U.S. 82/287 West - Henrietta to Wichita Falls

U.S. 82 west & 287 north initially combine through forest land south of the Little Wichita River.

09/06/09

Henrietta is almost close enough to be a bedroom community for Wichita Falls, which is only 20 miles to the west.

05/24/08

Myers Road, the old alignment of U.S. 82-287 outside Henrietta, ties into the four lane highway by these reassurance markers.

05/24/08

Continuing west from the Little Wichita River, U.S. 82/287 traverse areas of ranch land en route to Wichita Falls.

09/06/09

A diamond interchange joins U.S. 82-287 with FM 2393 in a half mile. F< 2393 comprises a rural route that runs north to the Red River through cattle and oil fields.

09/06/09

Northbound at FM 2393 and the rural city of Jolly. Unlike Henrietta, the origin of Jolly's name is well recorded. It was named for rancher William H. Jolly. The town had 172 residents as of the 2010 census.

05/24/08

U.S. 82-287 bypass the small street grid of Jolly to the north. Loop 47 follows their former route parallel to the BNSF Railroad along a 2,23 mile course.

09/06/09

The first sign of Wichita Falls along U.S. 82-287 west precedes the trumpet interchange with U.S. 287 Business.

09/06/09

U.S. 82-287 ascend onto a large viaduct over the BNSF Railroad and parallel U.S. 287 Business just beyond this set of reassurance markers.

05/24/08

Connecting the U.S. 82-287 freeway with SH 240, U.S. 287 Business is an important route through Wichita Falls. SH 240 is an arterial bypass of Downtown extending north to Sheppard Air Force Base.

05/24/08

West Texas' two largest cities, Lubbock and Amarillo appear on a distance sign posted after the separation with U.S. 287 Business to Wichita Falls.

05/24/08

U.S. 82-287 westbound cross into Wichita County from Clay County. The county came about in 1882 when residents presented Clay County with 150 signatures (some faked) and requested their own county.

05/24/08

U.S. 82-287 enter the Wichita Falls city limits ahead of the diamond interchange with Fisher Road.

09/06/09

Fisher Road is a very short rural road that links with U.S. 287 Business (Old Henrietta Highway) to the north and an industrial park to the south.

05/24/08

SH 79 is the first major interchange in Wichita Falls. The state highway forms a multi state route into Oklahoma northward through Petrolia.

05/24/08

U.S. 287 is curiously absent from this reassurance shield assembly at the Fisher Road entrance ramp.

05/24/08

SH 79 joins U.S. 82-287 west for a brief overlap. Northward, SH 79 follows the Waurika Freeway 1.5 miles to Petrolia Road.

09/06/09

SH 79 south merges with U.S. 82-287 at a two wye interchange at Hammon Road.

09/06/09

U.S. 82 confirming marker posted ahead of the McKinney Road underpass.

09/06/09

Connects residential areas with the freeway in one half mile, Windthorst Road is an important arterial on the east side of Wichita Falls.

05/24/08

U.S. 82-287 and SH 79 west at the diamond interchange with Windthorst Road. U.S. 287 here is called the Henry S Grace Freeway, a designation that continues south along the U.S. 281 freeway. Henry Grace was an oilman and philanthropist.

09/06/09

U.S. 281 travels along the south east side of Wichita Falls to connect with U.S. 82-287 at a three wye interchange. SH 79 turns south alongside U.S. 281, 2.2 miles to Southwest Parkway (FM 369) en route to Archer City.

05/24/08

The Henry S. Grace Freeway designation appears on a sign posted beyond the gore point for SH 79 south to U.S. 281. U.S. 281 extends southward to San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley.

09/06/09

U.S. 281 joins U.S. 82-287 along the Central Freeway. The next exit is for Old Jacksboro Highway (SL 473) and SS 447 (Kell Boulevard), which both head northeast toward Downtown Wichita Falls.

05/24/08

Loop 473 (Old Jacksboro Highway) follows the pre-freeway alignment of U.S. 281 north 4.36 miles to U.S. 287 Business (Scott Avenue) on the south side of Downtown Wichita Falls.

05/24/08

U.S. 82 splits with U.S. 281/287 (Central Freeway) northbound for the Kell Freeway west toward Holliday. U.S. 277 overlaps with U.S. 82 southwest to Seymour, where the two part ways on respective courses for Abilene and Lubbock.

09/06/09

The systems interchange joining U.S. 82, 277, 281 and 287 was constructed at at a cost $32.2 million. Representing Phase 5 of the long term construction of the Kell Freeway, ground breaking for the exchange took place on November 14, 2005.¹

09/06/09

Falls Flyover was selected as the nickname for the interchange joining the Central and Kell Freeways from more than 700 suggestions collected during a "Name the Interchange" contest. TxDOT previously referred to the project as the U.S. 82 277 287 281 Direct Connect Interchange.²

09/06/09

The 74 support columns at the Falls Flyover interchange range from eight to 61 feet in height.³ The exchange was dedicated in November 2007, but the flyover taking U.S. 82 west onto the Kell Freeway remained closed due to "misdesign" resulting in poor ride quality.⁴ Repair work addressed a 360 foot section of the bridge deck where flat spots formed due to sagging of the bridge columns.⁵

05/24/08

09/06/09

U.S. 281/287 northbound at Broad Street within the Falls Flyover interchange. Broad Street represents the old route of U.S. 287 as it runs below the elevated viaduct.

09/06/09

The high flyover from U.S. 281/287 north to U.S. 82 west/277 south finally opened to traffic on July 1, 2009 after estimated $2 million in long-delayed repairs were completed.^5,6

09/06/09

The Central Freeway ended at Broad Street until February 1999, when work started on the viaduct spanning Broad and Holiday Streets northward through central Wichita Falls.⁷

09/06/09