Texas State Highway 349

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State Highway 349

Length:

194.43 mi (312.90 km)

Formed:

by 1943

South end:

at Dryden

Major
junctions:

North end:

near Lamesa

Highways in Texas
< SH 348		SH 350 >

State Highway 349, also known as Texas 349 and SH 349, is a 194-mile (313 km.) state highway in the western part of Texas.

1 Description and history
2 Counties and junctions
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Description and history

SH 349 runs generally northward from its originating junction with U.S. Highway 90 at the tiny town of Dryden (population 13) near the Rio Grande River, the southern border of the state. The road passes west of the Fort Lancaster State Historical Park to Sheffield and a junction with Interstate 10. SH 349 then runs along the Pecos River to Iraan, where it is co-routed for a few miles with U.S. Highway 190. The road then proceeds nothward to a junction and brief co-routing with U.S. Highway 67 at Rankin. SH 349 continues northward to the relatively heavily populated area of Midland.

SH 349 used to bisect Midland directly through the city center. However, the highway has been redesignated to loop around Midland to the west, by co-routing it with portions of Interstate 20 (and Texas State Highway 158) and Farm to Market Road 1788. A new section of highway, a so-called "reliever route", is under construction to complete the loop back to SH 349 at a point about five miles north of Midland. Once completed, this new section of SH 349 will be part of the "La Entrada al Pacifico Corridor" trade route from west Texas to Mexico. The portion of SH 349 that used to run directly through Midland has been redesignated as Off-State Highway Business Route 349-C (BS 349-C).

North of Midland, SH 349 proceeds generally northward to its final junction with Texas State Highway 137, just south of Lamesa. The original formation of the highway in 1943 included only the section from Rankin to Midland. In 1947 FM 177 and FM 306 were redesignated to form the part of SH 349 from Midland to near Lamesa. The section from Iraan to Rankin was added in 1956 by redesignating part of Texas State Highway 51. The current configuration was completed in 1990 when the route was extended from Dryden to Iraan by redesignating FM 1217. Counties traversed by the highway include Terrell, Pecos, Crockett, Upton, Midland, Martin and Dawson. With the exception of the metropolitan area of Midland, most of the terrain covered by the highway is sparsely populated ranch country.