When completed, I-69W and I-69E will merge together just south of Victoria, where mainline I-69 will follow US 59 northeast to Fort Bend County.

From Houston, I-69 will follow US 59 to the north, serving Cleveland, Shepherd, Livingston, Lufkin, Nacogdoches, and Tenaha.

In any case, Texas is proceeding in the same fashion as Indiana, conducting environmental studies for its portion of I-69 in a two-tier process.

On June 26, 2008, however, TxDOT announced that they had approved a proposal by Zachry American and ACS Group to develop the I-69 corridor in Texas, beginning with upgrades to the US 77 corridor between Brownsville and I-37; the Zachry American/ACS Group plan calls for the majority of the freeway to be toll-free; the only two tolled sections would be bypasses of Riviera and Driscoll.

[citation needed] Since July 2011, Texas has been proceeding with upgrading rural sections of US 59, US 77, and US 281 to Interstate standards by replacing intersections with interchanges and converting two-lane stretches to four lanes by adding a second roadway to the existing roadway and adding one-way frontage roads.

A stated goal of TxDOT's I-69 initiative is that "existing suitable freeway sections of the proposed system be designated as I-69 as soon as possible".

[citation needed] At the May 18, 2012, AASHTO meeting, 35 miles (56 km) of US 59 (Eastex Freeway) from I-610 in Houston (on the loop's northern segment) to Fostoria Road in Liberty County were also approved as ready for I-69 signage, pending concurrence from the FHWA.

[11] The FHWA later granted concurrence and with the final approval of the Texas Transportation Commission, the 35-mile (56 km) stretch was officially designated as I-69.

That includes 53 miles (85 km) of existing freeway starting at the international boundary in the middle of the Rio Grande in Brownsville and running north past Raymondville.

[18] On November 20, 2014, the transportation commission voted to add two new sections totaling 6.1 miles (9.8 km) to I-69 in south Texas.

This project was scheduled for completion in by end of 2022[23] but got delayed to 2023 due to weather and supply chain issues.

[25][26] Although the Riggs Cemetery, established in 1892, lies in the path of the freeway in Liberty County, TxDOT is choosing to preserve it.

[27] Work to extend I-69 northward to Shepherd and south to Victoria are in various stages of planning, development, design, and construction.

Construction on building a new alignment in Nacogdoches to bypass the existing US 59 at Loop 224 interchange began in 2019 and is scheduled to be completed by 2026.