Drivers leaving Houston on Interstates 10 and 45 have seen the signs for a few weeks now. They're big, blue and new indicating a Texas first; contraflow lanes. For the first time in the state's history, a system is now in place for contraflow lanes, to double the capacity on freeways leading out of Houston to better help evacuate Houstonians during a major hurricane.

AP

Several people were stranded around The Woodlands along I-45 during Hurricane Rita evacuations.

New signs indicating the lane shifts are already up near Brookshire on I-10, at Conroe on I-45, just south of Kingwood on Highway-59 and on Highway-290 at FM 1960. At these points is where all inbound lanes toward Houston will become outbound during emergencies to speed up evacuations.

In September 2005, hundreds of thousands of vehicles were stranded in bumper to bumper traffic on all these same highways as Houstonians tried to flee ahead of Hurricane Rita. Trips to Dallas, normally four hours, took 20. Same story in every direction.

This new state plan is the result of lessons learned during that disaster, said Carol Rawson with the Texas Department of Transportation.

The contraflow lanes will go into effect farther out so emergency services can still use freeways closer to town to move around, Rawson added.

The Texas Department of Public Safety will make the decision to reverse the freeways only if mandatory evacuations are issued.

TxDOT maintenance crews will be able to drain water from the median dividers to establish the contraflow lanes.

Interstate-10 will be contraflow from Brookshire to San Antonio.

Interstate-45 will be contraflow from Conroe to Dallas.

Highway-59 will be contraflow from Kingwood to Nagodoches.

Highway-290 will be contraflow from FM 1960 to Austin.

Unlike last year, Rawson said, law enforcement will not close exits in the regular outbound lanes. Many motorists believed that only worsened the congestion.

But Gloria Roemer, spokeswoman for Harris County County Judge Robert Eckels, said those who choose to exit the main lanes will be on their own finding gas, food and supplies on the back roads. Those areas will not be refilled and resupplied with fuel by the state.