Highway 290

I think the name says enough. Traffic is terrible, all this construction needs to hurry up and my dear Houstonians are rude. That is all.

If the Highway was a Monday this would be it! Right now it is just the pits due to all the construction. Lots of things are closed at night and it’s hard to get to some businesses. There are 2 entrance ramps right now with no acceleration lane and there are accidents there ALL THE TIME! Houston means good to plan for expansion but they are awful at planning during construction. I try to avoid 290 80% of the time. Take Hempstead for now.

Used to drive this gem every single day from Cypress, near the outlet mall, down to the heights. F this highway. F it. It is not that the quality of the roads are horrible, as I have lived in Louisiana and experienced the worst of the worst, but rather that I do not feel 290 should even get to bear the name highway.
It is more of just a construction worker’s playland because EVERY SINGLE TIME I TAKE THIS ROAD I AM SITTING IN SOME SORT OF CONSTRUCTION. Sometimes I get really excited because I make it almost the whole way to my parents house clear of traffic on a Sunday afternoon & then BAM, right when I hit that outlet mall exit, I am backed up to the Buc-​ees out there. It is ridiculous. The road never fails to disappoint me.
TIPS: Avoid high traffic areas, and take the feeder roads if you want to sit in the same amount of traffic, but move at a more inconsistent, traffic light-​based pace. Stay in the right most lanes when you enter Jersey Village, and then move to the left after you pass 1960. These lanes move the quickest in the afternoons outbound. Inbound in the mornings, there are no tips besides make it to work without witnessing a wreck, flat tire or construction & you know your day is about to be REAL GOOD.
Safe travels on the 290… if I could move my parent’s house somewhere that I did not have to ever look at 290 again, I would.
#290hategamestrong

I waited a year to write this review. I know it’s not getting better soon enough.
**** ⁴⁄₂₀₁₃ = I am always excited about infrastructures provided by our tax dollars.
*** ⁶⁄₂₀₁₃ = I drove by the construction near 43^rd and a rock hit my windshield. And, #$@&%*! The cost to replace was how much?
** ⁴⁄₂₀₁₄ = Lanes got narrowed and weird lane assignments from the constructions.
Now, I just want to scream. The commute is getting longer. Gee, I’m not even driving during peak hours.
Relief is coming, people. According to
, the congestion will be reduced after all of these constructions completed sometime in 2016. They are done in segments. That’s when I’ll update my review.
So, drivers, please stop mesmerizing the surrounding and concentrate where you are going. Here is the rendition of our future Highway 290 on videos
.

One of the worst highways in Houston. No matter what time of the day it’s full of traffic. With more and more construction planned this seems to be a problem that is just going to grow. The exits are far so if you happen to get stuck behind a bad wreck or some construction, expect to be stuck for a while.

A review about a freeway? Why not, it’s different than a review about food but guess what a lot of people have to use to get to their favorite places? Yes, you got it right, a helicopter! Well, unless you have one you’ll have to utilize this major artery that spans East and West on the NorthWest side of Houston.
This is a multi purpose structure. It doubles as a parking lot around 7 a.m., noon and again around 5 pm, pick your poison. If you are lucky enough you’ll even get a glimpse of two of favorite Unilocalers Carola M and Greg «PikaCamaro» F idling with 1,000 + happy faces. This also remains as a stable employment area for construction workers since there is a non public disclosure that this freeway is no longer allowed to remain finished during the lifetime of human existence. If one project should ever become close to completion then it is mandatory to begin months before disclosure that another project somewhere up and down this road to excite you in your commuting pleasures.
Pick a good radio station and keep it there because it’s going to be a long ride up and down here folks.

I am so grateful to have Hwy290 as my transportation route to home. I can always trust that it will be there every time I need to use it. The pavement is on spot and it doesn’t come up when you drive on it. The lanes are marked with white lines and some are new for not so easier view. So be very careful as with some areas especially near Jones were you can see both the new lines and the old lines so you can easily find yourself driving in the middle of the freeway in no lane at all.
Oh how I love that there is an option to take the HOV lane and if it’s only yourself you can use it as a toll with your EZ tag. It was such a great idea for the freeway to be designed so that the 1 lane HOV is used going to and from depending on the time of the day. I really hope the designer is now completely drug free as it takes up more space on the freeway with those 2 cement walls vs 1 smack in the middle and create a lane on both sides like it is in Katy. (Note to future designing: Don’t do drugs.)
I have no hate for Hwy 290 as it’s my trusted source of transportation to and from Cypress. Thanks for being there 290 I really appreciate you as you grow in the coming years to make it an even more trusted experience.
290 please do not take any offense for me only being able to give you 1 star. Don’t take it personally because it’s not you that is the problem. The problem is every single driver who drives likes its wet when it’s sunny and dry, but drives like it’s dry when it’s rainy and wet. The driver who takes the HOV lane only to go 40 MPH when it’s clearly marked 65 MPH. The driver who drives in the far left lane to only go the minimum speed limit and then brakes every time they think the wall is moving. The driver that’s on their cell phone texting and swerving and probably complaining about how bad kids are in a restaurant instead of paying attention to the road. Yes, that one star is for them all.
You go 290. Keep doing what you do. But please create a sink hole for the bad drivers who get in my way and fill it back up so I can whisk on through.
With love and respect,
Rick F.

Houston traffic is horrible and there are idiot drivers every where. I know that every highway there is traffic but 290 has the worst traffic I have seen. What did I get myself into when we moved in the Northwest crossing area.
We didn’t think it would be that bad, but boy were we wrong. To get back to my house everyday from work takes me an hour or hour and thirty minutes and my work is in the upper Kirby area. Without traffic takes 10 to 15 minutes. It is always crowded it is unbelievable so I had to learn how to take the streets and an alternative route. It all depends on the day but as soon as I get on 290 from 610 I immediately have to think what exit and route I should take to make it home quicker.
There are idiot drivers every where but for some reason all of them come on highway 290. There is tail gating, cutting you off, going on the shoulder, and mainly a lot of road rage. My advise is to stay away from this highway as much as possible unfortunately I am right on 290 and hollister, but for everyone else take an alternative route.

Idiots. Idiots everywhere. Sadly, they are everywhere here. But its really not the freeway’s fault — its just crowded!
This freeway is OLD — so old that the concrete is cracking everywhere and some of the lanes are just pathetic.
Thankfully, Texas is giving this freeway a new face lift — and it needs it! Its going to cost more than a fortune to fix this, but it needs to get done.
Until then, watch out for the bad freeway, rough ride and yes, the idiot drivers.

I hate traffic!!! Especially the morning time that’s when everybody’s grumpy won’t let you over in rude your butt cause your not going fast enough but the car in front of you is the one causing the problem

She’s had surgery, but it’s cosmetic and not very good. The wrinkles are worse, her varicose veins more apparent, and the arteries are still clogged. There’s been millions budgeted for a major face lift, but all indications are that she will not return to her former glory for many years if all. People will reminisce for years about when they could be on 290 and not feel their car depreciate around them.

i hate this freeway.
i try to avoid it at all costs. funny thing, the further north on 290 you go, the more douchebag drivers there are. tailgaters? check. hi-​beam flickers? check. people going dangerously slower than speed limit? check. swerving cars b/​c of stupid people on their cell phones? check.
i was already going about 20+ over the speed limit, and this douche in his flashy ride tailgated the CRAP out of me. he then proceeded to hi-​beam and bully me several times to go faster/​change lanes. i’m pushing 85 on a 65. you and i probably deserve speeding tickets. so piss off a-​hole!
I am warning ALL of you who follow this irritating practice, TAILGATE ME AND I WILL INTENTIONALLY SLOW DOWN TO JUST PISS YOU OFF.
ooohhh and to that beautiful polished red audi roadster that nearly blindly hit me AND cut me off on the eldridge/​west rd exit (they didn’t even exit, they switched into the exit lane, then swerved out almost hitting someone else!), i hope you learn before you unintentionally kill someone on the road with your reckless behavior. people always boast «it won’t happen to me» and boast about their reckless driving, but hey, maybe you’ll be the next one pushing daisies.
check this out:
so take a good study at this chart and lets hope for a better tomorrow on our roadways as people begin to understand why traffic happens!
*taken from
*and this interesting book called «How we Drive» by Tom Vanderbilt should be studied.