State Line Avenue

State Line Avenue is a north-south arterial road in Texarkana, United States. It follows approximately eleven miles of the Texas-Arkansas state line, and divides the city into two separate municipal units. Geographically, the southbound lanes of State Line Avenue are located in Texarkana, Texas (Bowie County), and the northbound lanes are in Texarkana, Arkansas (Miller County). [citebook|title=Tourism and Political Boundaries|author=Dallen J. Timothy, Geoffrey Wall|year=2001|publisher=Routledge|id=ISBN 0415196965]

State Line Avenue consists of two non-continuous portions, separated by a one-mile gap directly south of the downtown area.

North State Line Avenue begins on the US 59/US 71 concurrency, south of the Red River bridge. This route deviates slightly from the actual state line, but never by more than a few hundred feet. From Highway 296 (Sugar Hill Road) on southward up until 6th Street downtown, its course follows the political boundary almost perfectly.

A concentration of hotels dominates the four quadrants of the State Line Avenue/Interstate 30 cloverleaf interchange, with over a dozen different lodging chains being represented at this exit. At this interchange, U.S. Route 59 splits from US 71, following I-30 westward for 3.5 miles, before traveling southward again.

Because Bowie County, Texas is "dry", a vast number of liquor stores line the Arkansas side of midtown State Line Avenue. Customers as far as 50 miles into Texas regularly cross the state line to purchase alcoholic beverages. Likewise, since Arkansas does not currently sell lottery tickets, its residents cross into Texas to play its games, including Mega Millions. State Line remains a five-lane boulevard of U.S. Route 71, dominated by retail outlets, for about four more miles before crossing US 67/US 82, into downtown Texarkana. From here, US 71 turns sharply eastward, into a short wrong-way concurrency with U.S. Route 67, before again turning southward towards Shreveport, Louisiana.

From here, State Line Avenue continues south. One block south of US 67/US 82, the street splits apart. The traffic island in the middle is occupied by the Texarkana Federal Building/Courthouse/Post Office, the only such building to be located in two U.S. states.

As North State Line Avenue ends at Pine Street, West 3rd and 4th Streets form a detour leading to a so-called "viaduct road", elevated for most of its length, which bridges over a rail yard before curving back eastward to join South State Line Avenue.

From this point southward, State Line Avenue continues as an unnumbered rural roadway. Approximately five miles further south the road veers eastward, becoming Miller County Road 28, en route to Pleasant Hill.

Destinations

ee also

* State Line Road, a similar road in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area

References