Jobs Impeded by Highway Construction

Road construction and closures go on in Houston all over and all the time. Always an extreme annoyance. But sometimes they are downright insurmountable.

I do consultations and site inspections on Sunday afternoons. To prevent mucking up M-F workday traffic, much of the road and highway work gets pushed to the weekend. This means that some arteries will be partially or even completely shut down.

Driving down Hwy 288 on a weekday is bad enough. Narrow lanes, broken pavement, confusing signs, unmarked exits.

But this past Sunday, I was trying to get down to Manvel to visit a client. I won’t even try to describe the messes on I-45 and Beltway 8, or confess to how many exits I missed and had to U-turn. But it was at least doable.

But when I finally got to the intersection with Hwy 288, which leads straight to my destination, I found that the traffic was at a dead standstill. No way I could head south.

It’s rare that I back out of an appointment. But, after an hour sitting at this same highway exchange, I gave up and called the client and told her that I simply could not get there.

This story includes a whole lot more wasted time, frustration, and boiling-point temperament – all of which I will bypass.

The point is, sometimes I’m not able to help a client simply because it’s impossible to get to her house!

Tags: closures, construction, houston, Hwy 288, I-45, manvel, road