State Highway 288 (SH 288) is a north–south highway in the southeastern portion of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, between

I-45 Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Texas. While most Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, with the ...

in downtown

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and Freeport, where it terminates on FM 1495. The route was originally designated by 1939, replacing the southern portion of SH 19.

Route description

In Harris County, SH 288 is the South Freeway, a divided freeway known for having one of the widest medians of the local road system. It begins as freeway status from its northern terminus at

Interstate 69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of 10 unconnected segments with an original continuous segment from Indianapolis, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, at ...

/ U.S. Route 59 just south of downtown southward through south Houston. It reaches an intersection with I-610 and continues south through newer subdivisions. It reaches an intersection with State Highway 6, after which it loses its freeway status. From the

Harris Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine) * Harris, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan Scotland * Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle of ...

- Brazoria County Line to Freeport, it is referred to as the Nolan Ryan Expressway, in recognition of

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

pitcher

Nolan Ryan Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr. (born January 31, 1947), nicknamed "the Ryan Express", is an American former professional baseball pitcher and sports executive. Over a record 27-year playing career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanning four decades, Ryan ...

who grew up in

Alvin, Texas Alvin is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan area and Brazoria County. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city population was 27,098. Alvin's claim to fame is Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, ...

, which is not directly on this road. Brazoria County will be calling the tolled portion of the highway, located within the county, the Brazoria County Expressway. North of Angleton, the route returns to freeway status passing west of Angleton, near the

Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport , previously known as Brazoria County Airport, is a county-owned public-use airport in unincorporated Brazoria County, Texas, United States, in Greater Houston, located southwest of the central business distric ...

, and around the southwestern side of Lake Jackson. It then turns southward toward Freeport. In Freeport, it is known as Brazosport Boulevard. It reaches its southern terminus at State Highway 36 on the southwest side of town.

Toll lanes

To help alleviate congestion on SH 288,

TxDOT The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a government agency in the American state of Texas. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with the construction and maintenance of the state's immense state highway system ...

(originally HCTRA) and BCTRA constructed toll lanes (also known as the Brazoria County Expressway) in the median of the existing freeway. The toll lanes currently begin at County Road 58 in Manvel and terminate at

I-69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of 10 unconnected segments with an original continuous segment from Indianapolis, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, at ...

US 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south United States highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. numbered route system, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA Corridor Highway Sy ...

for a total length of . A nine-mile southern extension to the proposed Grand Parkway (SH 99) is planned. The entire length of the SH 288 toll lanes will have two lanes in each direction. TxDOT has jurisdiction on the portion located in Harris County, beginning at I-69/US 59 and terminate at the Harris/Brazoria County line at Clear Creek located just north of FM 2234 for a total of . BCTRA will construct the portion located in Brazoria County in two phases. Phase 1 will be from the Harris/Brazoria County line, southward to just south of County Road 58 (Croix Road) for a total of while phase 2, to be built by

TxDot The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a government agency in the American state of Texas. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with the construction and maintenance of the state's immense state highway system ...

's Toll Operations Division, will continue southward to the Grand Parkway (TX 99) for the remaining . Design work for the entire project began in the summer of 2015. Construction on the toll lanes in Harris County began in November 2016 and construction of phase 1 in Brazoria County begun in June 2017. The SH 288 toll lanes opened on November 16, 2020 and were free to use until November 30. All tolls on the facility will be collected electronically and an

EZ Tag EZ TAG is an electronic toll collection system in Houston, Texas, United States, that allows motorists to pay tolls without stopping at toll booths. Motorists with the tags are allowed to use lanes reserved exclusively for them on all Harris Coun ...

TxTag TxTag , operated by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), is one of three interoperable electronic toll collection systems in Texas. The system is also interoperable with the K-TAG system used in Kansas and the Pikepass system used in Ok ...

, or

TollTag The North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) is an organization that maintains and operates toll roads, bridges, and tunnels in the North Texas area. Functioning as a political subdivision of the State of Texas under Chapter 366 of the Transpor ...

is required for passage.

History

State Highway 288 was designated on September 26, 1939 as the renumbering of the portion of State Highway 19 south of downtown Houston. On August 1, 1962, SH 288 was extended to FM 1495. On June 25, 1981, SH 288 was rerouted from I-45 to MacGregor Way in Houston on the new freeway. The original routing ran southward along Almeda Road in Houston. The route traveled southward through

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

, past the

Houston Southwest Airport Houston Southwest Airport or Houston-Southwest Airport is a public-use airport located in Arcola, a city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, 15 miles (24 km) southwest of the central business district of Houston. It is privately owne ...

, before reaching Bonney. This entire portion of the route from US 90A southward was transferred to

Farm to Market Road 521 A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

and Spur 300 on December 14, 1981, as SH 288 was rerouted onto the new freeway from US 90A to Spur 300. The route then traveled east through downtown Angleton, continuing southeast before reaching Freeport. This original section is now part of County Road 543 and Farm to Market Road 523. SH 288 was redirected southward from Angleton when the city of Clute became more populated, then continued southward to a new intersection with State Highway 36 west of Freeport. On November 18, 1983, SH 288 was rerouted on the new freeway from MacGregor Way to US 90A. The entire remaining section from FM 521 north of Angleton to Clute was transferred first to Texas State Highway 227 on September 26, 1986, and later Business Highway 288 on October 25, 1990 when the bypass around the western side of Lake Jackson opened. The section from Clute south to Freeport was transferred to SH 227, and the section concurrent with SH 36 became SH 36 on February 23, 1989. On August 15, 1989, SH 288 was extended south over part of SH 227 and concurrent with SH 36, restoring the lost section from Clute to Freeport.

Major intersections

Business route

SH 288 has one business route. Business State Highway 288-B (Bus. SH 288) is a bypass of SH 288 through Angleton, Richwood and Clute. The route was created in 1987 as SH 227, which was redesignated as Business SH 288-B on October 25, 1990.

Major junctions

Notes

References

{{reflist

External links

TxDOT - Toll Operations Division

288 Year 288 ( CCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Maximian and Ianuarianus (or, less frequently, year 1041 ...

Transportation in Brazoria County, Texas Transportation in Harris County, Texas Transportation in Houston