2 city advice for Texas
I-10 East bound. Should I bypass San Antonio and/or Houston. San Antonio around 9 Am and Houston 1-2 PM. I generally go straight through cities at this time. Advice welcome.
Forum Discussion
My experience with both cities, at the time you will be reaching them the best route would be to stay on I-10.
In San Antonio, Loop 1604 is not freeway from I-10 to I-10, only part of the way around the north side, and I-410 loop mixes you in with a lot more on-off traffic (and aggressive behavior of drivers going only one or two exits but still cutting in and out to use the fast lanes). Speeds may be slightly slower going through the center of the city, but the driving is easier.
In Houston, Beltway 8 is a lot of extra distance, but if I were to take it, I would take it around the south side, which has less local traffic. Loop 610 can get badly backed up at the interchanges going out to suburbs once the rush hour starts (as early as 3 PM) but earlier in the day it is more like San Antonio, just dealing with extra interchanges and aggressive local driving.
My last time through, I left my daughter's home in SA at 9 AM after the rush, breezed through Houston on I-10 a little after noon, not stopping until I was past the metro area, beyond Wallisville.
If you need fuel stops or rest stops, make those in small towns or at rural truck stops, because on-offs are not easy in the Houston metro area, there is much more congestion on the exit roads than there is on the freeway itself. In the RV, the closest I will stop to Houston is at Brookshire, usually prefer Columbus; once you get to Katy there is no longer much room for large vehicles to move around on local streets until you are at least 20 miles out from center on the East side.
In San Antonio, Loop 1604 is not freeway from I-10 to I-10, only part of the way around the north side, and I-410 loop mixes you in with a lot more on-off traffic (and aggressive behavior of drivers going only one or two exits but still cutting in and out to use the fast lanes). Speeds may be slightly slower going through the center of the city, but the driving is easier.
In Houston, Beltway 8 is a lot of extra distance, but if I were to take it, I would take it around the south side, which has less local traffic. Loop 610 can get badly backed up at the interchanges going out to suburbs once the rush hour starts (as early as 3 PM) but earlier in the day it is more like San Antonio, just dealing with extra interchanges and aggressive local driving.
My last time through, I left my daughter's home in SA at 9 AM after the rush, breezed through Houston on I-10 a little after noon, not stopping until I was past the metro area, beyond Wallisville.
If you need fuel stops or rest stops, make those in small towns or at rural truck stops, because on-offs are not easy in the Houston metro area, there is much more congestion on the exit roads than there is on the freeway itself. In the RV, the closest I will stop to Houston is at Brookshire, usually prefer Columbus; once you get to Katy there is no longer much room for large vehicles to move around on local streets until you are at least 20 miles out from center on the East side.
