Texas State Highway 12

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State Highway 12

Length:

19.6^[1] mi (31.5 km)

Formed:

1939^[1]

West end:

I 10 in Vidor

East end:

LA 12 at Deweyville

Highways in Texas
< SH 11		SH 13 >
< SH 234	SH 235		SH 236 >

State Highway 12 is an east-west state highway that runs from the Deweyville on the Texas-Louisiana boundary to I-10 in Vidor in east Texas.

SH 12 was one of the original twenty six state highways proposed in 1917. It was an ambitious undertaking to construct a border-to-border highway hugging the southern Texas coast and border with Mexico, and was to be named the 'Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway.'

In 1917 the route followed present day Interstate 10 eastward from El Paso to roughly Esperanza. From there the road was proposed to go to Presidio (not built) and followed FM 170 from there to near Lajitas. It was proposed from there to hug the Rio Grande through Big Bend and towards Langtry (again, never built) where it would have met up with present day U.S. Route 90. On US 90, the road would have gone into Del Rio and, via present day US 277, into Eagle Pass and though to Paso de Francia via present day FM 1021 and FM 1472 to Laredo. The Paso de Francia to Laredo segment was again, at the time never built. From Laredo to Pharr the road would have followed present day U.S. Route 83. At Pharr, a spur of SH 12 would have continued east on US 83 to Brownsville. The main road went north on from Pharr on U.S. Route 281 to Falfurrias then East on SH 285 into Riviera and north on U.S. Route 77 towards Victoria, through to Houston on U.S. Route 59 and finally US 90 to Orange.

Unfortunately many of the roads in West and South Texas did not exist as planned (and still don't), and the technology available in 1919 wasn't up to the task of building so many miles of non-existent roadway quickly and efficiently. This lead to SH 12 being rerouted many times, each time trying to keep it as a border-to-border highway, hugging the southern borderline.

In 1919 the segment from El Paso, to near Lobo was rerouted to instead go to a proposed New Mexico crossing, due south into Van Horn, via SH 54 and continued to near Valentine, Texas over US 90. From there, the road again was proposed to go around Big Bend, meeting up again with current US 90 in Sanderson, meeting up with its old alignment in Langtry. In the east, the segment between Sinton and Refugio had yet to be built, so SH 12 was rerouted into Corpus Christi via present day Interstate 37, U.S. Route 181 and SH 35 into Rockport, Texas. The road then doublebacked, via SH 188 and FM 136 to Bayside. From here, another proposed road would have met back with US 77 into Victoria. SH 12 then terminated far short of Orange in Rosenburg. Much like other highways at the time, multiple alternate routings have been created using the same number, and SH 12 was no exception. SH 12A ran via present day SH 60 from Wharton to Matagorda.

In 1922 most of the western Texas designations had still not been constructed, and in some cases were not even feasible. A major rerouting using already existing roads in the area took place. The New Mexico border crossing was rerouted to the current U.S. Route 180 crossing. The Rio Grande hugging Big Bend segment was completely abandoned, with SH 12 now using the current US 90 highway from Valentine to Alpine to Sanderson. The road from Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Laredo to Pharr was still proposed, and sections had been built west of Pharr. However, not sure if that road would be built either, a cut-off SH 12A was built from Laredo to Hebbronville which would eventually become SH 359 and SH 44 into Robstown where it met up with the original SH 12. The Aransas Pass to Victoria segment had still not been built as well, and a SH 12B was constructed to bypass this area if it could not be built. From Victoria, SH 12B ran through US 59 to Beeville, Texas, and in the east from Eagle Pass to Pearsall, Texas via U.S. Route 57. The rest of the cut off was only proposed through Oakville, Tilden, and Gardendale. The Matagorda-Wharton segment was renamed SH 12C.

In 1926, U.S. Route 62, US 90, US 83, US 96 and US 77 were overlaid on most of SH 12, but by 1933 SH 12 had lost much of its assignment, being mostly confined to south and southeast Texas. The Eagle Pass-Laredo and Refugio-Rockport segments had never been built. SH 12C was handed over to the new SH 60. SH 12B between Laredo and Oakville was never built. But much of SH 12A survived and was aligned into SH 12. SH 12 at this time followed the SH 12A routing from Laredo to Alice (with a slight deviation to serve San Diego. From Alice, SH 12 followed SH 359 to Skidmore, US 181 to Beeville, and US 59 to Rosenburg.