Transportation in Houston


This is a documentation of the routes, highways, parking requirements, or anything related to transportation in Houston.

Roads and highways

Houston has a hub-and-spoke freeway structure with multiple loops. The innermost is Interstate 610, forming approximately a loop around downtown. The roughly square "Loop-610" is quartered into "North Loop," "South Loop," "West Loop," and "East Loop." The roads of Beltway 8 and their freeway core, the Sam Houston Tollway, are the next loop, at a diameter of roughly 25 miles. A proposed highway project, State Highway 99, would form a third loop outside Houston, though some sections of this project have been controversial. As of June 2016, two portions of State Highway 99 have been completed: a 14.5-mile segment completed in April 2008 that runs from Interstate 10 in Mont Belvieu to Business State Highway 146 in Baytown, east of Houston; and a 71-mile segment completed between August 1994 and March 2016 that runs from Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 in Sugar Land, southwest of Houston, to Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 in New Caney, northeast of Houston. The next portions to be constructed are from the current terminus at Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 in Sugar Land to State Highway 288 in Brazoria County, and from the current terminus at Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 in New Caney to the current terminus at Interstate 10 in Mont Belvieu.
Houston also lies along the route of the proposed Interstate 69 North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway that will link Canada, the U.S. industrial mid-west, Texas, and Mexico.

Mass transit

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, or METRO, provides public transportation in the form of buses, trolleys, and lift vans.
METRO began running light rail service on January 1, 2004. Currently the track runs approximately 13 miles from Downtown Houston to the Texas Medical Center and Reliant Park Southbound and to the Northline Mall Northbound. METRO operates an extensive park-and-ride bus system to serve many of Houston's outlying suburban areas. Most of the park-and-ride buses run in barrier-separated high-occupancy-vehicle lanes that provide direct service from park-and-ride parking lots to major employment destinations. Prior to the opening of METRORail, Houston was the largest city in the United States without a rail transit system.
Following a successful referendum held locally in 2003, METRO is currently in the beginning design phases of a 10-year expansion plan to add five more sections to connect to the current rail system. An 8.3 mile expansion has been approved to run the service from the Uptown through Texas Southern University, ending at the University of Houston campus.
In addition, Harris County Transit operates some services in the portion of Clear Lake City in Houston.

Airports

Airports within the city limits

Houston is served by two commercial airports—the largest of which is the George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The airport is the 11th-busiest in the United States for total passengers, and 16th busiest worldwide. Bush Intercontinental is United Airlines second largest hub, with more than 650 daily departures.
Bush Intercontinental currently ranks second in the United States for non-stop domestic and international service, trailing only Atlanta Hartsfield with 250 destinations. In 2006, the United States Department of Transportation named Bush Intercontinental one of the top ten fastest growing airports in the United States.
The second-largest commercial airport in Houston is the William P. Hobby Airport. The airport operates primarily small to medium-haul flights and is the only airport in Houston served by Southwest Airlines.
The third-largest airport and former U.S. Air Force base, Ellington Airport, is primarily used for government and private aircraft. At one point, Continental Express operated flights across the city to Bush Intercontinental primarily for residents of southeast Houston and Galveston County. Passenger flights ended on September 7, 2004.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the state of Texas selected the Houston Airport System, which manages Bush, Hobby, and Ellington, as Airport of the Year for 2005, largely because of its multi-year, $3.1 billion airport improvement program for both major airports in Houston.
Andrau Airpark, a privately owned airport, was located in Houston until 1998; it was demolished and as of 2008 contains the Royal Oaks Country Club subdivision.

Airports for fixed-wing aircraft outside the city limits

Publicly owned airports outside the city limits

The following publicly owned airports are in the Houston area:
  • Harris County:
  • *La Porte Municipal Airport in La Porte
  • *Baytown Airport in unincorporated east Harris County, north of Baytown
  • Fort Bend County:
  • *Sugar Land Regional Airport in Sugar Land
  • Galveston County:
  • *Scholes International Airport at Galveston, a general aviation and military airport, is located in Galveston
  • Montgomery County:
  • *Lone Star Executive Airport in Conroe
  • Brazoria County:
  • *Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport between Lake Jackson and Angleton in an unincorporated area
  • Liberty County:
  • *Liberty Municipal Airport is in Liberty.
  • *Cleveland Municipal Airport is in Cleveland.
  • Chambers County:
  • *Chambers County Airport in an unincorporated area, east of Anahuac
  • *Chambers County-Winnie Stowell Airport in an unincorporated area, near Winnie and Stowell

    Privately owned airports outside the city limits

The following privately owned airports for public use are in the Houston area:
The Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center stands on the George Bush Intercontinental Airport grounds.

Intercity rail

's thrice-weekly Los Angeles–New Orleans stops at the Houston train station, which is on the north side of the downtown area. There were 20,205 boardings and alightings at the station in FY2018.
An Amtrak Thruway connects Houston with Amtrak's Chicago–San Antonio at Longview. It departs Longview in the morning after the arrival of the southbound train and arrives in Longview in the evening to meet the northbound train.
The Texas Central Railway, a proposed Houston–Dallas high-speed rail line, is scheduled to start service in 2026.

Intercity bus

operates services from five stations:
  • Houston Greyhound Station at 2121 South Main Street
  • Coach USA Inc. Dept. Casin at 4001 North Freeway
  • The Box Store at 1500 West Loop North Suite 117
  • Americanos U.S. L.L.C. at 7000 Harrisburg Street
  • Agencia Autobuses at 6590 Southwest Freeway
In addition, Greyhound operates services from two stops :
  • Houston Aau
  • Houston
Greyhound also provides seamless connecting service to major cities in Mexico via Autobuses Americanos at the main bus station in midtown.
Greyhound also operates services to stops within the Greater Houston area, including:
Kerrville Bus Company operates from the Houston Greyhound Station in conjunction with Greyhound.
Megabus operates low-cost double-decker coaches from Houston to major cities in Texas and Louisiana.
Shofur operates service from Houston to major cities in Texas.
El Expreso Bus Company operates services to a station in Houston adjacent to the Greyhound Station.
Tornado Bus Company operates services to two stations in Houston , with one along Airline Drive and one along Lockwood.
Turimex Internacional operates service to a station in Houston.
Omnibus Express operates service to a station in Houston.
In the 1990s various bus companies began operations in the East End, serving Mexico and other parts of the United States from East End terminals.

Intercity bus to airport

, a Mexican airline, operated a bus shuttle between Austin-Bergstrom International Airport South Terminal and the Omnibus Mexicanos Bus Terminal in eastern Houston for VivaAerobus passengers on flights going to and from Cancun and Monterrey. On May 16, 2009, VivaAerobus stated it would cease passenger operations at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on May 31, 2009. The airline blamed the pullout in part on the outbreak of the swine flu, which caused an unprecedented decrease in demand for service.

Seaport

The Port of Houston is one of the most important ports in the United States, and it is currently second in volume of cargo, right after the Port of South Louisiana. It is also first in the United States in foreign cargo volume. In 2013, more than 229 million total volumes of cargo was handled through the port.
The Port of Galveston is a major hub for cruises and passenger ships. In 2013, 901 thousand passengers were transported through the port, making it the second busiest port in the contiguous United States outside the South Florida metropolitan area.