List of unused highways in Texas

An unused highway may reference a highway or highway ramp that was partially or fully constructed but was unused^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} or later closed.^[10][11][12] An unused ramp can be referred to as a stub ramp,^[13] stub street,^[2][14][15] stub-out,^[2] or simply stub.^[16][17] The following is a list:

Texas

Houston

• Although the Crosby Freeway was planned to extend from the junction of the Baytown East Freeway (I-10) and the East Loop (I-610) to its current terminus in Crosby, the roadway originally terminated near the E. Sam Houston N. Parkway. Traffic was forced to exit, with a long strip of unused roadway extending across the parkway. There were ramp stubs for the terminus of the proposed extension at the I-10/I-610 junction ramps. In 2006, TxDOT contracted for the construction of the extension. The extension opened in February, 2011. However, there are two areas on the new extension that have only frontage roads, leaving stubs for future mainlanes. See and for an overhead view.

• East of the University of Houston campus, the Alvin Freeway (currently signed as Spur 5) ends in a freeway stub north of University Drive, with frontage roads continuing to an intersection with Old Spanish Trail. There are frontage road stubs on the south side of the intersection. The freeway has stubbed ramps for an interchange with Elgin St. Originally planned and funded in the 1960s, only an elevated section concurrent with the Gulf Freeway and the Spur 5 section have been completed. The remainder of the corridor is under study.^[18] See for an overhead view.

• The South Freeway (SH 288) was designed to have express lanes in what is currently a grass median strip.^[19] There is a freeway stub at the northern terminus at US 59, with the design appearing to direct the unbuilt express lanes to Interstate 45 and the current lanes to US 59. The express lanes would end at the interchange with the South Loop, where stubs also exist on the mainline and on ramps. A feasibility study of the entire SH 288 corridor has concluded, with a recommendation to add two managed lanes in each direction, but there are no active plans to develop this section of the median.^[20] The freeway also has stub ramps at Old Spanish Trail and Yellowstone Boulevard; had they been completed, the ramps would have provided separate access to both roads, where currently they are both served with a single set of ramps. Viewable at .

• State Highway 225 was originally planned to continue as a freeway from its current terminus just west of the Interstate 610 Loop into downtown. The roadway was to be known as the Harrisburg Freeway. Due to neighborhood opposition and lack of funding, it did not progress past the planning stages and was deleted from the city's master freeway plan in 1992. When the interchange between the Loop and the La Porte freeway (SH 225 to the east of the Loop) was constructed in 1974, the freeway section of SH 225 continued a short distance inside the loop, with frontage roads and a cleared right-of-way extending to Lawndale Street, in anticipation of the extension to downtown.^[21] Viewable at .

• On the south side of the city, along Beltway 8, there are numerous "future" exit ramps leading to the frontage road. Some were initially constructed without traffic signals, such as "Future Kirby Drive," which has had traffic signals since 2008. Some haven't even been constructed at all, with the Beltway's overpass somewhat serving as a U-Turn. There isn't even evidence at one exit that anything is under construction, with scrubland bordering the frontage road.

• Near the Goodyear Tire plant is a pair of bridges no longer in use and barricaded off. The bridges crossed over Sims Bayou in the southeastern part of the city and was a connection between Park Place Boulevard and Goodyear (West) Drive. The longer of the bridges appears to be considerably newer than the shorter.^[22]

• On the west side, the Eldridge Parkway was widened and realigned immediately north of Interstate 10, leaving cleared right-of-way and old pavement.^[23]

• Near downtown, a Preston Street formerly passed under a railroad. The Harrisburg Boulevard underpass nearby became the preferred road and the Preston Street underpass was filled in.^[24]

• Also near downtown, possible Elysian street exit stub out on U.S. 59 or maybe even a link to a future extension of the Hardy Toll Road.

Irving

• Where State Highway 161 meets State Highway 183, near DFW, were stubs of mainline highway and ramps around the interchange. State Highway 161 extends to Interstate 20 as a frontage road (without main freeway lanes) and is being upgraded to a freeway, which currently reaches just north of Interstate 30. Right of way clearing extends south of I-20 to Lake Ridge Parkway.

Baytown

• Where Texas State Highway 146, formerly Loop 201, meets Crosby-Cedar Bayou Road in Baytown, is a stub of mainline highway and a short section of median grass that indicates a freeway was to have been built there. It includes one intersection with u-turns already in place. There is another stub a short ways down the road at the intersection of SH 146 and Kindleberger Street. There is no known date for this freeway section to be built.

Roanoke

• The mainline of the freeway section of State Highway 114 ends in two stubs and traffic is diverted onto the frontage roads at its interchange with State Highway 170. Both highways have enough space in between them to extend the freeway within each set of roadway. Stubs on the mainline west of the interchange , along with the spacing and eastern stubs suggest a more complex interchange in the future and for both freeways run in the middle of each set of roadway toward I-35W.

Arlington

• Watson Road south of East Sublett Road and Camp Wisdom Road was originally intended to be a frontage road adjacent to the freeway portion of State Highway 360 but currently carries the state designation south to U.S. Route 287. There are plans to upgrade the route to a freeway inside the space in between the current road and have it be a toll road.^[25] The wide median of U.S. 287 near where State Highway 360 ends hint at a larger interchange.

San Antonio

• Interstate 35 interchange with Spur 422 was formerly a high-speed interchange with left exits and sharp curves. This interchange was rebuilt, though vestiges of the former configuration are still present. For example, the eastbound-to-northbound and westbound-to-southbound left exits still have grading visible and the eastbound direction has a bridge that the former flyunder used to head southbound. A pavement stub can be seen at the south end of the interchange where the old west-to-south ramp was. All left exits have been eliminated and the existing conventional right exits (further back from this interchange) now serve the formers' purpose. The ramps now exit to controlled intersections as well.

Fort Worth

• Interstate 30 was realigned downtown slightly south of its former alignment along Lancaster Avenue.^[26] This allowed the four-lane interstate to become upwards of eight lanes and eliminated a left exit. The overhead view shows a wide right-of-way along Lancaster.

Austin

• The Interstate 35 interchange with East 51st Street has two ramps connecting to nearby Cameron Road that are closed to traffic. One previously allowed more direct access from southbound Cameron Road to westbound 51st Street, and the other is a loop ramp that allowed access from southbound Cameron Road to southbound I-35. These ramps were blocked off in the late 1990s but only a portion of the loop ramp was removed.

• Never built Riverside Freeway in Austin, one wide section remains, showing the last vestige of a cancelled route -

Wichita Falls

Never built section of Kell Freeway in Wichita Falls just to the east of 287.

Pasadena

Washburn Tunnel unknown stub in Pasadena, Texas.

Devers

Unknown use stub on U.S. 90 between Devers and Nome, possibly widening the highway in the future.

Elsewhere

A ramp at the interchange between Interstate 10 and Interstate 20 near Kent which connected I-10 westbound to I-10 eastbound in order to provide access from I-20 westbound to I-10 eastbound was abandoned when a newer ramp with the same function was built immediately to the west.

U.S. 287 in north Texas has at least five stub-outs along its length between Fort Worth and Vernon. These are: - between Rhome and Decatur - just north of Alvord - between Iowa Park and Electra - just east of Harrold - just west of Harrold Apparently plans were to upgrade U.S. 287 to a full four-lane freeway for much of the way between Fort Worth and Vernon, but either due to lack of traffic or lack of funding, most of the road is either a four-lane divided highway, expressway or small section of controlled access freeway. There is no date or information if these stub outs will ever be built out. There was even talk at one time of upgrading 287 to "Interstate 32" from Fort Worth to Amarillo and possibly on to Denver, Colorado.

See also

• List of ghost towns in Texas

References