U.S. Route 75 in Texas

Infobox TX State Highway
type=US
route=75
length_mi=76.158
length_round=3
length_ref=TxDOT|US|75|accessdate=2008-04-07]


formed=1927
dir1=South
dir2=North
from=jct|state=TX|I|345 in Dallas
junction=jct|state=TX|I|635
President George Bush Turnpike
to=jct|state=OK|US|75 near Denison
previous_type=TX
previous_route=74
next_type=TX
next_route=75

In the U.S. state of Texas, U.S. Highway 75 is a U.S. Highway that begins in Dallas and heads north to the Oklahoma border.

History

In the initial assignment of state highways in 1917, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston were connected by a branch of State Highway 2 (the Meridian Highway), which ran via Waco and Bryan and continued on to Galveston. The more direct route followed by US 75 was not initially part of the system between Richland (connected to Dallas by SH 14) and Huntsville (connected to Houston by SH 19). [Commerce Journal, Highway Commission Adopts 25 Highways, July 6, 1917] [State Highway Department, [http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/aris/maps/maplookup.php3?mapnum=6254 Map Showing Proposed System of State Highways as Adopted June 1917] ] This Richland-Huntsville cutoff was added by 1919 as State Highway 32, [Texas State Highway Department, [http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/aris/maps/maplookup.php3?mapnum=6183 Highway
] , October 1, 1919] and US 75 was assigned to the alignment, as well as SH 6 north of Dallas, in 1926..

Prior to the coming of the Interstate Highway System in the late 1950s, the only improvements to US 75 in Texas beyond building a two-lane paved roadway were in the Houston and Dallas areas. [Texas Highway Department, [http://www.lonestarroads.com/maps/1954-state.html Official Travel Map] , 1954 Edition] However, the highways in and near these cities included some of the first freeways in the state: the Gulf Freeway (Houston) and the Central Expressway (Dallas). When Interstate 45 was built in the 1960s, its alignment bypassed many of the towns and built-up areas between downtown Dallas and Houston. The bypassed routes retained the US 75 designation until the designation was truncated to downtown Dallas in 1987. Many of the original alignments continue to exist under other designations.

In Dallas, the route followed what is now the Good Latimer Expressway (formerly Spur 559) [TxDOT|SS|559] southeast, out of downtown, along US 175 and south along State Highway 310. [TxDOT|SH|310]

Near Ferris, Trumbull, Palmer, Ennis, and Corsicana Interstate 45 veers east to avoid the more populated areas. The old US 75 alignments through these towns, decommissioned in 1987, now carry the following designations:

*Business Interstate Highway 45 (originally Loop 560) through Ferris [TxDOT|SL|560]
*Loop 561 through Trumbull [TxDOT|SL|561]
*Business Interstate Highway 45 through Palmer (originally Loop 562) [TxDOT|SL|562]
*Spur 469, Business Interstate Highway 45 (originally U.S. Highway 287 and Spur 563) through Ennis [TxDOT|SS|563]
*Business Interstate Highway 45 (originally Loop 564) through Corsicana [TxDOT|SL|564]

Through Streetman, Fairfield, Buffalo, Centerville, Madisonville, Huntsville, New Waverly, Willis, and Conroe, US 75 followed what is now State Highway 75. [TxDOT|SH|75]

In Galveston, the alignment of State Highway 87 from 20th Street to the southern terminus Interstate 45 was also part of US 75 until its 1987 truncation. [TxDOT|SH|87]

In other cases alignments were bypassed while US 75 remained in existence; they now carry the following designations:
*State Highway 3 through La Marque, Dickinson, League City, South Houston and Houston, bypassed 1952 [TxDOT|SH|3]
*State Highway 5 from north of Dallas via Plano, McKinney, Anna and Van Alstyne to Howe, bypassed 1959-1967 [TxDOT|SH|5]
*State Highway 91 from Sherman to Denison, bypassed 1984 [TxDOT|SS|93]
*Spur 503 and U.S. Highway 69 around downtown Denison to near Oklahoma
**State Highway 91 through downtown Denison, bypassed 1957 [TxDOT|SH|75|A]

Route description

The first freeway in Texas was a several-mile stretch of US 75 (now I-45)--The Gulf Freeway, opened to Houston traffic on October 1, 1948. The stretch of US 75 between Interstate 30 and the Oklahoma state line has exits numbered consecutively from 1 to 73 (with occasional A and B designations), excluding 9-19. All other Texas freeways that have exit numbers are coordinated with mile markers.

From Denison north to the Oklahoma border, US 75 is concurrent to U.S. Highway 69.

Exit list

References