Regional Navigation

U.S. Highway 77 North (La Grange to Rockdale)

U.S. 77 North
The main east/west road in town is SH 71, which is a major state highway, and a freeway in Austin some 63 miles northwest. The road was recently rerouted to the north of La Grange, leaving the downtown area with only a business designation. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 northbound at SH 71 business. La Grange's historic town square a courthouse sits just to the west. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 northbound at SH 71 north of La Grange. While SH 71 is a freeway here, there are no stop signs or traffic lights at the intersection. This begins a trend with US 77 that when crossing freeways, no stops are necessary. This is a very good policy for preserving the speed of north/south traffic. Photo taken 01/01/08.
A new clearview font sign at SH 71 points the way to nearby Austin. US 77 northbound continues towards the next county and Giddings. Photo taken 01/01/08.
A view of the SH 71 freeway bypass of La Grange. The town has a very rich history, including being the home of the Chicken Ranch - popularized by the book and film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 northbound headed out of La Grange. Photo taken 01/01/08.
As US 77 continues north, it stays in the Colorado River valley for some time. Conifer trees become plentiful on each side of the road, as the few remaining palm trees fade away. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 northbound at FM 153, which runs westward to the Buescher State Park, and eventually SH 71 at Smithville. Photo taken 01/01/08.
Northern Fayette County's beautiful rolling pine country offers a tiny taste of east Texas' piney woods. Picnic areas and campgrounds dot the area, along with state parks, rivers and creeks. This area, being separated from the main stands of forest, is called "Lost Pines". Photo taken 01/01/08.
As the river valley gives way to farmland, the pines dissapear for the most part. Warda is a small farming community north of La Grange, and was named for Wartha - a community in Saxony, Germany. Photo taken 01/01/08.
FM 1482 is only .3 miles long, and connects US 77 with a few cemetaries at Warda, just to the west of the main road. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 enters Lee County. Lee County was created in the 1870s and named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The county is a bastion of southern America in an otherwise very German region of the country. Mostly settled by southerners, the County has a rich Wendish heritage as well. Wends are a slavic people from eastern Germany. Photo taken 01/01/08.
As it enters the county, the road shifts to four lanes from two. Farms and cows predominate the views. Photo taken 01/01/08.
A reassurance shield south of Giddings. Texas often omits directional banners from its route markers, obviously assuming that people can just look at the position of the sun, or something. Photo taken 01/01/08.
Giddings, with a population of about 5,000 people is the largest city and county seat of Lee County. The town was founded by German and Wendish immigrants, and was probably named for a stockholder in the railroad that was built through the new settlement. Photo taken 01/01/08.
The first highway junction in town is FM 448, which heads south to Serbin. Serbin was founded as a colony of 500 Wendish settlers in the 1850s. The town currently houses the Wendish Heritage Museum, and a Wendish Fest in the fall. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 northbound in Giddings. Photo taken 01/01/08.
Like Hallettsville and La Grange, the town skyline is dominated by its courthouse. The brick courthouse was constructed in 1899. Photo taken 01/01/08.
The next US highway along US 77 is US 290, this photo provides a view of the intersection on the west side of downtown Giddings. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 290 is the main route between Austin and Houston, and thus is very busy. Much of the route is expressway or freeway, the stretch in Giddings is the last that is signalized and is also a famous speed trap. The light at US 77 is one of the few stops-at-red that drivers between the two large metro areas are forced to make. This, along with increasing traffic, makes Giddings a good candidate for a bypass freeway. Continue on US 290 at AAroads' US 290 page. Photo taken 01/01/08.
The next light, and the last in Giddings, is at FM 2440. 2440 runs northwestward to the farming community of Manheim. Photo taken 01/01/08.
FM 1624 north of Giddings runs westward to rural western Lee County. These areas saw large cotton plantations spring up in the pre-civil war years, and the area was dominated by white slaveowners. Photo taken 01/01/08.
Rockdale is the next large town along US 77 northbound, as the road enters rolling creek valleys and more farmland. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 northbound near Loebau. Photo taken 01/01/08.
At the German community of Loebau, US 77 meets SH 21. Ah, another RV. The author is very pleased he is not driving southbound today. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 northbound at SH 21. SH 21 is an important route through Central Texas and connects IH 35 at San Marcos with Bryan-College Station, IH 45, and eventually Louisiana. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 northbound at the grade-separated SH 21. This presents another example of US highway traffic not having to stop when encountering a major road. Photo taken 01/01/08.
A northbound reassurance shield just north of SH 21, and just east of the town of Lincoln. Photo taken 01/01/08.
A mileage sign indicating the upcoming towns. The surrounding land continues to be rural and semi-forested. Photo taken 01/01/08.
Upon entering Lexington, traffic can turn left to go into Elgin and Taylor, both suburbs of Austin. This marks the last vestiges of the Austin area on US 77. Continuing the trend from before, traffic on the road is extremely light - to the point where the author wondered on several occassions if some kind of important football game was on TV. Photo taken 01/01/08.
The Lexington sign forest, Loop 123 is the old route of US 77 through the town center. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 has a short overlap with FM 696 in Lexington. Photo taken 01/01/08.
The overlap ends in town. Lexington fought a bitter campaign with Giddings in the 1870s to grab the title of county seat, which Giddings eventually won because it had a railroad. Those two factors contributed to the decline of the town, which now only has a bit over a thousand people. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 retains 4 lanes as it leaves Lexington, and the land becomes more heavily forested and rolling. Rockdale is the next major town. Photo taken 01/01/08.
Entering Milam County, Rockdale dissapears from mileage signs and Waco appears. Photo taken 01/01/08.
Now two lanes, US 77 meets US 79 at Rockdale. The interchange is grade separated, with US 77 traffic not having to stop. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 enters Rockdale, which sits mainly to the west. The town is an important center of lignite mining and houses a large Alcoa aluminum plant. Photo taken 01/01/08.
US 77 northbound with the turn off for US 79. US 79 connects the Austin area with Shreveport, Memphis, and Kentucky. Photo taken 01/01/08.

Page Updated January 12, 2008.

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