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Airports
There are two major airports in Houston: George Bush Intercontinental
Airport located in north Houston and William
P. Hobby
Airport located in southeast Houston. The Houston Airport System is the fourth largest
in the country and the sixth largest in the world. George
Bush Intercontinental
Airport, originally named Houston Intercontinental
Airport when it opened in 1969, is the
8th busiest commercial airport in the U.S., offering international and
domestic service. It is home to 27
scheduled passenger airlines and 12 all-cargo airlines.
William P. Hobby Airport, established in 1937, is Houston’s
oldest airport and is the 45th-busiest airport in the United States for total
passengers. Seven scheduled passenger
airlines currently serve the airport.
Located south of downtown Houston, it
provides domestic service to over 65 cities in the U.S.
Houston is also home to Ellington Field,
a military airbase serving government, military and commercial air carriers. When Air Force One touches down in Houston, it’s at Ellington
Field. Acquired by the City of Houston in 1984, Ellington now supports the operations of
the U. S.
military, NASA, and general aviation. Houston’s location in the central U.S. places it equidistant from the nation’s
major population centers of New York and Los Angeles.
Port of Houston
The Port
of Houston is the sixth largest in the
world and is connected to ports throughout the world, facilitating
international trade with Houston
businesses. The Port of  Houston
is a 25-mile complex of diversified public and private facilities. It is made up of the Port of Houston Authority
and the 150-plus private industrial companies along the Houston Shop
Channel. The port is ranked first in the United States inn foreign
waterborne tonnage, second in the U.S. in total tonnage, and tenth in the
world in total tonnage. More than 200 million tons of cargo moved
through the Port of Houston and 7,550 vessel calls were recorded in 2006.
In recent years, the focus of the port has been on goods being shipped in
from Latin America n=and on the petrochemical industry; however, moving into
the future, more emphasis will be placed on strengthening relations with
East Asian partners. In order to be more enticing to companies
shipping out of Asia, the Port of Houston is in the process of building the
Bayport Container Terminal. While completion is not anticipated until
2017, it will encompass more than 1,000 acres and be able to handle 2.3
million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) per year. The first phase
of the terminal was opened in February 2007. The top five commodities
traded are petroleum and petroleum products; machinery; organic chemical;
iron and steel; and motor vehicles. Two major railroads and 150
trucking lines connect the Port to the balance of the continental United
States, Canada and Mexico.
Railroads and Trucking
With more than 700,000 rail cars
serving the Houston
area, it’s also one of the nation’s busiest rail centers. Typical commodities shipped via rail through Houston include chemicals,
plastics, grain, forest products, consumer goods, potash, cotton and
steel. The rail service is extremely
integrated with the market’s local trucking industry, air cargo system, and Intracoastal Waterway barge system via six intermodal
terminals.
Houston’s trucking
industry is well-integrated with the Port
of Houston, Bush
Intercontinental Airport,
Hobby Airport, Ellington Field and the
mainline railroads serving the city.
There are more than 735 non-local trucking firms serving Houston.
Highways and Toll Roads
Houston is intersected by I-45 running
north and south and I-10 running east and west.
US-59, US-290, US-90, SH-288, SH-225, I-610, the Hardy Toll Road, Sam
Houston Toll Way, the Grand Parkway and SH 6 comprise an extensive network of
highways that run through Houston metro and connect to surrounding areas. The city is located along the proposed
extension of Interstate 69, which would link the Midwestern U.S., Texas, Canada
and Mexico, further
enhancing Houston’s
role as an international trade center.
The Westpark
Tollway, links west Houston to Uptown Houston
and to Loop 610-Galleria/Bellaire. The Loop
610 highway expansion and tunnel system has substantially relieved the traffic
congestion in the Galleria. Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road opened in
August 2004. This four-lane, six mile
toll road connects SH 6 with the Sam Houston Tollway in the eastern part of Fort Bend
County. Fort
Bend Westpark Tollway
partially opened in late 2005. Upon completion, the new toll way will begin at
the Grand Parkway
in Fort Bend and extend 20 miles to US-59/Loop
610. Other projects running
simultaneously are the expansion of I-10 and Spur 527.
The first phase of METRO’s new
light rail line in downtown Houston
has been completed and a new line running down Richmond Avenue to Uptown Houston is now
in the planning stage.
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