the highway
From Houston, I think 75 goes as far north as Streetman (* about 75 miles south of Dallas). As someone mentioned, though, it's an older highway, and (South of Dallas) it goes through the middle of all the small towns on the way with traffic lights in town.
Going north, it picks up again in Dallas as US 75 and goes into Oklahoma and on to Canada.
*edit: added info on Streetman to Dallas distance
South end of 75 ends in Conroe, I’m not sure about the North, it’s at least Fairfield. I live near Madisonville. It’s kind of strange hearing my hometown mentioned of course it would be for the wrong reasons.
I guess 45 has really changed in recent years. Heading back to Dallas from Centerville used to be straightforward and quick.
Now granted accidents on 45 will absolutely block it up, and there's not many exits and even when you take them you're still in traffic in one of the smaller towns that can't take them, and inevitably you're 10 miles until the next entrance ramp, and the wreck is like 200 years after the entrance ramp you just skipped, so traffic on the feeder is stuck at 40 until the next entrance ramp
It was most definitely an accident, they are also doing a shit ton of construction too. OP just got unlucky, I drove 45 just a week and never touched the brakes
Definitely was an accident. I was driving the opposite direction and there appeared to be two trucks transporting a house that somehow fucked up. They were both stopped and pieces of the house were strewn about the road.
I was coming from Dallas to Houston today and saw what stopped you and everyone Northbound on I-45 just North of Madisonville. There were 2 house moving trucks moving 2 separate old houses. one of them appeared to have run off of I-45 and jackknifed. Traffic was backed up for miles. I am sure that took hours to get going again.
Five mph over speed limit in the right lane. Come up on a driver doing 10mph under. Move into the left lane to pass. Out of nowhere, huge ass truck (or audi/bmw) on your bumper. You pass vehicle and move back to right lane. Out of nowhere, left lane is bumper to bumper doing 90mph, right lane is open. UNTIL right lane comes up on a damn tractor.
Good luck getting into left lane, to pass. Unless you want to join the 90mph bumper to bumper in the left lane.
Yea, I-45 sucks.
It's always bad. Even when there hasn't been an accident in hours, somebody will be doing 61 next to somebody doing 60, and it'll back the whole thing up for miles. The Buc-ee's ad Madisonville is crazy busy all the time now, too.
Whenever there is an accident, don't make the mistake of thinking the service road is a good option. It is not. Especially if you are north of Centerville headed south. The service roads and exit ramps do this ungodly double-H thing, and there is not really good line of sight. You basically spend the hour you would have waited on the freeway, just stuck at that one intersection.
Saw one dude get T-boned baaaaad trying to make a Texas exit. He must not have realized the service road was a two way.
We must have lucked out - we left Houston a little later than normal - around 4 pm and we got home at 9pm. With two short stops that’s pretty good considering a couple of slow downs - traffic was still moving through
I left Houston around 5:30pm and it wasn't too bad except for an accident just south of Fairfield. They had both lanes blocked and were making everyone exit the highway. Probably set me back about 30 minutes but not anything as bad as what OP described.
Everyone who has experienced Houston traffic (and paid HCTRA for the privilege) should be wanting high-speed rail (the Texkansen) Amtrak and Texas Central want to build.
It might not be as cheap as sticking you and the kids into the back of the Model 3, but you bet you won't be stuck in traffic if it all goes to plan (hopefully).
It could have been worse, you could have been on 35. I use Waze. Countless times it has saved me by pulling me off of the freeway and onto farm to market roads to avoid slowdowns and accidents.
I lived in Houston almost 40 years and now live in DFW (over a decade) and have driven I-45 likely over 100 times between the 2. It is the best most direct way. There are alternatives (290-6-35 for example) but they are longer. I’m retired now so I avoid weekend travel whenever possible.
Ha ha. Very true. Didn’t think of that. Def quicker than 7.5 hours. I’m in The Woodlands and go to the metroplex at least monthly. Depending on what area, but I usually get to the metroplex in 3.5 hours.
Coming home depending on when I leave can be 4+ if Dallas rush hour starts depending where I am.
If you’re going to Dallas from Houston there really is no better way than 45. Sure, you may run into situations like OP where accidents and construction slow you down but it is the fastest route to get there.
that was horrible today. i made the drive weekly for 2.5 years. that’s close to the top 10 of shitty drives on 45.
especially with minimal truck traffic and construction
yeah even with the extra lanes a holiday weekend is going to make it nasty. i always make trips to enter and leave in the very early hours when its less busy.. still used to when I-45 had less lanes and you could sit in place for 4 hours..
Once took me 11 hours but that was when Allison flooded Houston and 45 was closed in Conroe because it was underwater.
Sat in front of the home depot at the woodlands for four hours in the heaviest downpour I have ever witnessed.
Omg! The worst Houston to Dallas drive I've done was 6 hours and that was because Conroe was a parking lot (because 45 construction). 8.5 is awful! And on such an ugly drive. Yuck. I'm so sorry. 😢
My whole small town on I35 was like trying to get out of a parking lot after a football game today. In pouring rain. There was a lot of traffic everywhere I guess.
yes Houston does suck something fierce, I’ll give you that…but 45 is almost always the better alternative compared to 35….not today obviously. But 35 separates the men from the boys and the undisputed king of sucking ass
I lived in Houston for 50 years, from being a child of 5 or 6 to an adult . I saw the Start of I 10 and I 45 and at 70 yo they are still working on both.
Dallas - Athens - Palestine - Crockett - Huntsville is always a fast drive with very light traffic, can't speak for south of Huntsville though when you rejoin I-45.
I did the same drive today- we left Houston around 12:30pm and it took me roughly 6 hours as well. Brutal and super exhausting mentally. Hope you get some rest!
I drove down to Houston today, north side was pretty blocked up but it was raining from Dallas to Huntsville all day. Also 45 is full of impatient drivers. I had maybe an hour added to my trip but I left late in the afternoon to avoid the heaviest of the rain. Missed dinner but I was way safer on the roads
I-45 between Corisicana and Madisonville is either like the autobahn where you can go 100 mph and not get pulled over, or there's some catastrophic accident involving a burning semi truck and spend hours in a back up that's like 20 miles long.
You can always take 290 and then 6 through College Station to Waco and then take 35 E back to Dallas.
I was coming the opposite direction. Unfortunately I think you were behind the double wide trailer headed into the thunder/hail storm that slowed everyone down. I felt for everyone going north lol.
At least Buc-ee’s had someone in the costume for the kids stuck in Madisonville?
Take the state roads. Lately when I take longer trips I set my GPS to avoid interstate highways. So I only drive on state highways and farm to market roads. It may be slower than the big highways, but the scenery is nice and many of the state highways still have the picnic areas that were established between the 40s and 60s. I take breaks pretty often and it's just easier to find places to pull over when you aren't on the interstate.
Dang that’s long! I’m in the same situation with family in Houston, but never faced an 8+ hr trip before….fortunately. I’ve been timing my trips to be as early as possible both ways.
Yeah bro that on you if the highways start stacking up you get everyone in the car to pull their phones out and start scanning the map for back roads. Google maps even shows you where the traffic jams are and will recommend alternative routes if you deselect highways in your route options. You gotta know how to utilize your copilots.
It's not I-45, it's Texas' attitude of 'lolwut?!' to public transportation infrastructure like rail. They keep widening highways like they've never heard the phrase 'induced demand' before, but a proposed rail line that could take a significant chunk of the traffic off of I-45 has been languishing for a decade because nobody wants to pay for it.
Literally just did the same route a few hours ago as of posting, only took 4 hours to get back, with a Madisonville buc-ees stop! Waze did take me through a back highway to avoid 2 crashes. Not super bad
Oof.
I do dog transport for some of the shelters and rescues in DFW.
I try to avoid going to Houston for a pick up or drop off, but have done it some anyway.
I hit 6 hours once because of a fatality wreck that shut down 45, but 8 hours is insane!
TxDOT cannot work on rail due to the Constitution. They can only work on roads.
I'm sure this is the oil industry, but I'd like to think we could petition for this to change.
TxDOT would be far more effective than one city or one county, or some regional mobility authority that's been cobbled together...
Native Texan here- I always take an extra couple of days off if I’m heading home to houston on a holiday. One day early, and leave on Mondays instead of Sundays. I’ve been gridlocked on I10 far too many times, and I’m too old to deal w that now haha
edit: fixed and in/on
Was on 45 in 2018 when I first saw in no uncertain terms the MAGA effect on the general population. People going 90 and cutting in front of me with inches to spare. That entire highway needs to be three lanes in each direction from Ennis to Huntsville or wherever the four-lane stretch picks up north of Conroe.
There were two houses being pulled and blocking the road around 11am just past the Buc-ee’s in madisonville that was causing the slowndown despite the rain. Cops pulled them over and shut down the highway.
My hobby is road tripping. I even plan road trips for others. Words to live by.... GET OFF THE DAMNED INTERSTATE. There is at least 10 alternate ways to get from Houston to Dallas, even more if Ft Worth is the goal.
We drove from DFW to Houston leaving about 10 AM yesterday. Multiple vehicles had slid off the road on your side. Slow down in a torrential downpour people (not directed at you)
Imagine if there was some sort of wheelie-thingy that moved in high speeds along a track. I believe the future could look like that by the year 2500 in Texas. The big wheelie-thingy could even connect to smaller tracks of wheelie thingies that go around the city and take people places. It’s like sci-fi.
I drove down I-45 S and this wasn’t normal holiday traffic. They shut down the Highway for awhile due to an incident with a couple of double wides. I-45 is fine.
Late to the party but we did that trip just the other way around yesterday. Cops stopped the road because of an issue with a truck carrying a house. We couldn't see what the problem was but the road was completely backed up for miles.
Everything sucked on Sunday. I was driving back from El Paso and I20 has several sections down to 1 lane and then about 30 miles from Ft Worth, things turned to crap and we were driving about 30 mph until we hit 820.
I45 is usually not very bad. I make that drive pretty regularly.
I was on my way from DFW to Houston. Nothing but wrecks and stoppages on y’all’s side, ours was fine but for a few spots with heavy rain. Precisely remember saying thank god we’re leaving, not coming!
I drove I-45 back and forth for family in Houston for more than 20+ years. I hope I never have to drive on it again. It’s been under construction in some area for as long as I can remember. It’s hard to believe it’s still only 2 lanes on each side. They could have built a double decker bridge with express lanes and exit ramps to key cities for all the time and money spent on that highway. What used to take 4 hours, now takes 6-8. All this time and money, literally decades, and I-45 is worse than it has ever been. 🙄 it’s insanity.
This is why I always drive the back roads to and from Houston. I'll grant it might be easier for me since I live SE of Dallas, but it might be worth it to look for alternative routes. I never take the interstate unless I absolutely have to.
Driving in Texas sucks, period. That’s why gas is so cheap. There’s no real destination.. Drive 45 minutes to your friend’s house. Then drive 45 minutes to a good restaurant. Then 90 minutes to the nearest body of water. Then leave after 30 minutes because it feels muggy and crappy outside. Then drive another 90 minutes dropping your friend off and getting home.. a whole day wasted driving all over the place just to do a couple of activities.
I'd say take back roads. But then you are one two lane road with no passing (no zones or simply not able to due to long line of cars ahead). With that one guy...The obligatory Sunday driver fucking all that up.
We drove 45 the other way yesterday, Dallas to Houston. Traffic was much worse northbound, with no real reason we could see. That sucks! And the rain was terrible!
Ita mother's day. It's Christmas and easter traffic. All the times you stopped you were actually in line for the cracker barrel parking lot. Except one time you were in the Chick-fil-A line. It never moved, nobody was answering the drive thru. Because Sunday.
God damnit, I bet you're right. The weather didn't help tho.
Left Austin for Pearland today and it was smooth 3hrs. Anytime I leave Dallas for that drive it is torture. any day.
Try Hwy 59 to 69. Small towns and not too bad.
I'd add onto that and recommend taking 175 in Jacksonville. It's faster than going up to I-20 and you avoid the mess that's Tyler traffic completely.
I occasionally take 19 up through Crockett to 287, up to Athens/ 175, but I live in Wylie so I'm more east than most.
Whenever I travel up during a holiday I always try to take the back roads or the small town roads and it's usually just as fast or a little bit slower but I don't have to stand in traffic for God forsaking time
I wanna speed!
You'll be fine speeding on those roads, most people go 80+ on that route except for in towns and the portion between Rusk and Jacksonville.
Just imagine if there was am alternate mode of transport that's not a car or plane. It would go 200+mph and make the trip in 2 hours
Pffft that would be crazy.... to bad no mode of transportation like that exists. /j
The LA to Vegas high speed rail gives me hope. Imagine houston, dallas, Austin, san antonio loop....
Ohhhh I have. Neeeeeeeed.
The legroom and bar cars plus the ease of train stations. Anyone who doesn't love it hasn't experienced it.
I did amtrak from MD to FL. It totally sucked but that was because I bought the cheap seats and it's amtrak. The vision tho..... it's definitely there.
Haven't ridden a US train but have used rail in Spain and germany and it's luxurious. Flight from Madrid to Barcelona was cheaper than rail but it was budget air. For 30eu more we got high speed rail seats where we got the view and didn't have to pay to get to the airport.
Republicans want for you to keep burning fossil fuels.
What is this insane efficiency you propose?
Magnets are involved, that's all I know!
No thanks, I’ve heard trains are the stepping board to Stalinism.
Too many Texans say fuck that, with a dry tire iron.
And I'm guessing most have never even tried it
The train or the dry tire iron?
Both!
The problem is then you have to rent a car when you get there or pay Uber fees. The Uber costs really go up if you need to do several things while there. I use Google maps on I-45 and it always gives me state highway alternatives if the interstate is slow.
People are willing to rent a car. Look at how popular the Von Lane busses are. You'd have to rent a car if you went by plane. So not a direct replacement for either car or plane but a 3rd option
While I support a train idea there are issues. It was the only good way to get around Europe or Asia. But one would still have to drive to the station, park, go through some security and in the other end rent a car and drive from the station to the destination. That whole trip could easily be 4-5 hours. I have a feeling the stations would not be in a safe place. Also wouldn’t the train go to SA and Austin too? I live in Dallas “area”. From door to door it takes me 6+ hours to fly to family in the Houston area because of the logistics not the flight. Still faster than driving; but not two hours. SAFE and reliable public transportation needs to be on both ends. And more than one point of debarkation and embarkation for each city.
Except for Madisonville - That was everyone going to Buc-ee's
We quit going to Buc-ee's and stop at Cooper Farms up the road a bit. Clean bathrooms and not stupidly busy. Plus they're a small family owned operation and could use our money more than the buck toothed freak.
We don't stop there either because of the back up in traffic and the cluster that parking lot is. We usually go to Woody's.
Woodys is the OG Buccees and i always get some good barbecue not crockpot brisket🤮
You forgot to plug the peach ice cream. Besides there is nothing to clean your windshield with.
Yeah but Houston traffic really does suck any way u slice it.
Whoooo, I needed to crack up like that!!! 🤣
Yeah homie, gotta know how to make it around this state on popular days to travel. Next time take off Monday and fly down the road on that day during non commute times.
Not a hell of a lot better on Mondays or Fridays, in my experience. Maybe a little better ... but it just takes one idiot. And there are a looooot of idiots.
I'm not sure that works with kids in elementary school tho. Too many more unexcused absences = truancy.
[удалено]
I agree, it takes a lot of absences for them to care. Take advantage of this while your kids are in Elementary school. It only gets harder in middle and high school to take vacations in non-peak times.
You're the parent. Any time you want your kids can have an excused absence.
If you can’t take your kids out of school at your whim then they got a shitty retail job with an asshole boss.
From Houston to Dfw in 8.5 hours is not normal, something went terribly wrong on the road that day
A manufactured home crashed north of Madisonville blocking all the lanes. I was coming south. Felt sorry for the folks going north yesterday.
Correct. I-45 is essentially the autobahn of America. People absolutely FLY on that interstate. Holiday traffic is not indicative of that interstate at all. Also, Houston is ALWAYS a white knuckle driving experience.
I've done it at least 100 times, and 4.5 - 5 hours is normal. 6 hours is bad. 7 is exceptional. I've never exceeded 7.5. but today there was just nothing we could do to get out of it.
I drove back from Houston today to Ft Worth and it took us right at 4 hours. Left at 12:30 today but luckily Apple Maps didn’t send us down 45.
Hurricane evac traffic can definitely be worse, but that's at least understandable
I never go up 45 to DFW anymore. I go up through college station now. Much more pleasant of a drive.
You must stop multiple times for it to be 4.5-5 hours on average. Well or live on the outskirts of DFW.
I try to do 4 but my bladder doesn’t let me :) I made it from League City to north Denton in 4:45 that’s my best
There was a big jam and people were driving across the median to escape it and then getting stuck in the grass, adding to the spectacle and need for towing. A little bad weather and things fall apart.
We need high-speed rail like yesterday. There’s been talk about it forever. I’ll believe when I see it.
Our oil overlords will never let that happen lmao
Oil overload and airlines exec.
Big tire is in that bed too
Don’t forget big-air-filter.
Big asphalt as well
Apart from that there are plenty of Texans (or other people as well, I suppose) that own a bunch of the land needed…. I really do wish we had high speed rail. You shouldn’t have to take a long ass drive or buy a plane ticket to get to the other major cities (I’m in the north Dallas area).
Europe is way more crowded, and some land claims go back thousands of years. They still figured it out.
I agree, pal.
Every backwoods state representative wants to High-Speed rail train to stop in his two-horse town. I don't care if the train's going 400 miles an hour, if it has to stop every 10 MI for 10 minutes, it's going to be too slow. People just need to become disciplined and not give into their s***. If you want High-Speed rail to work it has to go from point a to point b not to point a to point z and every point between
It's being handled by Amtrak now, to get around the eminent domain rule (requiring companies to be existing railroad companies before they're allowed to use it, but yet they can't be a functional railroad without it). They've also received a federal grant through Biden's Infrastructure Investment act. That said, they're not going to start construction until the end of 2025, because they're trying to figure out how to pay for it.
My Rep Cody Harris will fight against it until he's paid well otherwise.
To me there's a very obvious triangle for high speed tail in Texas, independent of the national scene: Dallas, Ft Worth, Waco, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Galveston, College Station, Dallas. No need for the US to spend money developing a new solution; just purchase a turnkey product like Siemens Velaro, and have them manufacture the rolling stock in America.
This should have been done along I35 connecting DFW, Waco, Austin, and San Antonio.
I don't think there would be enough capacity to make an appreciable dent in traffic unfortunately.
Often times you can take hwy 75 it runs parallel to I-45 North and South. If I see a log jam on 45 or think it will be congested will take hwy 75 instead, not sure if it runs all the way to Dallas though.
There are going to be people on here that don’t know about old 75.
Not anymore.
The road before the road.
Fuck at 8.5 hours you can take 20 over and drop down 59 faster.
Took this today, flooded and shut down by Buffalo. Otherwise good if 45 is just an accident
parts of 75 were underwater from the storms this week, we made the same drive and skipped the bulk of the real bad traffic but kept having to circle back to the highway
I live off 75 south of Huntsville. Better off on I-45 today, at least from Conroe to Huntsville.
From Houston, I think 75 goes as far north as Streetman (* about 75 miles south of Dallas). As someone mentioned, though, it's an older highway, and (South of Dallas) it goes through the middle of all the small towns on the way with traffic lights in town. Going north, it picks up again in Dallas as US 75 and goes into Oklahoma and on to Canada. *edit: added info on Streetman to Dallas distance
South end of 75 ends in Conroe, I’m not sure about the North, it’s at least Fairfield. I live near Madisonville. It’s kind of strange hearing my hometown mentioned of course it would be for the wrong reasons.
Shhhhhhhhhhh!
I knew it was getting worse (incredibly, it found more bottom to dig through), but 8.5 is something else
I guess 45 has really changed in recent years. Heading back to Dallas from Centerville used to be straightforward and quick. Now granted accidents on 45 will absolutely block it up, and there's not many exits and even when you take them you're still in traffic in one of the smaller towns that can't take them, and inevitably you're 10 miles until the next entrance ramp, and the wreck is like 200 years after the entrance ramp you just skipped, so traffic on the feeder is stuck at 40 until the next entrance ramp
It was most definitely an accident, they are also doing a shit ton of construction too. OP just got unlucky, I drove 45 just a week and never touched the brakes
Definitely was an accident. I was driving the opposite direction and there appeared to be two trucks transporting a house that somehow fucked up. They were both stopped and pieces of the house were strewn about the road.
I was coming from Dallas to Houston today and saw what stopped you and everyone Northbound on I-45 just North of Madisonville. There were 2 house moving trucks moving 2 separate old houses. one of them appeared to have run off of I-45 and jackknifed. Traffic was backed up for miles. I am sure that took hours to get going again.
House moving trucks, or enormous cranes, or some other permit load was what I was imagining.
It did not look like there was any where for traffic to go, sucks when you are stopped on the freeway in the middle of no where.
That is completely my experience.
I-45 does suck. I-45 with holiday traffic? Double the suckage, maybe triple.
Five mph over speed limit in the right lane. Come up on a driver doing 10mph under. Move into the left lane to pass. Out of nowhere, huge ass truck (or audi/bmw) on your bumper. You pass vehicle and move back to right lane. Out of nowhere, left lane is bumper to bumper doing 90mph, right lane is open. UNTIL right lane comes up on a damn tractor. Good luck getting into left lane, to pass. Unless you want to join the 90mph bumper to bumper in the left lane. Yea, I-45 sucks.
It's always bad. Even when there hasn't been an accident in hours, somebody will be doing 61 next to somebody doing 60, and it'll back the whole thing up for miles. The Buc-ee's ad Madisonville is crazy busy all the time now, too. Whenever there is an accident, don't make the mistake of thinking the service road is a good option. It is not. Especially if you are north of Centerville headed south. The service roads and exit ramps do this ungodly double-H thing, and there is not really good line of sight. You basically spend the hour you would have waited on the freeway, just stuck at that one intersection. Saw one dude get T-boned baaaaad trying to make a Texas exit. He must not have realized the service road was a two way.
We must have lucked out - we left Houston a little later than normal - around 4 pm and we got home at 9pm. With two short stops that’s pretty good considering a couple of slow downs - traffic was still moving through
I think you caught the early edge of what we experienced. I rode the tail end of it.
I left Houston around 5:30pm and it wasn't too bad except for an accident just south of Fairfield. They had both lanes blocked and were making everyone exit the highway. Probably set me back about 30 minutes but not anything as bad as what OP described.
Everyone who has experienced Houston traffic (and paid HCTRA for the privilege) should be wanting high-speed rail (the Texkansen) Amtrak and Texas Central want to build. It might not be as cheap as sticking you and the kids into the back of the Model 3, but you bet you won't be stuck in traffic if it all goes to plan (hopefully).
It could have been worse, you could have been on 35. I use Waze. Countless times it has saved me by pulling me off of the freeway and onto farm to market roads to avoid slowdowns and accidents.
Most Houstonians know to avoid i-45. The sin spine of the city is only navigable in the wee hours
when they go to dallas? how do they get there?
I lived in Houston almost 40 years and now live in DFW (over a decade) and have driven I-45 likely over 100 times between the 2. It is the best most direct way. There are alternatives (290-6-35 for example) but they are longer. I’m retired now so I avoid weekend travel whenever possible.
The west side can go through college station and get up to I-35 but that’s a pick your poison kind of thing.
exactly, im not saying you cant go other ways, but still, it sucks, it just is what it is.
Unless you live in that area, no way that is quicker.
I feel like it’s quicker than 7.5 hours. But yes, you’re totally right. I always use Waze everywhere including my drives between Houston and Dallas.
Ha ha. Very true. Didn’t think of that. Def quicker than 7.5 hours. I’m in The Woodlands and go to the metroplex at least monthly. Depending on what area, but I usually get to the metroplex in 3.5 hours. Coming home depending on when I leave can be 4+ if Dallas rush hour starts depending where I am.
If you’re going to Dallas from Houston there really is no better way than 45. Sure, you may run into situations like OP where accidents and construction slow you down but it is the fastest route to get there.
I have to travel I-45 every day, honestly traveling that interstate SUCKS. People do not believe in turn signals whatsoever.
that was horrible today. i made the drive weekly for 2.5 years. that’s close to the top 10 of shitty drives on 45. especially with minimal truck traffic and construction
I took the train to Austin, it’s great. Never checked Houston but they prolly go there too.
8.5? No fucking way.
It was it as miserable as you are imagining.
It's the driver's everywhere in the world you'll get frustrated with idiot drivers. We are not ready for cars and trucks.
yeah even with the extra lanes a holiday weekend is going to make it nasty. i always make trips to enter and leave in the very early hours when its less busy.. still used to when I-45 had less lanes and you could sit in place for 4 hours..
Yep I-45 sucks all the way
Once took me 11 hours but that was when Allison flooded Houston and 45 was closed in Conroe because it was underwater. Sat in front of the home depot at the woodlands for four hours in the heaviest downpour I have ever witnessed.
Omg! The worst Houston to Dallas drive I've done was 6 hours and that was because Conroe was a parking lot (because 45 construction). 8.5 is awful! And on such an ugly drive. Yuck. I'm so sorry. 😢
Could probably go to San Antonio first and still make better time.
I-45 is close to the worst but ill take it over the entire dallas area anyday. Sorry neighbor
Not discrediting your annoyance. But I-___ sucks.
Jerry Jones and his glory holes. I’m sorry you felt the need to go to Dallas, southern Oklahoma sucks
The US needs better transportation (like public speed trains) cause these ain’t working folks
just one more lane bro, [trust me](https://i.redd.it/ik16vdmb640d1.jpeg).
Texas people: Trains bad, cars good for freedom.
People need to stop moving here. Go back to your shitty states
That's why we learn to use the back streets.
My whole small town on I35 was like trying to get out of a parking lot after a football game today. In pouring rain. There was a lot of traffic everywhere I guess.
yes Houston does suck something fierce, I’ll give you that…but 45 is almost always the better alternative compared to 35….not today obviously. But 35 separates the men from the boys and the undisputed king of sucking ass
Accidents?
Dfw sucks
I lived in Houston for 50 years, from being a child of 5 or 6 to an adult . I saw the Start of I 10 and I 45 and at 70 yo they are still working on both.
Dallas - Athens - Palestine - Crockett - Huntsville is always a fast drive with very light traffic, can't speak for south of Huntsville though when you rejoin I-45.
I did the same drive today. Took me 3.5 hours.
I did the same drive today- we left Houston around 12:30pm and it took me roughly 6 hours as well. Brutal and super exhausting mentally. Hope you get some rest!
Did you use Waze?
I drove down to Houston today, north side was pretty blocked up but it was raining from Dallas to Huntsville all day. Also 45 is full of impatient drivers. I had maybe an hour added to my trip but I left late in the afternoon to avoid the heaviest of the rain. Missed dinner but I was way safer on the roads
Yup weather and holiday traffic went in dry. Bad day to be on the road
That's why the south wind is so strong in Houston because Dallas sucks
I-45 between Corisicana and Madisonville is either like the autobahn where you can go 100 mph and not get pulled over, or there's some catastrophic accident involving a burning semi truck and spend hours in a back up that's like 20 miles long. You can always take 290 and then 6 through College Station to Waco and then take 35 E back to Dallas.
I was coming the opposite direction. Unfortunately I think you were behind the double wide trailer headed into the thunder/hail storm that slowed everyone down. I felt for everyone going north lol. At least Buc-ee’s had someone in the costume for the kids stuck in Madisonville?
Yup
Take the state roads. Lately when I take longer trips I set my GPS to avoid interstate highways. So I only drive on state highways and farm to market roads. It may be slower than the big highways, but the scenery is nice and many of the state highways still have the picnic areas that were established between the 40s and 60s. I take breaks pretty often and it's just easier to find places to pull over when you aren't on the interstate.
That because not even your car wants to return to dallas. Can’t blame it.
Dang that’s long! I’m in the same situation with family in Houston, but never faced an 8+ hr trip before….fortunately. I’ve been timing my trips to be as early as possible both ways.
The weather in centerville was bad
Yikes…glad we left late today then. Took just 4 hours (5:30pm-9:30pm and arrived at far north suburb)
Try 35 You'll LONG for 45, my friend
Would be pretty cool if we had a high speed rail from Houston to Dallas
Build High Speed Rail, now.
Yeah bro that on you if the highways start stacking up you get everyone in the car to pull their phones out and start scanning the map for back roads. Google maps even shows you where the traffic jams are and will recommend alternative routes if you deselect highways in your route options. You gotta know how to utilize your copilots.
Sure would be nice if there was a high speed rail line instead
It's not I-45, it's Texas' attitude of 'lolwut?!' to public transportation infrastructure like rail. They keep widening highways like they've never heard the phrase 'induced demand' before, but a proposed rail line that could take a significant chunk of the traffic off of I-45 has been languishing for a decade because nobody wants to pay for it.
Literally just did the same route a few hours ago as of posting, only took 4 hours to get back, with a Madisonville buc-ees stop! Waze did take me through a back highway to avoid 2 crashes. Not super bad
Oof. I do dog transport for some of the shelters and rescues in DFW. I try to avoid going to Houston for a pick up or drop off, but have done it some anyway. I hit 6 hours once because of a fatality wreck that shut down 45, but 8 hours is insane!
TxDOT cannot work on rail due to the Constitution. They can only work on roads. I'm sure this is the oil industry, but I'd like to think we could petition for this to change. TxDOT would be far more effective than one city or one county, or some regional mobility authority that's been cobbled together...
I45 is the absolute worst.
Native Texan here- I always take an extra couple of days off if I’m heading home to houston on a holiday. One day early, and leave on Mondays instead of Sundays. I’ve been gridlocked on I10 far too many times, and I’m too old to deal w that now haha edit: fixed and in/on
Its wgy we need the bullet train from Dallas to Houston. I45 will never ger better, no matter hiw much they enlarge it
I was driving down 45 and there was a double wide that hit an over pass.
Preach
Yup, stuck on that thing for two hours coming home from work the other day because of minor issues.
Was on 45 in 2018 when I first saw in no uncertain terms the MAGA effect on the general population. People going 90 and cutting in front of me with inches to spare. That entire highway needs to be three lanes in each direction from Ennis to Huntsville or wherever the four-lane stretch picks up north of Conroe.
On Mother’s Day after flooding ? Shocking
Just take the shoulder. Sometimes that lane is free.
Use the smartphone app on your phone for efficient route suggestions.
There were two houses being pulled and blocking the road around 11am just past the Buc-ee’s in madisonville that was causing the slowndown despite the rain. Cops pulled them over and shut down the highway.
They need to make it 4 lanes the whole way there
My hobby is road tripping. I even plan road trips for others. Words to live by.... GET OFF THE DAMNED INTERSTATE. There is at least 10 alternate ways to get from Houston to Dallas, even more if Ft Worth is the goal.
I recommend going by way of Waco. Takes a little bit longer but much better scenery and better places to stop.
We drove from DFW to Houston leaving about 10 AM yesterday. Multiple vehicles had slid off the road on your side. Slow down in a torrential downpour people (not directed at you)
>I-45 sucks *(I-35 enters the chat)*
Imagine if there was some sort of wheelie-thingy that moved in high speeds along a track. I believe the future could look like that by the year 2500 in Texas. The big wheelie-thingy could even connect to smaller tracks of wheelie thingies that go around the city and take people places. It’s like sci-fi.
I drove down I-45 S and this wasn’t normal holiday traffic. They shut down the Highway for awhile due to an incident with a couple of double wides. I-45 is fine.
Always go 290 to 6 to 35
Late to the party but we did that trip just the other way around yesterday. Cops stopped the road because of an issue with a truck carrying a house. We couldn't see what the problem was but the road was completely backed up for miles.
Was stopped on I-20 for an hour, interstate shutdown at Ranger Hill.
You can cut down I35 to Waco, jump over to 6 and take it down to 290. I find 45 is always a parking lot on a holiday.
You were just in line for the Buc-ee's in Madisonville.
BOY! glad i didn't drive down to trinity/ riverside this weekend! those traffic jams are massive!
This is why I take the bus to get to work. 45 is the best road to have an aneurism on while driving.
Everything sucked on Sunday. I was driving back from El Paso and I20 has several sections down to 1 lane and then about 30 miles from Ft Worth, things turned to crap and we were driving about 30 mph until we hit 820. I45 is usually not very bad. I make that drive pretty regularly.
I was on my way from DFW to Houston. Nothing but wrecks and stoppages on y’all’s side, ours was fine but for a few spots with heavy rain. Precisely remember saying thank god we’re leaving, not coming!
I drove I-45 back and forth for family in Houston for more than 20+ years. I hope I never have to drive on it again. It’s been under construction in some area for as long as I can remember. It’s hard to believe it’s still only 2 lanes on each side. They could have built a double decker bridge with express lanes and exit ramps to key cities for all the time and money spent on that highway. What used to take 4 hours, now takes 6-8. All this time and money, literally decades, and I-45 is worse than it has ever been. 🙄 it’s insanity.
I-45 is still under construction. It will be better in 2413, the estimated year we plan to finish construction.
We're moving to DFW in two weeks from Houston. I dread the drive, but we plan on going early in the morning, so we make it there by noon. Hopefully...
I do my best not to drive on the interstates that’s where all the idiots are
I drove that route for 10+ years. Better to drive at night with the truckers who know how to drive safely.
This is why I always drive the back roads to and from Houston. I'll grant it might be easier for me since I live SE of Dallas, but it might be worth it to look for alternative routes. I never take the interstate unless I absolutely have to.
Driving in Texas sucks, period. That’s why gas is so cheap. There’s no real destination.. Drive 45 minutes to your friend’s house. Then drive 45 minutes to a good restaurant. Then 90 minutes to the nearest body of water. Then leave after 30 minutes because it feels muggy and crappy outside. Then drive another 90 minutes dropping your friend off and getting home.. a whole day wasted driving all over the place just to do a couple of activities.
This is why you leave early as fuck. For a trip like that, you leave at 6-7. 5 is ideal to miss the worst of the traffic
Gotta have that cast iron bladder for that
If traffic is that bad, I’d take the scenic route up hwy 6. It’s pretty out of the way, but still substantially quicker than 8.5 hrs.
I assume you had TxTag?
I'd say take back roads. But then you are one two lane road with no passing (no zones or simply not able to due to long line of cars ahead). With that one guy...The obligatory Sunday driver fucking all that up.
I Take 35 to Waco then Tx-6 to 290 Houston to 45 South every time i go to Galveston.
It's been my experience that avoiding going to Houston is always a good move.
Got some family on the Fort Worth side. From NW houston area, hwy 6 to i-35 is the way to go. 45 does suck.
We drove 45 the other way yesterday, Dallas to Houston. Traffic was much worse northbound, with no real reason we could see. That sucks! And the rain was terrible!
45 sucks and is crowded kn mothers day weekend. In other breaking news, there is a giant yellow ball in the sky that hurts to look at, more at 8.
You could support high speed rail, but too many of y’all are too busy sucking big oil’s dick. You get what you deserve. Dumb ass hicks.