Gaucho100K

It look like I will have to drive into HOU from Corpus Christy early morning to make an 1150am American Airlines flight.... so, assuming I have a Hertz rental but have no status, anybody have an idea how long the car return and transfer to the Terminal will take me.... Im trying to plan this so that I dont have to wake up at 4am to leave from Corpus....

Thanks,
Alex / Gaucho100K

TMOliver

That's a long haul with morning traffic, even on US 59, and the Beltway tollroad (3 "stop and pay", IIRC) to Telephone Road, all now divided highway/expressway all the way, IIRC. Don't even try TX35.

Allowing 4 hours for driving (and depending on where in CC you're starting from), you'll need to be in your car and underway by 6AM, just to conquer the logistics of Hertz return, shuttle and security (It's HOU and the ravening hordes of morning WN pax will be on hand). Me? I'd leave at 5, and stop for a snack along the way. With all the breaks and no tie-ups, I've made the drive in 3:15, but that was pushing it, and not in the morning rush.

Gaucho100K

Excellent advice... I will do as you suggest and do a 430am wake up and 5am be in the seat and underway.....

Important: Regarding the Beltway tollroad... dont the Hertz rental cars come with the pay as you go thingie so you dont have to stop...???

Cheers,
Gaucho100K

TMOliver

I don't know, but I doubt it, although this is a car you would have rented in Houston. Of course, you can just "drive on by", and Hertz will get a bill from the TXToll Authority.....(the problem being that Hertz will not be able to track charges that quickly)

I would call and ask....

SAT Lawyer

I think you could safely leave Corpus at 6:30 a.m. and comfortably make your flight, especially if you are checked in already. It'll take less than 10 minutes once you drop your car at Hertz to get to the terminal. At 10:45 a.m. or so, the security line at HOU is usually very short.

Your Hertz rental car should come equipped with PlatePass, which will allow you to drive through the EZ Tag lanes, with your credit card billed after the fact. There is, however, a daily surcharge for using PlatePass. Personally, I tend to bring a handful of quarters for the toll road and pay as I go.

Gaucho100K

Ive been looking at the details of the suggested route, and all the best routes (the fastest routes) involve going up to the Beltway and going on that until TX35 for the last portion of the trip until Telephone road.

Are you saying that I must avoid TX35 at all costs...? If so, should I go the route until TX35 and then get off the freeway and have the GPS take me to HOU using the "least use of freeways" function...?

Im ready to leave Corpus at 5AM... so my guess is that I would be on the beltway by around 730AM.... so I would probably hit TX35 for the last 15-ish miles at around 8AM... will that be peak rush hour time...????

If so, are the side roads to TX35 going north to HOU any better than the main freeway...??

Thanks, sorry for all the questions.

Cheers.
Gaucho100K

Gaucho100K

Thanks.... I will have checked in, but, you seem to have an altogether different traffic assessment to the poster above. Will the rush hour in HOU not be in its peak fase at around 8AM.... until when does it go on..??

Thanks,
Gaucho100K

snod08

IN the morning 8AM hour, you are generally "against" rush hour traffic in that part of town. But, this is Houston. Traffic can get real bad..real fast.

So, I suggest you keep the early schedule at 5AM. Better to be safe than sorry.

If you arrive too early, you can simply relax and breathe!.

Gaucho100K

Thanks... not to be contrarian, but just so I understand.... I am coming from the South, going North towards the city.... will I be "against" rush hour...? I thought rush hour involved folks getting in from the suburbs into the city.... or is my sense of direction messed up...???

Thanks again.

SAT Lawyer

If you leave at 6:30 a.m., by the time you reach the outskirts of Houston and inside, the rush hour traffic will have dissipated. Traffic flow would be in that direction -- inbound -- but you'll be approaching from the southwest and exiting 59 for the Sam Houston Tollroad both geographically before you would be susceptible to hit a lot of congestion and at a time of the morning after you would be likely to do so. It's up to you, of course, when you want to leave, but as someone who spent 18+ years of my life in Houston, who has driven all over it at all hours of the day including rush hour extensively, and has made countless Hertz drops at HOU, I think a 6:30 a.m. departure would make for a comfortable drive in, with some margin for error, unless you drive well below the speed limit along the way. If you leave at 5:00 a.m., on the other hand, you may get to sample some rush hour traffic in Houston.

Gaucho100K

Thanks... super informative post.

I was going to leave at 6AM... but my brain played games with me and woke me up at 450AM, I had set my alarm clock for a 550AM wake up. I just decided to leave early, and pulled away from the driveway at 515AM. Total time to HOU was 3 hours 18 minutes, including a 6 minute stop to get gas before dropping off the car at Hertz. I didnt even have to speed too much... - cruise control was set at 82mph every time the sigh said 70...

Did not encounter any traffic... thanks again for all the advice !!! ^

TMOliver

Between SAT Lawyer and I, we could manage to coach you around Texas's roads right smart. You had to be going to Corpus for something, Corpus not being a place to which otherwise to go.....(kind of the end of the line, and always subject to the tale of the guy who saw the sign to North Padre Island, crossed the causeway, turned right and discovered there was 200 miles of sand dunes, no road, and a substantial channel cut through Padre Island between "North Padre" and "South Padre"). The Koch Brothers, always targets for OmniLibs, have a big refinery there, surrounded by other petrochem and there's a sizable amount of grain shipped abroad, but all in all, it's a quiet place. Like many Texans from large families, I have relatives in Corpus, San Antonio, Houston, Austin and Dallas, etc. (plus places like Llano, Groesbeck, the Gap, Penelope and Dime Box).

Gaucho100K

Yes thanks.... yours and SAT Lawyers advice was indeed excellent.

I have some excellent clients in Corpus.... I get a lot of comments that there is "nothing to do there"... but have to say I was very pleasantly surprised about various things about Corpus.... ^

CVO 1K 2 Million

Went to make a reservation on Hertz for IAH and I have a 0630 AM flight departure....but apparently the facility opens @ 0500....feels tighter than I am comfortable with....can anyone talk me off the ledge?

SAT Lawyer

Personally, for a 6:30 a.m. departure at IAH, I'd be comfortable dropping off the car as late as 5:30 a.m. if I had a boarding pass in hand and no bags to check. But, if you really feel compelled to drop off the car before 5 a.m., just use the after hours drop box; the shuttles to all the terminals run 24 hours a day.