1958 Houston Chronicle illustration shows in-progress highway development and several names for each major road.
1958 Houston Chronicle illustration shows in-progress highway development and several names for each major road.
The final link in I-10 through Houston was completed in May 17, 1972. It was the final project of engineer A.C. Kyser, who designed many of Houston’s freeways in the 1960s (Texas Highways Magazine).
The final link in I-10 through Houston was completed in May 17, 1972. It was the final project of engineer A.C. Kyser, who designed many of Houston’s freeways in the 1960s (Texas Highways Magazine).
The first automobile drives across a newly inaugurated I-10 Highway; engineer A.C. Ksyer and colleagues congregate in the background (Texas Highways Magazine).
The first automobile drives across a newly inaugurated I-10 Highway; engineer A.C. Ksyer and colleagues congregate in the background (Texas Highways Magazine).
1965 map shows further construction of 610 and I-10; for the first time, the map reveals plans to fully close the 610 loop.
1965 map shows further construction of 610 and I-10; for the first time, the map reveals plans to fully close the 610 loop.
The construction of Interstate-10 sliced across the top of the newly built neighborhood. With the Houston Ship Channel and port to the south, Pleasantville was now sandwiched between heavy polluting infrastructures.
A major artery across the US south, Interstate 10 runs from California to Florida and was constructed over a span of decades. The Houston portion of I-10, known in the west as the Katy Freeway and in the east as the Baytown-East Freeway, consolidated a number of smaller routes into an interstate freeway that would become increasingly congested with traffic, leading to lane expansions and increasing pollution in surrounding neighborhoods. With the construction of the section of I-10 that sliced across the top of Pleasantville in 1958, the neighborhood became more well connected to the city growing around it. It also became increasingly toxified by the carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and other airborne chemicals the freeway brought with it.
