Texas State Highway 6

State Highway 6
Length:	476.4 mi[1] (766.7 km)
Formed:	1939[1]
South end:	I-45 / SH 146 in La Marque
Major junctions:	I-10 in Houston I-35 in Waco I-20 in Eastland
North end:	SH-6 north of Quanah
Highways in Texas < SH 5 SH 7 > < SH 156 SH 157 SH 158 >

State Highway 6. or SH 6, runs from the Red River, the Texas-Oklahoma boundary, to northwest of Galveston. In the Houston area, it runs north to FM 1960/CyFair then northwest along US Highway 290 to Hempstead and south to Westheimer Road and Addicks and is known as Addicks Satsuma Road. In the Bryan/College Station area it is known as the Earl Rudder Freeway. In Hearne, it is known as Market Street. Highway 6 is not a freeway in the strict sense. It relies on traffic lights, rather than overpasses, at almost all intersections.

In 1997, the Texas Legislature designated SH 6 as the Texas Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway.^[2]

Route history

Historic routes

State Highway 6 was one of the original twenty six state highways proposed in 1917, overlaid on top of the King of Trails Highway. From 1919 the routing mostly followed present day U.S. Highway 75 from Oklahoma to Dallas, the U.S. Highway 77 to Waco.

Current routes

In 1926, SH 6 was extended along the eastern Gulf Division branch of State Highway 2 in order to keep SH 2 from having two separate highways with the same number. US 75 and US 77 were overlaid on northern SH 6 from Waco northward through the Dallas area to Denison. While the routes were marked concurrently, the concurrent SH 6 kept its numbering until 1939, when SH 6 was truncated to the Gulf Division routing ending at Waco. In 1945 the roadway was extended northwest to Breckenridge over SH 67 and continuing northwest to near Throckmorton along SH 157, which was decommissioned. Also in 1945, the section in southeast Texas between Hempstead and Sugarland was cancelled for unknown reasons, and transferred to Farm to Market Road 359. In 1952 the route was truncated on the north side, ending at Breckenridge. This section was transferred to U.S. Highway 183. In 1968, the section between Hempstead and Sugarland was reestablished, as it was routed along U.S. Highway 290 until it reached Farm to Market Road 1960, then replacing FM 1960 southward to where the southern branch of SH 6 intersected with U.S. Highway 59 in Sugarland. In the early 1970s, the northern section underwent a massive rerouting due to realignments of numerous U.S. and state Routes. In 1971 the section from Breckenridge south to Eastland was redesignated at State Highway 69. It was instead rerouted west along U.S. Highway 80 to Cisco, then replaced U.S. Highway 380 northwest to near Old Glory. The route was again extended in 1975, replacing State Highway 283 between Old Glory and Stamford northward to the Texas/Oklahoma border, completing the current routing of SH 6. ^[3]

Business routes

SH 6 has three business routes.

Business State Highway 6-N (formerly Loop 23) is a Business Loop that runs from SH 6 near Marlin in central Texas. The road was bypassed in 1978 by SH 6 and designated Loop 23. The road was redesignated at Business SH 6-N in 1991.^[4][5]

Business State Highway 6-R (formerly Loop 507) is a business loop that runs through Bryan and College Station. The route runs on Texas Avenue in both cities. The route was created in 1972 when SH 6 was routed further north and east. The route is 12.5 miles (20.1 km) long.^[6]

Business State Highway 6-S (formerly Loop 508) is a business loop that runs through Navasota. This route runs on La Salle Avenue. The route was created in 1972 when SH 6 was rerouted further north and east around town. The route is 6.3 miles (10.1 km).^[7]

Route Description

SH 6 begins at an intersection with Interstate 45 and SH 3 in Bayou Vista, Texas and proceeds to the northwest, paralleling the ATSF railroad tracks. The highway makes a mostly straight line through Galveston, Brazoria, and Fort Bend Counties, passing through the city of Alvin. As the highway reaches Sugar Land, it makes a turn to the north after passing intersections with US Route 59 and Alternate US Route 90. The highway continues north into western Harris County, reaching the Westpark Tollway and Interstate 10. It then reaches an intersection with US Route 290 in CyFair, joining it as it travels again to the northwest, and finishing a large routing around the southern and western portions of Houston. The route continues northwest with US 290 on a limited access highway. At Hockley the highway veers to the right, forking from an old alignment of the highway, and bypassing the cities of Waller and Hempstead to the north. At Hempstead, it splits from US 290 and turn northward into Grimes County, where it does a bypass around the city of Navasota, while Business SH 6 passes through town. The highway then turns northwest again, crossing into Brazos County. As of 2009, construction of new freeway lanes are almost complete between the end of the existing freeway at FM 159 and Business SH 6 on the north side of Navasota Bypass making the entire trek from the Grimes/Brazos County line to the Brazos/Robertson County line a complete freeway. The highway starts another bypass here, going around the Bryan/College Station area to the northeast, while another business routing goes through these cities. On the northeast side of Bryan, the highway intersects US Route 190, which travel together to the northwest out of the region. SH 6 splits with US 190 in the town of Hearne, but then travels briefly with US Route 79 before that route splits a couple miles north of there. As of 2008, SH 6 was under reconstruction making the road 4 lane from Hearne to the end of the 4 lane highway just south of Marlin including a bypass around Reagan and a proposed bypass for Calvert. SH 6 then continues northwest, traveling through lesser populated farmlands, before approaching Waco. Before entering Waco, it turns southeast on State Loop 340, and bypasses Waco to the south. It reaches an intersection with Interstate 35 and then turns to the northwest again, crossing over Lake Waco. The highway continues northwest and west through more farmland regions in central Texas, before reaching an intersection with Interstate 20 just south of Eastland. The route briefly turns west, traveling along the old route of US Route 80, before turning back to the northwest at Cisco. As it continues, it is briefly concurrent with US Route 180 and 277 in north central Texas. Just northwest of Stamford, the highway makes its final turn to the north at an intersection with SH 283. The highway then travels through sparsely populated areas of Haskell, Knox, Foard, and Hardeman Counties before ending north of Quanah at the Red River at an intersection with Oklahoma State Highway 6.

Junction List

County	Location	Mile[8]	Junction	Notes
Galveston	Bayou Vista	0.0	I-45 / SH 146
	Hitchcock	4.9	FM 519 (Main Street)
		5.8	FM 2004
	Santa Fe	9.1	FM 646 (Main Street)
		9.7	FM 646 (Avenue M)
	Arcadia	11.1	FM 1764
Brazoria	Alvin	18.7	SH 35 (Alvin Bypass)
		19.8	Bus. 35-C (Gordon Street)
	Manvel	27.0	FM 1128 (Masters Road)
		29.8	SH 288
Fort Bend	Arcola	33.9	FM 521
		37.0	Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road
	Missouri City	41.6	FM 1092
	Sugar Land	45.7	US 59 (Southwest Freeway)
		47.8	US 90 Alt.
Harris		54.3	Westpark Tollway
		56.3	FM 1093 (Westheimer Road)
		59.7	I-10 (Katy Freeway) – San Antonio, Houston
		66.3	FM 529 (Tarpon Drive)
		69.6	US 290 east (Northwest Freeway) / FM 1960	South end of US 290 concurrency, begin freeway
		70.5	Hempstead Road, Huffmeister Road
		72.1	Telge Road
		73.9	Barker-Cypress Road
		75.7	Skinner Road, Spring-Cypress Road
		76.1	US 290 Bus. / Spring-Cypress Road / Cypress-Rosehill Road	No southbound exit
		77.2	Mueschke Road
		78.8	Mason Road
		81.4	Bauer Road
		82.6	Becker Road
		83.7	Roberts Road, Katy Hockley Road
		84.8	Badtke Road
		85.7	Hegar Road
		86.7	Kermier Road
		87.9	Kickapoo Road
		89.1	Binford Road
		90.2	FM 2920 – Waller, Tomball
		91.1	Field Store Road
Waller		91.9	FM 362
		93.9	James Muse Parkway
		95.3	FM 1098 – Prairie View
		96.7	Liendo Parkway
		98.8	FM 359 – Brookshire
		99.4	FM 1488 – Hempstead, Magnolia
		101	US 290 west – Austin	North end of US 290 concurrency, end freeway
		105	FM 1736
		107	FM 2979
Grimes		112	FM 2
		114	FM 1227
		115	FM 2988
		117	Bus. 6-S
		120	SH 105	Begin freeway
		121	SH 90
		122	FM 3090
		123	Bus. 6-S
Brazos		126	FM 2154
		132	FM 159
			SH 40 (William D. Fitch Parkway)  – Texas World Speedway	Begin freeway
			Rock Prairie Road
			Bus. 6-R (Texas Avenue)
			FM 2818 (Harvey Mitchell Parkway) / Emerald Parkway
			Southwest Parkway, Raintree Drive
			SH 30 (Harvey Road) – Huntsville
			FM 60 (University Drive)  – Texas A&M University
			FM 1179 (Briarcrest Drive)  – Brazos Center
			FM 158 (William J Bryan Parkway/Boonville Road)
			Martin Luther King Jr Street, Old Reliance Road
			US 190 east / SH 21 – Caldwell, Madisonville	South end of US 190 concurrency
			FM 974 (Tabor Road)
			Woodville Road
			Bus. 6-R (Texas Avenue)
			FM 2818
			SH OSR (County Line Road)	End freeway
Robertson
			FM 2549
			US 79 south / US 190 west / FM 391 (Brown Street) – Milano	North end of US 190 concurrency, south end of US 79 concurrency
			FM 485
			US 79 north – Franklin, Buffalo	North end of US 79 concurrency
			FM 1644 (Texas Street)
			FM 1644 (Hanna Street)
			FM 979 (Browning Street)
			FM 2159
			SH 14
			FM 1373
Falls			FM 46
			FM 1373
			FM 413
			Bus. 6-N
			SH 7
			FM 147 (McClanahan Road) – Groesbeck
			Bus. 6-N
			FM 2307
			FM 1240
McLennan			FM 1860
			SH 164 – Mart
			FM 3222
			FM 1860
			Loop 340 / Loop 484	South end of Loop 340 concurrency
			FM 434
			FM 3400 (University Parks Drive)
			US 77 (Robinson Drive) – Waco, Cameron
			I-35 – Waco	Begin freeway
			FM 3476 (Bagby Avenue)
			Beverly Drive
			FM 3223 (Imperial Drive)
			US 84 (Waco Drive) / Spur 298 (Franklin Avenue)	North end of Loop 340 concurrency
			Sanger Avenue
			Loop 396 (Bosque Boulevard)
			Spur 412 (McLauglin Road)	End freeway
			FM 185
Bosque			SH 317 (7th Street)
			FM 56 (4th Street)
			FM 217
			FM 854
			FM 2602
			FM 219 (5th Street)
			FM 3220
			FM 2136
			SH 22 (Morgan Street)
			FM 1238
Hamilton			SH 220
			US 281 south	South end of US 281 concurrency
Erath			US 281 north	North end of US 281 concurrency
			FM 914
			FM 847
			FM 219	South end of FM 219 concurrency
			US 67 (Patrick Street) / US 377 / FM 219	North end of FM 219 concurrency
Comanche			FM 1496
			SH 16 south (Texas Street)	South end of SH 16 concurrency
			SH 16 north	North end of SH 16 concurrency
Eastland			FM 2921
			FM 8 (Kent Street/Fisher Street)
			FM 8
			Loop 389 (Coal Street)
			Loop 389 (Main Street) / FM 2526
			FM 2563
			I-20
			SH 112 (Main Street/Seaman Street)
			FM 3101
			Spur 490
			US 183 south (Conrad Hilton Boulevard) / SH 206 (8th Street)	South end of US 183 concurrency
			US 183 north (6th Street)	North end of US 183 concurrency
			FM 1853
Callahan			FM 880
Shackelford			FM 2921
			FM 2408
			FM 576 (Post Oak Street)
			FM 2312
			FM 601
			US 180 east / US 283 north (Main Street)	South end of US 180 / US 283 concurrency
			US 283 south	North end of US 283 concurrency
			SH 351
			US 180 west	North end of US 180 concurrency
			FM 142
Jones			FM 1597
			FM 600	South end of FM 600 concurrency
			FM 600 / FM 1636	North end of FM 600 concurrency
			FM 704
			FM 2702
			FM 142
			US 277 Bus. / FM 1226	South end of US 277 Bus. concurrency
Haskell			US 277 / SH 283 (Texas Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway)	North end of US 277 Bus. concurrency, south end of SH 283 concurrency
			SH 283	North end of SH 283 concurrency
			FM 1661
			FM 1225
			US 380 (5th Street)
			FM 2407
			FM 617 (Carothers Avenue)
			FM 2229 (9th Street)
Knox			SH 222 (Main Street)
			FM 1292
			FM 2534
			US 82 / SH 114 (Hays Street)
			FM 1756	South end of FM 1756 concurrency
			FM 1756 (Main Street)	North end of FM 1756 concurrency
Foard			FM 263
			FM 1594
			FM 2003
			FM 98
			US 70 (Commerce Street)
			FM 3103
Hardeman			PR 62
			FM 2568
			FM 104 (16th Street)
			US 287 (11th Street)
			Spur 133 (3rd Street)
			Spur 133 (Nelson Street)
			FM 2533
			FM 1166
			SH-6

References