Texas State Highway Beltway 8

Tollway in Harris County, Texas

Beltway 8 (BW8), the Sam Houston Parkway, along with the Sam Houston Tollway, is an 88-mile (142 km) beltway around the city of Houston, Texas, United States, lying entirely within Harris County. Beltway 8, a state highway maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), runs mostly along the frontage roads of the tollway, only using the main lanes where they are free: between Interstate 45 (I-45, North Freeway) and Interstate 69/US Highway 59 (I-69/US 59, Eastex Freeway); and between US 90 (Crosby Freeway) and I-10 (Baytown-East Freeway). The main lanes elsewhere are the Sam Houston Tollway, a toll road owned and operated by the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA). East of Houston, the tollway crosses the Houston Ship Channel on the Sam Houston Ship Channel Bridge, a toll bridge; this forms a gap in Beltway 8 between I-10 (Baytown-East Freeway) and State Highway 225 (SH 225, La Porte Freeway). Beltway 8 is the intermediate beltway in the Houston area. The inner beltway, I-610, lies mostly within Houston (except for an approximate two-mile (3.2 km) stretch that runs through the City of Bellaire), and the outer beltway, SH 99 (Grand Parkway), is currently partially complete. Like other toll roads in the Houston area, the speed limit is 65 mph (105 km/h).