US 90 Alternate begins at
U.S. Highway 90 and
Farm to Market Road 464 west of
Seguin and heads east through downtown Seguin on Court Street. (US 90 travels on Kingsbury Street, just 15 blocks to the north.) From Seguin to
Rosenberg, US 90 Alternate passes through mainly
rural areas. Just west of downtown Rosenberg, it merges with
Spur 529, part of
US Highway 59 until 1976. US 59 used to run
concurrent with US 90 Alternate between Rosenberg and southwest of downtown Houston, but it was relocated to the US 59 as construction of the freeway between Houston and Rosenberg was completed in stages from 1961 to 1976. In 2017, US 90 Alternate and FM 1640 were converted to a one-way pair in Rosenberg, with US 90 Alternate carrying westbound traffic and FM 1640 carrying eastbound traffic. After Rosenberg, US 90 Alternate passes through
Richmond,
Sugar Land,
Stafford and
Missouri City before entering
Houston. US 90A in Sugar Land between
State Highway 6 and the
Southwest Freeway is an 8 lane boulevard with at-grade signalized intersections. A section in Stafford from the Southwest Freeway to Promenade Boulevard (east of
Dulles Avenue) is a short controlled access highway similar in design to the one which stretches from Present Street to the
South Loop. There it crosses the
Sam Houston Tollway into the Houston city limits and becomes South Main Street. A few miles down, the highway meets the current northern terminus of the
Fort Bend Toll Road. The short
controlled-access highway portion of US 90 Alternate—part of which has local access (
right-in/right-out), but no
median breaks – currently begins east of Present Street in Stafford just before the
Sam Houston Tollway and ends just short of
Interstate 610. The controlled access portion, with the section between
I-610 to just west of Holmes Road was completed in 2002 and the section from just west of Holmes Road to just east of the
Sam Houston Tollway completed in 2007 has 6 lanes without interior or exterior shoulder lanes, plus exit lanes and a maximum speed limit of for most of its length. These portions were previously a four-lane divided highway with exterior shoulder lanes, crossovers, and at grade crossings with major thoroughfares. North of I-610, US 90A becomes the widest street in Houston with 10 through lanes and several turning lanes. This section, previously a four-lane divided highway, was upgraded to its current width between 1999 and 2001. The 10 lane right of way of US 90A between the
Old Spanish Trail (OST) and the South Loop was planned to ease access to the
NRG Park (formerly Reliant Park and the Astrodomain) complex parking lots west of
NRG Stadium. Further north, US 90A splits from South Main Street onto the OST, becoming a six lane boulevard heading east to cross
State Highway 288 (South Freeway) with a grade separated street-to-street intersection with Griggs Road, and meets the southern terminus of
Spur 5 adjacent to the campus of the
University of Houston. After crossing Spur 5, it turns into a four-lane undivided road, crossing Brays Bayou and turning northeast onto Wayside Drive, crossing
Interstate 45 (
Gulf Freeway). Between Polk Street until after crossing over the ship channel, it divides into two one-way streets. US 90 Alternate West (southbound) is Wayside Drive while US 90 Alternate East (northbound) goes down S/SGT
Macario Garcia Drive (formerly 69th Street). At
Interstate 10/
U.S. Highway 90 (East Freeway), US 90 Alternate turns east to multiplex with I-10/US 90 for a short jog, then turning north onto McCarty Street. US 90 Alternate ends at the junction with
Interstate 610 in northeastern Houston, where Business U.S. Highway 90-U continues northeast on McCarty Street. ==History==