page_title: Allen Parkway
section_title: Unusual configuration
hierarchical_section_title: Allen Parkway / Location and interchanges / Unusual configuration
caption_attribution_description: English: Eastbound Allen Parkway, Houston, TX
context_page_description: Allen Parkway is an arterial road west of Downtown Houston, Texas. It has a distance of approximately 2.3 miles, running from Interstate 45 west to Shepherd Drive, where it becomes Kirby Drive. Originally known as Buffalo Parkway, it was later named after John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, the founders of Houston.
context_section_description: The intersection of Allen Parkway and I-45 was once known as the Spaghetti Bowl because of the numerous curving entrance and exit ramps.  Motorists traveling eastbound at the eastern terminus can exit to Clay Street, Dallas Street, I-45 northbound, or I-45 southbound. 
  The ramp from eastbound Allen Parkway to southbound I-45 was known by long-time Houston residents as one of the most difficult in the Houston area, with a blind merge into the far left lane. However, this ramp was relocated to enter I-45 south from the right as of January 2017.
  Motorists wishing to travel westbound on Allen Parkway can enter via Walker Street, Lamar Street, or by way of an entrance ramp which collects traffic from Sabine Street, and I-45 northbound and southbound.  The eastbound feeder ends at West Dallas Street.  A portion of the roadway also used to be known as "The Deathtrap" because of an odd number of travel lanes and bridge supports for a railroad positioned in the middle of the road.
  In 2015 the City of Houston re-routed Allen Parkway by eliminating the southbound service lane by converting it to eastbound traffic (the existing eastbound traffic now flows west) - as a result the former westbound right of way has been converted into metered parking spaces for access to Eleanor Tinsley/Buffalo Bayou Park. This particular section terminates east of Montrose Boulevard. One oddity of the metered parking spaces is that the meters operate on Sundays - same with the Washington Avenue Parking Management District (Downtown Houston (including those in Midtown) parking meters are not operational on Sundays).
caption: Eastbound, just before the I-45 on-ramp
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