The US 59 Corridor Master Plan: A Success Story in East Texas

Corridor analysis, corridor selection and schematic development for 42 miles of new location freeway for the Lufkin District of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) were recently completed. The facility has been designed to relieve the existing U.S. 59 highway of regional and interstate traffic that is anticipated over a 30 year planning horizon. The proposed facility will ultimately be designated as Interstate 69. TxDOT used a new strategy for project development that incorporated several characteristics of a Major Investment Study and a few innovative techniques to accomplish the study. This paper will present an overview of the successful strategy and innovative techniques in an effort to provide practitioners with alternatives for consideration on other large corridor studies.