San Antonio east or south toward Florida

[nomad2013]

Is there a good route,along the Gulf Coast that will bypass the traffic in Houston, or is it better to go north of Houston?
Trying to avoid the interstates & large cities as much as possible.
Thanking you for your great advice.

[Charlie_D_]

2112 wrote:

RamTX wrote:
I mention the access road for Beltway 8 as some of the tollway you need a special pass to use the tollway as there are no toll booths for collecting cash.

This is true on the North Belt but if they see a 1 time out of state plate they will ignore it. Do it 3 or 4 times in a short period and you will get a nastygram from them.

The Beltway charges by the axle on the toll as well. That can be an expensive bypass.

This spring I got on Beltway 8 by mistake. Decided to stay on it because the side roads had stop sign. I received a bill through the mail. I do not have the Toll Pass but I do have Texas license.

[2112]

RamTX wrote:
I mention the access road for Beltway 8 as some of the tollway you need a special pass to use the tollway as there are no toll booths for collecting cash.

This is true on the North Belt but if they see a 1 time out of state plate they will ignore it. Do it 3 or 4 times in a short period and you will get a nastygram from them.

The Beltway charges by the axle on the toll as well. That can be an expensive bypass.

[nomad2013]

Thanks to all!

[RamTX]

Just go straight thru Houston at off peak hours (10:30am-2:00pm) during weekdays. I would not recommend travel at night or on weekends thru Houston since a huge amount of road construction is underway on most major freeways and these roads are sometimes completely closed or at least partially closed sometimes at night or on weekends. As an alternate, you could travel the access road from IH10 west to IH10 east on Beltway 8 (Sam Houston Tollway) around but there are many lights and this will take you about 1 hour longer than going directly thru Houston on IH10! I mention the access road for Beltway 8 as some of the tollway you need a special pass to use the tollway as there are no toll booths for collecting cash.

[tatest]

If you are not talking about getting to Texas Gulf Coast, but just want to go east:

I-35 to San Marcos
TX-21 to US-190 north of Bryan
TX-30 to Huntsville
US-190 to Woodville
US-287 to get back to I=10 at Beaumont

I've used most of this route, it is all RV drivable, but a lot of it is on sections of state highway without the wide lanes and full size shoulders I've come to expect in Texas.

My preference, RV or car, is to just barrel on through Houston on I-10. Leave San Antonio at a decent hour (8-9 AM) and you will go through Houston at one of the relatively non-busy time. Traffic is usually light enough coming in as far as 610 that you wonder why they ever built all those lanes on the Interstate. It does compress into fewer lanes, but from 10 AM to about 2 PM it is not clogged.

Going through Houston on I-10 is not as bad as trying to get through Austin on I-35, and nothing like the mess you are likely to encounter at Baton Rouge.

There's a closer route using US-290 from Paige to Brenham, TX-90 to Navasota, TX-105 across through Conroe, but the northern suburbs are so far out that if you are going to go through Conroe on local roads, you might as well go through Houston on I-10.

[DougE]

There is just no way to avoid Houston that's any better than just plowing through on I10. There's more traffic and slower speeds taking the loops that bypass the center of the city.

[2112]

FWIW
I was looking at the map and if you are thinking of going around the north side via 105 be aware 105 has many, many, many traffic lights.

[2112]

Are you trying to get to some Texas gulf coast destinations or are you just trying to avoid Houston traffic as quickly as possible?
Not many quick ways around Houston.

You could go 36 south at Sealy and work your way to San Luis Pass onto Galveston Island. This would get you to the bolivar ferry and back to I10 but that's a lot of driving just to avoid traffic. It would take you many hours of driving to avoid an hour of traffic.

[darsben]

easttexan wrote:
No quick way. Every few years, we will drive the Texas Coast from Mustang Island to Bolivar Peninsula or enter Louisiana at Sabine Pass and take the southern route through Cameron and Morgan City to New Orleans and we have done similar on the Mississippi, Alabama and Florida coasts, but it is definitely slow and in areas, you just trade one type of traffic for another. But, if you have the time and want to take the tour, jump in and do it. You will probably be glad you did.

Yep a few days on the camping on the beach in your rig on the Bolivar peninsula ($10.00 per year for the permit) and a few days on the beach in Holly La, (The Cajun Riviera). Taking the rig on the big ferry from Galveston and then the really small ferry in Cameron is great.Small detour to the Tabasco factory. Then US 90 through New Orleans and on to gulfport, MS some good eating along that route. I would take at least 2 weeks for the trip and it would be just great.

[easttexan]

No quick way. Every few years, we will drive the Texas Coast from Mustang Island to Bolivar Peninsula or enter Louisiana at Sabine Pass and take the southern route through Cameron and Morgan City to New Orleans and we have done similar on the Mississippi, Alabama and Florida coasts, but it is definitely slow and in areas, you just trade one type of traffic for another. But, if you have the time and want to take the tour, jump in and do it. You will probably be glad you did.