| U.S. Route 79 | |
|---|---|
| Route information | |
| Length: | 855 mi[1] (1,376 km) |
| Existed: | 1935[1] – present |
| Major junctions | |
| South end: | I-35 in Round Rock, TX |
|
I-45 in Buffalo, TX |
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| North end: | US 68 / KY 80 in Russellville, KY |
| Highway system | |
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United States Numbered Highways |
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U.S. Route 79 is a north–south United States highway. The route is a northeast-southwest diagonal, with both east–west segments and north–south segments equally mixed. The highway's northern terminus is in Russellville, Kentucky, at an intersection with U.S. Highway 68 and KY 80. Its southern terminus is in Round Rock, Texas, at an intersection with Interstate 35, ten miles (16 km) north of Austin.[2]
US 79, US 68, and Interstate 24/US 62 are the primary east–west access points for the Land Between the Lakes recreation area straddling the Kentucky/Tennessee border.
Contents |
US 79 begins at Interstate 35's Exit #253 north of Austin in Round Rock. The route travels eastward through Taylor and Rockdale, where it intersects US 77. In Milano, US 79 turns to the northeast and begins a concurrency with US 190 until Hearne, Texas. The route continues through Franklin and Jewett before reaching Buffalo, where it intersects Interstate 45 at its Exit #178. US 79 has a brief duplex with US 84 that begins near Oakwood and continues through Palestine before separating; here US 79 also intersects US 287. The route continues to the northeast through Jacksonville, where it has a junction with US 69, and Henderson, where it crosses US 259. The highway then travels due east to Carthage, where it meets US 59, before resuming a northeasterly direction and crossing into Louisiana near Panola.
US 79 joins US 80 near Greenwood, and the two routes are cosigned through Shreveport. US 79/80 cross the Red River over the Texas Street Bridge and continue into Bossier City. The routes parallel Interstate 20 through the old Bossier City Entertainment District until Minden, where the two routes separate: US 80 continues eastward, while US 79 turns to the northeast toward Homer. In Homer, the route resumes a more northerly direction, traveling through Haynesville before crossing the Arkansas border about 7 miles (11 km) south of Emerson, Arkansas.
U.S. 79 continues northward from Louisiana into Magnolia, where it has a brief concurrency with U.S. 82 through the city. From here, the route turns to the northeast, through Camden, where it intersects U.S. 278, and Fordyce, in which it has a brief concurrency with U.S. 167. East of Kingsland, the highway travels in a more northerly direction as it prepares to enter the Pine Bluff metropolitan area. In Pine Bluff, U.S. 79 joins the Interstate 530 freeway, while a business route continues through downtown. After the freeway ends, U.S. 79 and U.S. 63, with which it is cosigned, leave the city toward the north. The two routes stay joined until Stuttgart. U.S. 79 continues to the east and northeast, through Marianna and Hughes, before turning due north to an intersection with Interstate 40 near Jennette. U.S. 79 joins I-40 and the two routes stay cosigned through the concurrency with Interstate 55 in West Memphis, before U.S. 79 joins I-55 to cross the Mississippi River at the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge into Memphis.
Wilma Rudolph Boulevard is the name given to the portion of U. S. Route 79 in Clarksville, Tennessee between the Interstate 24 exit 4 in Clarksville to the Red River (Lynnwood-Tarpley) bridge near the Kraft Street intersection. This section of Highway 79 in Clarksville was previously called the Guthrie Highway, for nearby Guthrie, Kentucky, but in 1994, the name was changed to honor Wilma Rudolph, an olympic runner from Clarksville, who won three gold medals in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, the Summer Olympics.[3]
Between Clarksville, TN and Dover, TN the road is known as "Dover Road".
While US 79 ends at the US 68 / KY 80 duplex in Russellville, Kentucky, it currently does not touch KY 79, whose southern terminus is at Russellville. That highway extends northward to the Ohio River, into Indiana. It is unknown at present if KY 79 was meant to be a northern extension of US 79.
Until 1944, US 79's northern terminus was in West Memphis, Arkansas. Even then, the route was diagonal enough that it could have been numbered odd or even. Until 1991, US 79's southern terminus was in Austin, Texas.
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Main U.S. Routes |
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | |
| 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | |
| 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 |
| 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 87 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | ||
| 101 | 163 | 400 | 412 | 425 | |||||||||||||||
| Lists | U.S. Routes • Bannered • Divided • Bypassed | ||||||||||||||||||
| Browse numbered routes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ← SH 78 | TX | SH 79 → | ||
| ← LA 78 | LA | US 80 → | ||
| ← Hwy. 78 | AR | Hwy. 80 → | ||
| ← SR-78 | TN | SR-79 → | ||
| ← KY 78 | KY | KY 79 → | ||