Advice on Houston rush hour traffic and toll roads

Are the Tollways westbound much faster at rush hour? I drive through Houston on my way from Austin to Mississippi quite often, but I usually hit Houston after 9:00, so traffic is no problem (It's actually kind of fun--it's heavy enough to test your reflexes but not heavy enough to slow down!). I usually take 10 from Columbus. I've tried 290, but I have to wind up on 10 anyway, and 290 has too many small towns further back. I took 610 around the north once--once. I also

Good Friday I will hit Houston between 6:00 and 6:30 PM. I'm not looking forward to it! I've never tried the Tollway, or 610 south, or any other magical routes to the north or south. Any suggestions? I'll pop for the 10 bucks if it's faster. If there's no faster route, maybe I'll shop IKEA for an hour. :-)

due to the holiday.

IH-10, 610, or BW8 from west to east, is that it?

I-10 is quite the clusterf*ck beginning outside the Tollway on the west side and coming all the way in to 610 W these days due to major construction; they may even close the junction as they have in recent weekends (though that usually occurs late in the evening, but lasts overight or all weekend long). Avoid it. If I were you I'd travel 290 into the city.

610 (North Loop, eastbound, where you'd be traveling if you use 290) is usually somewhat clotted at that time and day as well. Sometimes some stop-and go from 290 to I-45, at least; and past 45 around to 10 is one of the more heavily industrial parts of town. Lots of truck traffic on that part of the Loop, all hours and days, even I suspect, Good Friday. Could be more troublesome if there's an accident, naturally.

Can't say about the Beltway; that's farther north than I ever traverse, but knowing the expected conditions of the others, that would be my choice.

Or stop for a dinner somewhere along the way and let things thin out.

however, they are doing tons of road construction along I-10 from entering Houston, through to the downtown area. They really go at it on the weekends and right now it's pretty jumbled at I-10 and Loop 610 on the westside of town. The Chronicle lists all weekend road closings, detours and construction in the Thursday paper.

Here's the link for today and it will be updated daily. Be sure to scroll on down for the longterm mess. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/traffic/3788265.html

worth your trouble. It will just take you out of the way, and by the time you've gotten to either of them, you will have probably already faced some traffic. If you get too far away from I-10, you'll be doing a world tour.

I doubt there will be any rush hour road closings this weekend. If you are hitting the west side at 6-6:30, that would put you on the east side at 6:45-7:15 - by then, things should die down considerable on that side of town.

I know that there is some major I-10 construction between here and Beaumont, and not really any good way to get around that. Some suggest Highway 90, but I have never found it worth the effort.

Best advice I can offer? Bite the bullet and stay on I-10 the whole way.

http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/construction/construction_report.aspx

But it doesn't appear to show upcoming projects, just current ones, so I don't know if something might be planned for the weekend.

Mostly closures of "connector ramps," entrance ramps, and frontage roads, but it does mention some alternate lane closures from 9am to 3pm. It does not mention if that continues through the weekend.

The information phone number on the page is 713-802-5073.