Houston TranStar - Historical Freeway Travel Times

90% of the measured freeway routes experienced increased travel times and delays in 2023 compared to 2022.
Overall travel delay increased 30% in the AM and 19% in the PM compared to 2022.
Travel delays across the region's freeways are back to pre-COVID levels (2019) in both the AM and PM periods. These charts show the average travel delay per mile on Houston area freeways from 2012-2023 in both the AM and PM periods.

The hours with the most travel delay are 7-8 AM and 5-6 PM. With the increased delay overall versus 2022, congested conditions are beginning as soon as 6 AM and ending at 7 PM or later on some roadways.
Routes that were congested for the largest percentage of time in the AM in 2023.

Route	% Time Congested (5am-12pm)
IH-69 Southwest Inbound from IH-610 West Loop to Downtown	79%
IH-45 North Inbound from Beltway 8 to Downtown	57%
IH-610 North Loop Westbound from Gellhorn to Shepherd	50%
IH-45 Gulf Inbound from Beltway 8 to Downtown	43%
IH-69 Eastex Inbound from Townsen to Downtown	43%

Routes that were congested for the largest percentage of time in the PM in 2023.

Route	% Time Congested (12pm-7pm)
IH-69 Southwest Inbound from IH-610 West Loop to Downtown	100%
IH-610 West Loop Northbound from Stella Link to Shepherd	68%
IH-610 West Loop Southbound from Shepherd to Stella Link	64%
IH-69 Southwest Outbound from Downtown to IH-610 West Loop	61%
IH-610 South Loop Eastbound from Stella Link to SH-225	61%

The majority of freeways saw increased travel times and travel delay in 2022 versus 2021.
Overall travel delay increased 61% in the AM and 31% in the PM over 2021.
Overall delay is still below what it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic but has continued to increase since 2020. Travel delay peaked in the Houston region in 2018-2019 and delay levels this year are similar to levels seen in 2016. These charts show the average travel delay per mile on Houston area freeways from 2012-2022 in both the AM and PM periods.

Routes that were congested for the largest percentage of time in the AM in 2022.

Route	% Time Congested (5am-12pm)
IH-69 Southwest Inbound from IH-610 West Loop to Downtown	50%
IH-45 North Inbound from Beltway 8 to Downtown	46%
IH-610 West Loop Southbound from Shepherd to Stella Link	39%
IH-610 North Loop Westbound from Gellhorn to Shepherd	39%
IH-45 Gulf Inbound from Beltway 8 to Downtown	36%

Routes that were congested for the largest percentage of time in the PM in 2022.

Route	% Time Congested (12pm-7pm)
IH-69 Southwest Inbound from IH-610 West Loop to Downtown	100%
IH-610 West Loop Northbound from Stella Link to Shepherd	64%
IH-610 West Loop Southbound from Shepherd to Stella Link	64%
IH-610 North Loop Westbound from Gellhorn to Shepherd	54%
IH-45 Gulf Inbound from Beltway 8 to Downtown	50%

As people adapted to life during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 saw increases in travel time and travel delay across the majority of freeways in the Houston region when compared to 2020. However, congestion has still not risen back to pre-pandemic levels.
Overall travel delay increased 57% in the AM and 59% in the PM over 2020.
Despite the travel delay increases from 2020 to 2021, delay is still 50% less in the AM period and 32% less in the PM period than it was in 2019 before the pandemic began. Travel delay in 2021 is near the same level it was at the beginning of the 2010s. These charts show the average travel delay per mile on freeways in Houston from 2012-2021 in both the AM and PM periods.

There is a larger discrepancy in travel delay between the AM and PM periods in 2021 than seen in the past. Typically, the PM period has 2x delay of the AM period. However, in 2021 the PM period has nearly 3x the travel delay of the AM period.
Routes that were congested for the largest percentage of time in the AM in 2021.

Route	% Time Congested (5am-12pm)
IH-45 North Inbound from Beltway 8 to Downtown	39%
IH-610 North Loop Westbound from Gellhorn to Shepherd	36%
IH-45 Gulf Inbound from Beltway 8 to Downtown	32%
IH-69 Southwest Inbound from IH-610 West Loop to Downtown	29%
IH-610 West Loop Southbound from Shepherd to Stella Link	25%

Routes that were congested for the largest percentage of time in the PM in 2021.

Route	% Time Congested (12pm-7pm)
IH-69 Southwest Inbound from IH-610 West Loop to Downtown	100%
IH-69 Southwest Outbound from Downtown to IH-610 West Loop	79%
IH-610 West Loop Southbound from Shepherd to Stella Link	64%
IH-610 West Loop Northbound from Stella Link to Shepherd	61%
IH-45 Gulf Inbound from Beltway 8 to Downtown	46%

With the construction concluding on SH-288, the time spent congested has been almost eliminated and traveler delay has decreased, even from 2020 levels.
See the full data summary here.

The reduction in traffic due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in reduced travel times and travel delay across all freeways in the Houston region when compared to 2019.
Overall, travel delay per mile was reduced by 65% in the morning and 60% in the afternoon versus 2019.
As of January 2021, average speeds are still well above their typical values on most freeways. This chart shows the average monthly weekday speeds from 6 AM to 9 AM on I-10 Katy Inbound. The trends shown in this chart, where speeds begin increasing in March and remain that way for rest of the year, are fairly typical of all freeways in the Houston region.

SH-288 Inbound from SH-6 to Downtown in the morning – Average delay reduced by 7 minutes.
I-45 North Inbound from Beltway 8 to Downtown in the morning – Average delay reduced by almost 8 minutes.
I-45 Gulf Inbound from Beltway 8 to Downtown in the morning – Average delay reduced by almost 8 minutes.
I-69 Southwest Outbound from Downtown to IH-610 West Loop in the afternoon – Average delay reduced by 8 minutes.
I-610 Northbound from Stella Link to Shepherd in the afternoon – Average delay reduced by over 11 minutes.

I-45 Gulf Inbound from Beltway 8 to Downtown went from being congested almost half the day in 2019 to virtually no congestion in 2020.
Despite the overall reductions, the I-610 West Loop is still congested over 40% of the afternoon in both directions between Stella Link and Shepherd. I-69 Southwest between Downtown and the I-610 West Loop is also congested 60-70% of the afternoon and results in an average of 1.5 minutes of delay per mile per traveler.
See the full data summary here.

Overall, freeway congestion levels remained relatively similar to 2018 with some exceptions.
With construction beginning to wrap up, congestion on US-290 was reduced dramatically. Travel delay was reduced by almost 5 minutes during the morning commute and over 7 minutes during the afternoon commute compared to 2018. Since 2015, the delay on US-290 inbound during the morning commute has been reduced from over 17 minutes to less than 2 minutes. Overall, 290 was congested 20% less time than it was in 2018.
I-69/US-59 Southwest inbound between the I-610 West Loop and Downtown is congested for most of the day. The outbound direction is congested 75% of the time between noon and 8 pm which is 21% higher than 2018. This segment of roadway showed the largest increase in congested time over 2018.
On average, the traffic is heaviest from 7 AM to 8 AM in the morning and from 5 PM to 6 PM in the evenings.
See the full data summary here.