As TxDOT continues to work on plans for improvements to Highway 146, the most important issue that creates safety hazards and slows down traffic - the heavy truck traffic - is being overlooked. With several thousand homes, dozens of small businesses and multiple shopping centers - this corridor from Interstate 10 to Ferry Road is not a highway and should not be treated as such. Any plan for improvements needs to start with removing the heavy truck traffic. 

State Representative Mayes Middleton filed a bill in 2018 that would have removed tolls from Texas 99 to encourage use of that route. Unfortunately that bill did not make it out of the Transportation Committee. We need a new approach and we need to make sure our representatives hear us clearly. This proposal has three important aspects, none of which are unprecedented, to achieve the goal of a safer road for our neighborhoods and businesses. 

#1 - Move Highway 146 to Texas 99
Just as Alexander Drive had previously been Highway 146 until the needs of the highway outgrew the capacity of the road and a better route was established, it is time to recognize that the current path of Highway 146 through a residential and business community without room to expand for safety and traffic flow is no longer the best route and a better route already exists with the construction of Texas 99.

Highway 146 is already a substantial portion of the Texas 99 loop from the Fred Hartman Bridge to south of Kemah. This would be an extension of that path. 

#2 - Texas 99 - Remove Tolls, Designate as Truck Route
This is important not just for the traffic that solely passes through Baytown but also for industrial traffic along 565/1405 to encourage use of Texas 99. 

#3 - Current Highway 146 - Develop Identity, Implement Traffic Controls
No longer being a highway, the road should be rebranded and given a more appropriate identity for the communities - something like Cedar Bayou Parkway. With less through traffic there should be new traffic signals implemented to safely enter/exit neighborhoods and speed limits should be reviewed.