The Katy Freeway is the Houston region's major east-west highway, extending 40 miles from the Central Business District west to the Brazos River. Constructed in the 1960s with three lanes per direction and two frontage lanes to accommodate approximately 80,000 vehicles per day, forty years later volumes were approaching three times those levels with chronic congestion lasting up to 11 hours a day.

TxDOT completed a major five-year reconstruction of a 12-mile section of the Katy Freeway from west of SH 6 to the I-10/610 interchange in October 2008. The reconstruction widened the Katy to provide six general purpose highway lanes in each direction and two variably priced high occupancy toll lanes in the median of the highway. The financing of the $2.8 billion project has involved an innovative collaboration between TxDOT and the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA), combining toll backed debt with more traditional grant funding.