The US-59 Southwest Freeway was originally constructed in the early 1960’s and serves the major Houston activity centers of Downtown, Midtown, the Museum District, and the Medical Center. Today, the daily traffic volume on US-59 inside the loop is over 240,000 vehicles per day, making it the busiest radial freeway in Texas. Between 1989 and 2002, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) reconstructed much of the Southwest Freeway; from Beltway 8 to Mandell inside Loop 610. In September 2002, TxDOT began the reconstruction of the last segment of US-59 into Downtown. This segment includes the reconstruction of US-59 from Mandell to east of Spur 527 as well as the reconstruction of Spur 527 into Midtown.

The reconstruction of the freeway segment from Shepherd to Mandell included the construction of four arched bridges over US-59 at Hazard, Woodhead, Dunlavy, and Mandell. This section with distinctive bridges, aesthetic design features, and landscaping has been called the Gateway to Houston. The current project will extend the excellence of the award winning Gateway project East of Montrose, converting the elevated section of freeway to a below grade section with additional arched bridges at Graustark and Montrose. East of Montrose, the freeway will regain elevation to connect with the present Spur 527 and US-59. The current 10 lane facility (five lanes each direction) will be expanded to a 12 lane facility to include five lanes in each direction as well as a two-lane barrier separated HOV facility that will divert from US-59 onto Spur 527.

TxDOT endeavored to minimize the impacts to downtown traffic normally using Spur 527. To accommodate northbound Spur 527 traffic during construction, TxDOT accelerated construction of exit ramps for Main Street and Polk Street to provide alternatives to the existing West Gray/Pierce Street exit ramp. For southbound Spur 527 traffic, TxDOT reworked construction plans to allow two southbound Spur 527 lanes to remain open during all phases of construction.