Texas State Highway 1

For other highways in Texas numbered 1, see Farm to Market Road 1, Texas Loop Highway 1, NASA Road 1, Texas Park Road 1, Ranch Road 1 and Texas Spur Route 1.

State Highway 1 marker

State Highway 1
Texarkana, Dallas, Fort Worth, and El Paso Highway
Route information
Maintained by TxDOT
Length: 837.421 mi[1] (1,347.698 km)
Existed: c.1917[2] – 1952[3]
History: Replaced by US 80 and several other highways in 1939
Designated to short spur route located in Dallas in 1939
Cancelled and redesignated to State Loop 260 in 1952
Major junctions
West end: New Mexico state line, near El Paso
  US 70 in El Paso
US 62 in El Paso
US 90 in Van Horn
US 290
US 385 in Big Spring
US 83 / US 277 in Abilene
US 283 in Cisco
US 377 in Fort Worth
US 81 in Fort Worth
US 67 in Dallas
US 77 in Dallas
US 80 in Dallas
US 271 in Mount Pleasant
US 77
East end: Arkansas state line, in Texarkana
Highway system
SH OSRSH 2

State Highway 1 (SH 1) was a Texas state highway that traveled across the U.S. state of Texas. The highway traveled from Texarkana on the eastern border to El Paso on the western border, via Dallas and Fort Worth, Abilene, and MidlandOdessa. SH 1 was approximately 842 miles (1,355 km) long, and was one of the original 26 Texas state highways, which were designated in 1917.[4] In 1920, the entire length of the highway was designated as part of the Bankhead Highway, a transcontinental Auto trail. In the Texas Department of Transportation's 1939 state highway renumbering, most of SH 1 was redesignated as U.S. Route 80, as well as U.S. Route 287, Texas State Highway 16, and others. Most of these highways were replaced by Interstate 10, Interstate 20, and Interstate 30. The only portion of SH 1 that existed after 1939 was a short spur located in Dallas. Texas State Highway 1 was official cancelled on September 19, 1952. Due to the highway's historic value, a highway can not be designated as Texas State Highway 1 unless by the order of TxDOT Executive Director or by the Transportation Commission.[3]

Texas State Highway 1 had several long spur routes. Most of these were simply numbered as State Highway 1, and were renumbered within a few years. Two of these spurs were separately numbered. They were Texas State Highway 1A, which was a long alternate route of SH 1 that traveled from Abilene to just west of Palo Pinto, and Texas State Highway 1B, which was a short spur located in Dallas that was redesignated as SH 1 in 1939.

Route description

In terms of today's Interstate Highways, the routing of SH 1 is followed by Interstate 10 (I-10) from New Mexico to east of Van Horn, I-20 to west of Fort Worth, and I-30 to Texarkana. The only major difference was between east of Ranger and Weatherford, where SH 1 used what is now designated SH 16 and U.S. Highway 180.

U.S. Route 80 in Dallas in 1965. This was formerly SH 1

History

SH 1 was assigned in 1917 as one of the original 26 state highways. Known as the Texarkana, Dallas, Fort Worth and El Paso Highway, it crossed from Arkansas at Texarkana and ran west through Dallas, Fort Worth, Albany, Abilene, Big Spring and Van Horn to end in El Paso.[5] By 1919, it had been extended northwest from El Paso to the New Mexico border.[6] In February 1920,[7] the whole of SH 1 was included in the transcontinental Bankhead Highway, a marked auto trail.[8][9]

In late 1926, the United States Numbered Highways were assigned. State Highway 1 kept its number, but was also assigned U.S. Highway 80 from New Mexico to Dallas and U.S. Highway 67 from Dallas to Texarkana.[10]

By 1936, US 80 had been moved off SH 1 west of downtown Dallas.[11] While SH 1 angled northeast on Fort Worth Avenue from Cockrell Hill, crossing the Trinity River on the Commerce Street Bridge, US 80 continued east on Davis Street, turning north on Zang Boulevard and over the Houston Street Viaduct. In downtown, US 80 turned east on Commerce Street (State Highway 15), and US 67, which had joined US 80 along Davis Street, turned east on Elm Street (SH 1).[12] (Commerce Street and Elm Street later became a one-way pair.)[13]

In the 1939 general redescription, SH 1 was truncated to only this short piece west from downtown Dallas. It split from US 80 (Davis Street) and ran northeast on Fort Worth Avenue and Commerce Street. Upon entering downtown Dallas, it split into the one-way pair of Commerce and Elm Streets, ending at US 80 (Houston Street).[3][14] In 1952, the route was renumbered to Loop 260 and signed as U.S. Route 80 Business. Loop 260 was removed from the State Highway System and turned over to the City of Dallas in 1991.[15]

Branches

In the original 1917 definition, SH 1 had a split between Abilene and Palo Pinto (west of Mineral Wells). Another split was present between Sulphur Springs and Texarkana, and a branch ran from the northern route at Naples east to State Highway 8 at Douglassville.[5] By 1919, the southern route between Sulphur Springs and Texarkana had become State Highway 1-A, and a new State Highway 1-C ran southeast from SH 1-A at Atlanta to the Louisiana state line. A road from Sulphur Springs northwest to State Highway 34 at Commerce was also a section of SH 1 in 1919, and a branch was added from Texarkana north to the Red River (the Arkansas border). The old route of SH 1 from Sulphur Springs to Greenville became part of State Highway 11. By 1933, SH 1 was rerouted back on the direct route between Sulphur Springs and Greenville. By 1922 the spur to Douglassville was State Highway 1-B, and the piece north from Texarkana was an extension of SH 1-A.[6][16]

The southern route between Abilene and Palo Pinto was improved first.[16] Thus it was designated as part of US 80 in 1926. The north route was designated US 80N (later U.S. Highway 80 Alternate) in 1932,[17][18][19] and by 1926 it was State Highway 1-A.[20] By 1933, SH 1 was rerouted back on the direct route between Sulphur Springs and Greenville. The old route from Sulphur Springs and Commerce[21] became part of SH 11. At the beginning of 1939, US 80 was rerouted onto the direct route between Ranger and Weatherford (formerly State Highway 89[22]), and US 80 Alternate was extended east to Weatherford. The SH 1-A designation was removed in the 1939 general redescription, and US 80A was replaced in 1943 by State Highway 351 and U.S. Highway 180.[23][24]

The other branches, located east of Dallas, were all renumbered by 1926:[25]


Major junctions

CountyLocationmi[1][22]kmDestinationsNotes
El PasoVinton0.0000.000New Mexico state line / US 80Western terminus. Western end of US 80 concurrency
El Paso21.76335.024 US 70 / SH 33Southern terminus of TX 33
23.69538.133 US 62 / SH 130Western terminus of US 62 and TX 130
CulbersonVan Horn141.593227.872 US 90 / SH 3 / SH 54Southern terminus of TX 54, northern terminus of both US 90 and TX 3
Reeves 189.241304.554 US 290 / SH 27Western terminus of TX 27 and US 290
Pecos229.576369.467 SH 17
WardPyote254.372409.372 SH 115Southern terminus of TX 115
Monahans263.922424.741 SH 82
EctorOdessa299.548482.076 SH 137
HowardBig Spring359.041577.820 US 385 / SH 9
MitchellColorado390.185627.942 SH 101Southern terminus of TX 101
NolanRoscoe417.966672.651 SH 7Southern terminus of TX 7
Sweetwater189.241304.554 SH 70
TaylorAbilene466.898751.399 US 83 / US 277 / SH 1A / SH 4 / SH 30Southern terminus of TX 1A
EastlandCisco511.937823.883 US 283 / SH 23
Eastland521.188838.771 SH 67
Palo Pinto 555.454893.917 SH 1AEastern terminus of TX 1A
Mineral Wells576.022927.018 SH 66Southern terminus of TX 66
TarrantFort Worth611.074983.428 US 377 / SH 10Western end of TX 10/US 377 concurrency
623.0461,002.695 US 81 / US 377 / SH 2 / SH 10Eastern end of TX 10/US 377 concurrency
624.6971,005.352 SH 34Northern terminus of TX 34
DallasDallas652.6801,050.387 US 67 / SH 68Northern terminus of TX 68. West end of US 67 concurrency
653.8241,052.228 SH 6
654.4311,053.205 US 75 / US 77 / SH 40Western end of TX 40 concurrency
656.6201,056.727 US 175 / SH 40Eastern end of TX 40 concurrency
659.3721,061.156 US 80 / SH 15Eastern end of US 80 concurrency
Garland668.4401,075.750 SH 114 / SH 78
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Statewide Planning Map (Map). Cartography by Transportation Planning and Programming Division. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  2. Texas State Highway Commission, Office of State Highway Engineer (July 1917). Map Showing Proposed System of State Highways (Map) (June 1917 ed.). 0.75 in=25 mi. Cartography by John D. Miller. Texas State Highway Commission. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Transportation Planning and Programming Division. "State Highway No. 1". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  4. Staff (July 6, 1917). "'Highway Commission Adopts 25 Highways". Commerce Journal.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Texas State Highway Commission, Office of State Highway Engineer (July 1917). Map Showing Proposed System of State Highways (Map) (June 1917 ed.). 0.75 in=25 mi. Cartography by John D. Miller. Texas State Highway Commission. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Texas State Highway Commission (October 1, 1919). Highway Map, State of Texas (Map) (1919 ed.). 1 in=25 mi. Texas State Highway Commission. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  7. Weingroff, Richard F. (May 31, 2012). "Zero Milestone – Washington, D.C.". Highway History. Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  8. Midget Map of the Transcontinental Trails of the United States (Map). Midget. 1923. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  9. Staff. Bankhead Highway in Garland (Texas Historical Marker). Garland, TX: Texas Historical Commission.
  10. United States System of Highways (PDF) (Map). Cartography by American Association of State Highway Officials. Bureau of Public Roads. November 11, 1926. OCLC 32889555. Retrieved May 10, 2008.
  11. Google (April 20, 2012). "Overview map of Former Texas State Highway 1" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  12. General Highway Map: Dallas County, Rockwall County, Texas (Map). Texas State Highway Department. 1936. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  13. General Highway Map: Dallas County, Rockwall County, Texas (Map). Texas State Highway Department. January 1, 1961. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  14. TXDOT Map (Map). Texas Department of Transportation. 1954. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
  15. Transportation Planning and Programming Division. "State Highway Loop No. 260". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  16. 16.0 16.1 Texas State Highway Commission (December 1, 1922). Highway Map of the State of Texas (Map) (1922 ed.). 1 in=20 mi. Texas State Highway Commission. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  17. U.S. Highways: Divided (Split) Routes
  18. Transportation Planning and Programming Division. "U.S. Highway No. 80". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  19. Transportation Planning and Programming Division. "U.S. Highway No. 80-br Alternate". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  20. "1926 map".
  21. "Official Map of the highway system of Texas". https://www.tsl.texas.gov/arc/maps/images/map6188.jpg''.
  22. 22.0 22.1 Map of Texas (Map). Cartography by H.M. Gousha. Conoco. 1938. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
  23. Transportation Planning and Programming Division. "State Highway No. 351". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  24. Transportation Planning and Programming Division. "U.S. Highway No. 180". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  25. Transportation Planning and Programming Division. "State Highway No. 11". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 30, 2012.