Originally called the Inner Loop Freeway, Spur 601 was renamed the “Liberty Expressway” and it connects “Purple Heart Blvd” with the “Patriot Freeway” with an exit at “Constitution Avenue” for good measure. If this all sounds like the freeway system of a fictional city in the G.I. Joe Universe, it may have something to do with the fact that the road runs through the large army base of Fort Bliss and will be used by a lot of active troops. Recent base closures and realignments have meant that the number of personnel based at Fort Bliss has grown considerably. Construction on the first portion of the route began in 2007. A new method of financing called “pass-through” was used here, and it means the DOT can pay for the construction through semi-annual payments instead of entirely up-front.

El Paso’s next big freeway project will sit along Loop 375 along the Rio Grande River, and consists of adding toll lanes. Bidding for the project started last month. All of El Paso’s future large road projects, like almost all in Texas, are going to be tolled with the exception of those used primarily for the military.

The newspaper was replete with graphic and map, while the local news had stories from confused locals – who were unable to ascertain how to use the newfangled contraption. Plano is also getting the state’s first SPUI, now under construction.

A pair of Mexican eagles, not too far across the Rio Grande in Texas.

Odd duck of an interstate shield. Several of these are found in Laredo.

US-77 is the Texas Tropical Trail.

An abandoned gas station in Brownsville.

Getting close to the end of 77 and 83.

4 is the southernmost route in Texas.

Here is the last possible place to turn around.

Business 77 heads back through downtown Brownsville.

The only business 281 marker. Business 281 is multiplexed with business 77 all the way down to the junction with 77 and 83 at the Mexican border, but it is only signed this one time.

We head out of town on US-281, and soon we come across this old Spanish church.

One of two business farm-to-market roads in Texas. The other one is in Houston, near the airport.

For its first few miles, US-281 is signed east-west.

The sky begins to clear a small bit as we head inland. We’re now on the US-83 expressway.

This old 83 alignment is only about a mile from Mexico.

It looks like someone’s already made a bit of an attempt to steal the devil’s mile marker.

Another old alignment; this one quite close to Laredo. It was bypassed very recently – note the modern-style guardrail. The new four-lane expressway can be seen to the left.

The very first I-35 sign, just north of the Rio Grande bridge in Laredo. US-59 begins here as well.

Business loop 35 is old US-81, and that splits off from US-83 here.

One of the oldest interstate shields in Texas. Early 1970s. This one is on the old old US-81, which starts at the very first 1920s Rio Grande Bridge, and heads towards downtown, rejoining the current business loop.

This one is newer, but only by a few years. There should definitely be a “TO” somewhere on this gantry.

A horribly blurry photo of the ramp connecting the first bridge to old US-81 (business loop 35). Business loop 35 – the viaduct in the distance – now goes down the middle bridge, which is off to the right. The 1930s bridge is now for pedestrian use only.

Indeed, business loop 35 is not a loop: it ends at the Mexico border, and is therefore a business spur.

State-named shields are not difficult to find in Laredo. This is the first northbound one on the mainline.

Despite what Google Maps says, Farm Road 1472 does not go all the way to Eagle Pass. This is the first thing to watch out for in Texas: they are not market-to-market roads! Most farm-to-market roads peter out somewhere in the sticks.

Back we go to I-35, where we find one of the last button copy signs in Texas.

The toll road shield comes in two different color schemes.

Here is a white variant that I have not seen elsewhere.

Somebody forgot a space.

State-named shields on one of the business loops.

Odd choice of control city, as this is the Pearsall business loop. Technically, yes, it is a way to get to San Antonio, but staying on the freeway would be the better choice here.

A rare mention of US-81.

Texas commonly uses this shield shape only on green guide signs, but here is a stand-alone example.

The very last US-57 reassurance marker, at the junction with I-35. Its other end is at Eagle Pass, and it is almost due east-west. It is signed as 57 because it continues Mexico Federal Route 57 – it is signed north-south because Mexico 57 is actually a north-south route.

The sun has set on us.

I don’t remember which junction this is, but it is on I-35 northbound in San Antonio.

Quintana Road. This is a long exposure, with the city lights of San Antonio in the background. This may very well be the first US-81, before the more direct New Laredo Highway was built. It parallels the railroad tracks directly.

City lights, and an airplane landing.

Old railing on Somerset Road, which is another former state highway.

Found this one at the very first exit I looked at.

I have no idea how permanent these are.

Appropriate orientation for this sign.

And one final route to finish things off.

One of the oldest signs in Texas. Mid-70s or so. How it has survived, I will never know.

Austin, which is where I flew into. The newer Texas Toll Road shields have Clearview for the number – here is one that mercifully does not.

Texas has quite a few business loop 35s.

Texas unfortunately neuters their business loop shields on occasion, too.

Not a very good excuse for a Ranch to Market shield.

Accurate sign.

Do not attempt to cross the old bridge in Waco.

Texas likes its one-piece business route shields.

Heading out of Waco on an old alignment of US-77.

Old US-77 turns into a dirt road to serve a few farms.

Somewhere in a construction zone near the split into 35E and 35W.

This temporary assembly, featuring state-named 35E and 35W shields, is long gone.

Back down to highway 84.

Park Road shields resemble those for state routes and loop roads.

San Antonio. We now take I-37 from beginning to end.

A Valero refinery near Three Rivers.

In George West. (There is no George East.)

Just about the very last I-37 green sign.

Yes, I-37 ends at a traffic signal.

Quite a few of these left in the Corpus Christi area.

The newest section of SH 161 to open is about 5 miles long and stretches south from SH 183 in Irving and ends spitting distance from Interstate 30. The new toll road provides a direct link from Dallas’ wealthy northern suburbs to the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, just west on I-30. This new stretch of roadway opened during the first week of August, 2009 – but all lanes opened a few weeks ago.

The road is 6 lanes of very bright concrete, and has very little traffic, as evidenced by the photos above. The first looks south from SH 183, and the second shows the current end just north of I-30.

The Texas Archive of the Moving Image can be found here.

if you’re wondering, the 10000th one is in this set of photos, from the 1967 50th Anniversary edition of Texas Highways magazine.

Cadillacs in the mist. The world-famous Cadillac Ranch, just east of Amarillo.

I don’t remember which business loop this is (Vega? Adrian?) but it was still dark, and below freezing.

Well-made replicas of old signs – though the National Old Trails Road didn’t actually go through here. US-66 joins up with the older road only around Santa Rosa, New Mexico, and follows it west. [Kevin photo.]

Nonetheless, we are at the midpoint of US-66, in Adrian.

And this is the closest we will get to the inside of the Midpoint Cafe, as we got there well before it opened for business.

Texas interstate shields are getting surprisingly hard to find. Here is one on mainline I-40 that neither of us got the photo of, for obvious reasons. Here’s Kevin’s attempt.

Here is one in downtown Vega on the business loop. C means the third business loop in Texas – A is Glenrio, B is Adrian.

Signs from 1989 are plenty hard to find in Texas!

Still in Vega. Still on Business Loop 40C. The 40D shield is a mistake.

Ominous fog on 66 eastbound.

Kevin makes a startling discovery.

27s are a bit easier to find than 40s.

This is how Amarillo signs route 66.

Courtesy of Stanley Marsh – the eccentric billionaire behind the Cadillac Ranch – come these diamond signs all over Amarillo. Apparently there are over 200, scattered everywhere, with all sorts of messages. This one is on the main business loop and has quite the ominous warning. [Kevin photo.]

Heading out of town, we find this railroad electric box, which dates back to when Business Loop 40 was actually signed as real live US-66! [Kevin photo.]

A nice set of older signs in Groom.

A restored gas station in McLean, with a vehicle not quite awesome enough to be a classic.

Details about the Phillips 66 station. [Kevin photo.]

An abandoned gantry that was originally sized for 20″ (1950s) shields! Alas, there are no Texas US 66 cutouts left here.

This Conoco station is in Shamrock.

This gas station has seen better days. [Kevin photo.]

And here’s where we realize that Kevin has to catch a plane, so we hightail it back to Amarillo. [Kevin photo.]

We’re back in Amarillo, which is where this rest area and information center is.

Now I get to drive home, taking US-385 north from Vega.

Sunset, somewhere over the Texas plains.

One last Clearview sign, just before the New Mexico border.

Something’s not quite right with this sign! It should be west US-64 and north US-87.

And that’s all for this trip. Don’t know yet what I’ll post next – maybe Scott N’s long-awaited Oklahoma and Texas photos?

Same starting point – sunny Union County – this time even earlier in the dawn.

Button copy in New Mexico is very hard to find. This example, on old US-66, might be the only one left in the state.

What do we have here? Classic state-named US shields … put up sometime between September and November of 2009! In Santa Rosa, on I-40, about ten signs eastbound have the old-style shields.

One more from sunrise.

At this point we figure the reason we got up so early was to hit the road. We’re on US-64/87 on the way to Raton.

Hard-to-find brown destination guide sign. We are going to all of those places, as they are all on US highway 64.

An old hangar just outside of Raton. It’s been repainted several times, and it looks like all the layers of whitewash have come off, revealing just a lot of lines of text on top of each other: Continental Air Lines, the Civil Air Patrol, and you are invited to decipher the rest. Oh, note to self, take an evening shot of this hangar sometime.

View of US highway 64 just past the old hangar.

The Santa Fe Trail split into two branches at Raton, each offering an alternative across the mountains. This is the western branch crossing modern US-64. The eastern branch follows US-85 between Raton and Santa Fe. (There is an even further east branch, that splits off in the middle of Kansas, at the junction of modern US-56 and US-160, and follows modern US-56 all the way to US-85.)

Lots of classic US route shields still easily found in New Mexico. The two toughest ones to find are US-80 and US-85, as one is officially decommissioned, and the other is hidden under I-25, but I believe there is one surviving example of each.

Highway 64 heading towards Taos.

Ominous clouds over Angel Fire. 9100 feet elevation.

Somewhere along state highway 68.

Route 68 follows the Rio Grande.

Fall comes to New Mexico.

We are at the junction of US-84 and state highway 68. (Click for large version on which you can actually see things!)

One of many brightly painted underpasses serving US-285 just south of Santa Fe.

“Relief Route” is the fancy way of saying “bypass” in New Mexico.

Not just a cutout, but a cutout with a purple trailblazer arrow! Several of these signs are found on US-285 in the Santa Fe area.

Extra-large banner? No, extra-small shield. 18×18 inch interstate markers were specified only in the original 1957 signing manual, and were not used by 1961… except New Mexico likes them for some reason.

Speaking of old standards, this shield dates back to about 2002, but has the original 1957 layout, as opposed to the more modern 1970 style that is much more prevalent in New Mexico.

Highway 14 is the Turquoise Trail, heading from Santa Fe to interstate 40 (and US highway 66, finally!) just east of Albuquerque. Alas, we did not find any of the classic Turquoise Trail signs, that were likely last posted in the 1970s.

The closest we get is this small rectangular brown sign. [Kevin photo.]

Another classic interstate shield. This one is on route 66, on the Edgewood business loop. Like the I-25 above, this sign is not particularly old.

More from Santa Rosa – the route number for which it makes the most sense to have the old layout.

They omitted the crossbar on two of the three 84 signs.

The final 84 sign has the crossbar.

A surviving US-54 sign on a road that is no longer US-54.

The newly designated Business Loop 54 comes in a couple blocks to the east of the old 54 alignment in Tucumcari.

The Blue Swallow Motel, on US-66 in Tucumcari.

And just on the other side of the street. [Kevin photo.]

An actually old I-40 marker.

We stop for the night in Texas, the land of much Clearview.