I-44's Extension into Texas via the substandard H.E. Bailey Turnpike

[kphoger]

Talk about a narrow median? Kanawha Boulevard in Charleston, W. Va. says hello.

Designate that as an Interstate, and then we'll talk.

[Plutonic Panda]

Interesting but several sources support Wichita Falls being the main factor, a ~97,000 population in 1960 with no Interstate highway service.

Cite them, then.

Seems like a pretty decent state to me.

Well, yeah, it seems pretty decent because you don't have to live there.

I think it's decent. But then again, I'm not everyone.

It's OK

[Plutonic Panda]

You are in a real roads thread -- not in Off Topic -- the standards are much higher.

Overruled; observation is relevant to establish credibility.

And here, I was getting excited that maybe News broke about I 44 getting extended to I 20. Given the amount of replies a new post I should've known beltway was somehow involved.

[Plutonic Panda]

Sorry about my messed up quote I don't know how to fix it. I've been playing around with it trying to fix it and I'm not sure how to do it.

[Scott5114]

Sorry about my messed up quote I don't know how to fix it. I've been playing around with it trying to fix it and I'm not sure how to do it.

Fixed. The trick to them is that every quote tag needs to have a corresponding /quote tag—if there's a mismatch then what happened to you is what happens.

[kphoger]

And here, I was getting excited that maybe News broke about I 44 getting extended to I 20. Given the amount of replies a new post I should've known beltway was somehow involved.

Actually, this is the roadgeekiest I've gotten on the forum in quite a while.  I'm rather proud of this thread.

[Plutonic Panda]

And here, I was getting excited that maybe News broke about I 44 getting extended to I 20. Given the amount of replies a new post I should've known beltway was somehow involved.

Actually, this is the roadgeekiest I've gotten on the forum in quite a while.  I'm rather proud of this thread.

Oh, it's a good thread no doubt. I'm just saying I was away for a couple days and then this thread blew up and I'm just not surprised Beltway is involved.

[Bobby5280]

I would have been more hopeful for an eventual Interstate upgrade of US-277 from Wichita Falls to Abilene if the Kell Freeway extension to the Holliday Bypass hadn't been derailed. The new terrain paths that were proposed would have removed some homes along the way. The currently proposed "solution" is a very modest upgrade of the existing non-divided 4-lane street, widening it to add a center turn lane. I think that area is the ugliest part of Wichita Falls. A bunch of corrugated metal buildings and other industrial stuff line the narrow road there. I'd kind of like to see an extension of Kell Freeway that just upgrades US-277 in place and relocates a bunch of that industrial stuff next to the road.

As far as I can tell there are no plans to add a freeway bypass around the town of Anson.

[kphoger]

The currently proposed "solution" is a very modest upgrade of the existing non-divided 4-lane street, widening it to add a center turn lane.

Do you have a link to those plans?  I'd be interested to take a close look at it.  Personally, I don't mind the business frontages, but the cross-traffic at a couple of spots could really use some improvement.

[Bobby5280]

When I search online I can't find anything on the Kell project anymore, even the older materials that showed possible freeway alignments between the existing West end of the Kell Freeway and Holliday Bypass. I suspect all of that stuff has been removed from the TX DOT web site.

[Road Hog]

An I-49 extension to Abilene to me is a no-brainer. Connecting two cities of 100K+ population. Don't even need a shield, just bypass Anson and see where it goes.

I detect a lot of Tushka-Atoka-Stringtown energy with Anson, though.

[kphoger]

An I-49 extension to Abilene to me is a no-brainer.

As in, only someone with no brain would think extending I-49 to Abilene would be a good idea?  Abilene is nowhere near I-49.

just bypass Anson and see where it goes.

I detect a lot of Tushka-Atoka-Stringtown energy with Anson, though.

Has anyone since the 1970s, outside roadgeek circles, even proposed extending I-44 to Abilene?

[kphoger]

It would make more sense for I-44 in Wichita Falls to end at the Kell Freeway interchange. But that would have required renumbering a bunch of exit ramps, sign tabs, etc. -all to accommodate a pair of elevated highway bridges that run for just a few city blocks. So they never bothered with it.

If the terminus of I-44 was moved to the Kell interchange the Mile 1 marker would need to be relocated South about three quarters of a mile. The Holliday and Broad Street overheads span over half a mile. Add another couple or so tenths of a mile for ramps to get to the center of the Falls Flyover. That would shuffle things for Exits 1A thru 1D, 2, etc.

To be honest, those mile marker and other sign changes seem like small potatoes.  I-44 only has 15 miles in Texas.  Exits 1, 1A, and 1B wouldn't even need to change numbers, either, because the new MM-2 would be just south of N. 8th St.

[SoonerCowboy]

An I-49 extension to Abilene to me is a no-brainer.

As in, only someone with no brain would think extending I-49 to Abilene would be a good idea?  Abilene is nowhere near I-49.

I was thinking the same thing. Not only is I-49 no where near Abilene, I would never see I-49 even entering Texas period. 

[The Ghostbuster]

Obviously, Road Hog meant Interstate 44. I doubt the US 277 corridor needs an Interstate-Standard freeway constructed between Wichita Falls and Abilene. Then again, this is Texas, where any corridor can become an Interstate Highway.

[rte66man]

An I-49 extension to Abilene to me is a no-brainer.

As in, only someone with no brain would think extending I-49 to Abilene would be a good idea?  Abilene is nowhere near I-49.

just bypass Anson and see where it goes.

I detect a lot of Tushka-Atoka-Stringtown energy with Anson, though.

Has anyone since the 1970s, outside roadgeek circles, even proposed extending I-44 to Abilene?

From the Tulsa World, July 17, 1993:

(OTA) member Gilbert Gibson revealed he has met twice with Texas officials to encourage and extension of I44 from Wichita Falls to Abilene.

More to follow.

[rte66man]

This one gives more details:

From the Abilene Reporter-News. (July 24, 1994). Newspapers.com. Retrieved May 5, 2026, from https://www.newspapers.com/article/abilene-reporter-news/196965343/

Taking toll on roads to NAFTA By DOUG WILLIAMSON Business Editor

If traffic is the deciding factor in a feasibility study due in August on the proposed Two Nations Turnpike, don't expect construction to start anytime soon. Texas Turnpike Authority officials aren't optimistic that the LOCAL traffic count would produce enough revenue to pay for the toll road from I-20 in Abilene to Interstate 44 in Wichita Falls. The final word won't come until release of a $144,970 feasibility study by Wilbur Smith Associates which is almost completed and will be given to authority officials in August. However, leaders in Abilene are touting the city as a future "crossroads of Texas". "The problem is traffic.

There's just not much traffic out there," said Jerry Shelton, director of administration for the Texas Turnpike Authority. "When we build something, normally we do it completely by revenue bonds. We are prohibited from receiving any state funds, so something has to be feasible financially before we can undertake it. We will wait and see how it looks but in that part of the state there's just not that much traffic. I hate to second guess the study but I don't think there's going to be enough traffic." That concern is shared by John Smolly, vice president of the division of Transportation Finance Technology for Wilbur Smith Associates, who is completing the feasibility study.

"The revenue potential will have to be determined at a current year level," said Smolly, who has not seen the traffic figures to determine the road's feasibility. "I don't know the construction costs, but because it is a low traffic density corridor it's going to be very close because roadway is not cheap to build. However, I imagine it's cheaper to build in West Texas than in highly urban areas and that will benefit the proposal." Charlie Dromgoole, president of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce, agrees it may be a close call, but he said Abilene's got a good chance of getting the road to NAFTA. Bill Senter, chairman of the chamber's transportation committee, said, "Sure there's not enough traffic today. But when you consider we are not just connecting cities, but also connecting countries, there will be plenty.' The Interstate 35 route is perceived as the hottest competition, but Senter pooh-poohs the idea.

"Whatever road they choose will have to be widened," he said. "Do you think they want to buy that land (right way) by the square foot through the cities, or by the acre out here? Shelton said even if traffic count doesn't show enough projected revenue for the project where estimated costs range from $85 million to $370 million, there are other options to building the new on passage. proposed road. "The Texas Turnpike Authority normally only builds projects where funds project enough revenue to make bond payments," Shelton said. "But legislation has changed so that now we can (build roads) in cooperation with other people even though our part of the costs must be paid strictly on the revenues expected from the toll facility." Among the options if traffic revenues won't pay for the construction costs: The Texas Department of Transportation could loan money for partial construction of the road.

A private group could come up with the shortfall. The federal government could put money on the tollroad development because it recognizes the proposal as a road that would aid in developing NAFTA corridors. "There are a number of alternatives," Shelton said. "But all of them would have to have some indication that there would eventually be enough traffic to make it worth the investment." There have already been offers of help. The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority has said they might kick in $10 million to help the project along SO it would connect into H.E. Bailey Turnpike across the border. Smolly that all the background work had been done on the feasibility study and the group was finishing modeling efforts before submitting the report in August. Senter said the crossroads concept could come to fruition with the border-to-border (NAFTA road) using Highway 277 from Wichita Falls to Abilene and 83 to Laredo and the Port-to-Plains Highway from Texline to Galveston. (Steve Ray of Harte Hanks Austin Bureau contributed to this report.)

[Bobby5280]

Obviously, Road Hog meant Interstate 44. I doubt the US 277 corridor needs an Interstate-Standard freeway constructed between Wichita Falls and Abilene. Then again, this is Texas, where any corridor can become an Interstate Highway.

Current traffic levels on that part of US-277 can't justify a full blown Interstate upgrade. However, considering the direction where the global economy is drifting in an increasingly "multi-polar" world, traffic levels on US-277 could grow dramatically. The US will have to become less reliant on countries like China and relocate production and supply chains closer to home -like in Mexico.

TX DOT has already completed some of the hardest work on such a conversion. The towns of Holliday, Dundee, Seymour, Goree, Munday, Weinert, Haskell and Stamford have 4-lane divided bypasses -most of which are up to or near Interstate standards. It wouldn't take all that much work to bring those highway segments fully up to Interstate quality. The highway has been 4-lane divided between Wichita Falls and Abilene. The only exceptions are the undivided segments in Anson and the SW edge of Wichita Falls.

The segment of US-277 between Anson and Abilene would probably be fairly easy to convert into a freeway. It's currently 4-lane divided and flanked by frontage roads. Key intersections have frontage roads flaring out to make room for possible future exit ramps.

[kphoger]

The highway has been 4-lane divided between Wichita Falls and Abilene. The only exceptions are the undivided segments in Anson and the SW edge of Wichita Falls.

Haskell County feels left out.
Did you forget about the undivided stretches of US-277 to the north and south of Haskell?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/J1nz72hAsStDCDEk6
https://maps.app.goo.gl/qZTNuBAwkotEDhnF7

I measure about one mile of undivided highway to the north of Haskell and ¾ mile of undivided highway to the south of it.

[Bobby5280]

Those undivided 4-lane segments on the North and South sides of Haskell are pretty brief. I'm guessing they were built like that to avoid taking any of the homes in those locations that were built a little too close to the highway.

On the South side of Haskell they could divert US-277 over the former railroad ROW and have an unobstructed path for a freeway upgrade. The short piece of freeway in Haskell would need some improvements to meet Interstate standards. Right now it basically looks like an undivided 4-lane highway with a center turn lane. A Jersey barrier in that center lane would solve a big part of the problem.

[kphoger]

The short piece of freeway in Haskell would need some improvements to meet Interstate standards. Right now it basically looks like an undivided 4-lane highway with a center turn lane. A Jersey barrier in that center lane would solve a big part of the problem.

Yes, that's why I didn't bring it up.  I figured a Jersey barrier would be most of what's needed—although I don't remember how much of a left shoulder is required these days for Interstates.

[Bobby5280]

I think the current standard for inner left shoulders on Interstates is 4 to 6 feet in width. IIRC the right shoulders need to be 10' to 12' in width.