When US-59 inside Loop 610 was first constructed in 1961, it was the largest and most modern freeway in
Houston. The first segment opened from downtown to Kirby and contained elevated, at grade, and below grade
freeway sections. Since then, daily traffic on US-59 inside the Loop has grown to over 240,000 vehicles per
day making it the busiest radial freeway in Texas.
Reconstruction of US-59 began in 1989 with four projects to widen and rebuild the freeway from Shepherd to
Beltway 8. The reconstruction of the section between Shepherd and Mandell was completed before Christmas 2002,
including the construction of four arch bridges at Hazard, Woodhead, Dunlavy, and Mandell. The current
construction project will reconstruct Spur 527 and US-59 between Mandell to East of Spur 527, including arched
bridges at Graustark and Montrose.
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