Citywide Truck Route Plan

Citywide Truck Route Plan Updates

On November 29, 2023, Houston City Council approved an amendment to Chapter 33 of the City Code of Ordinances to authorize the Planning and Development Department to establish a Citywide Truck Route Plan with the aim of effectively managing freight movement, enhancing roadway safety, and improving the quality of life in Houston by guiding commercial vehicles to travel on the designated truck routes.

The Citywide Truck Route Plan Study was initiated by the City of Houston Planning and Development Department in January, 2023. The Planning and Development Department collected input and ideas from concerned residents and stakeholders through three public meetings, two stakeholder meetings, community survey, trucking industry survey, online truck hotspot mapping tool, and neighborhood tours. In addition, two interdepartmental meetings and two interagency meetings were conducted to inform and engage representatives from other city departments and partner agencies in the formulation of the plan. Planning staff presented the proposed ordinance to the Planning Commission on October 19, 2023 and presented to the Houston City Council Transportation, Technology, and Infrastructure Committee on November 9, 2023.

Based on the public engagement findings and local condition analysis in the past months, staff is currently working on an objective approach to establish the Citywide Truck Route Plan. Our target is to have the City Council vote to adopt the Citywide Truck Route Plan in 2024.

Review the links below to see the presentation slides, ordinance and the recommendation report.

Truck Route Plan Ordinance

Presentation to Planning Commission Oct. 19

Truck Route Plan Recommendation Report

Truck Route Plan FAQs

Get Involved

We need your input to develop an effective Citywide Truck Route Plan throughout the process.

You can participate by:

1. Identifying truck related hot spots on the map tool to share your comments/ suggestions;

2. Attending one of the upcoming public meetings;

3. Completing the Citywide Truck Plan Survey;

3. Visiting this project page to get project updates.

To learn more about the project findings, please visit:
Peer City Best Practices Summary Report and
City of Houston Truck Route Study Local Condition Analysis

About the Citywide Truck Route Plan

Houston is one of the busiest port cities in the United States and has a thriving logistics and transportation industry. The city's strategic location and excellent connectivity to major highways, railroads, and airports make it an ideal hub for freight movement. The Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC) estimates that freight tonnage in the Houston metropolitan area will grow by 60% from 2015 to 2040, driven by population growth, economic development, and increasing trade volumes. This growth presents challenges that we need to address through a proactive planning process.

The City of Houston Planning and Development Department is developing a Citywide Truck Route Plan to proactively manage freight movement throughout the city. It was launched as a Vision Zero Action. We aim to create objective criteria to designate certain roadways as “Through Truck Routes” that will allow trucks to move goods through the city.

The goals of the study are to:

• increase safety for people walking, biking, and driving in Houston,
• improve the quality of life by reducing noise and air quality impacts to the residential neighborhoods,
• minimize roadway maintenance costs for roadways not designed for through truck traffic.

Truck Route Pilot Area Map

Settegast & East Houston Neighborhood