page_title: Interstate 69 in Texas
section_title: Route description
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 69 in Texas / Route description
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo by Nick Juhasz.
context_page_description: Interstate 69 is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Texas that is planned to pass through the eastern part of the state and along the Gulf Coast to Victoria, where it will split into multiple segments with I-69E terminating in Brownsville, I-69C terminating in Pharr, and I-69W terminating in Laredo. The first segment of I-69 in Texas was opened in 2011 near Corpus Christi. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials approved an additional 53 miles of US 77 from Brownsville to Raymondville for designation as I-69, which was to be signed as I-69E upon concurrence from the Federal Highway Administration. FHWA approval for this segment was announced on May 29, 2013. By March 2015, a 74.9 mile section of US-59 had been completed and designated as I-69 through the Houston Metropolitan Area.
context_section_description: The congressionally designated I-69 corridor begins at the Mexican border with 3 auxiliary routes:
  I-69W begins at the entrance to the World Trade International Bridge, which connects to Mexican Federal Highway 85D (Fed. 85D), near the border in Laredo. It is co-signed with both US 59 and Loop 20 (Bob Bullock Loop) and extends 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to I-35 (which connects to Fed. 85 south of the border). It will continue on US 59 east to George West, where it will intersect I-69C, it will then intersect I-37 east of George West, and it will then continue east to Victoria.
  I-69C (with connections to Fed. 97) begins in Pharr at I-2 and is designated for 18 miles (29 km) through Edinburg and co-signed with US 281. It will continue north along US 281 to George West, where it will intersect I-69W and terminate at this point.
  I-69E begins just north of the Veterans International Bridge, which connects to both Fed. 101 and Fed. 180, near the border in Brownsville and continues for 53.3 miles (85.8 km) through Olmito, where it intersects I-169 and through Harlingen, where it intersects I-2 and past Raymondville and co-signed with US 77, it is also co-signed with US 83 from Brownsville to Harlingen. The route will follow the US 77 corridor north to Corpus Christi, where a 7.8-mile (12.6 km) segment is already designated as I-69E and co-signed with US 77 and also intersects I-37, and it will then continue north to Victoria.
  I-69W and I-69E will merge just south of Victoria, Texas, where mainline I-69 will follow US 59 northeast to Fort Bend County. In the Houston area, I-69 follows US 59 (Southwest Freeway) from Fort Bend County to the west loop of I-610. I-69 then follows US 59 (Eastex Freeway) from the north loop of I-610 to the Liberty-Montgomery county line. The segment of US 59 inside Loop I-610, through downtown Houston, was approved for designation as I-69 by the FHWA on March 9, 2015 and approved for signage as I-69 by the Texas Transportation Commission on March 25, 2015.
  I-69 will follow US 59 to the north, serving Cleveland, Shepherd, Livingston, Lufkin, Nacogdoches, and Tenaha. In Tenaha, I-69 will head into Louisiana along the US 84 corridor. The segment of US 59 from Tenaha to Texarkana will be signed as I-369.
  Since the first section of US 77 between Corpus Christi and Robstown was signed as I-69, it implied that the I-69 mainline would follow the coastal (US 77) route from Victoria to Brownsville. This also implied that the branch along US 59 from Victoria to Laredo and the branch along US 281 from George West to Pharr would be signed as either three-digit spurs of I-69 (I-x69) or as separate two-digit Interstate Highways. While federal legislation designating the south Texas branches as I-69 suggested that these routes may be designated as "I-69E" (east, following US 77), "I-69C" (central, following US 281), and "I-69W" (west, following US 59), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Special Committee on Route Numbering rejected the Texas Department of Transportation's request for these three designations along the proposed I-69 branches, citing that AASHTO policy no longer allows Interstate Highways to be signed as suffixed routes. Stating that the I-69E, I-69C, and I-69W designations for the three I-69 branches south of Victoria were written into federal law, the initial denial of TxDOT's applications were subsequently overturned by the AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways, and the approval for the I-69E, I-69C, and I-69W branch designations were confirmed by the AASHTO Board of Directors, pending concurrence from the Federal Highway Administration during the AASHTO Spring Meeting on May 7, 2013. During this same meeting, the section of US 83 between Harlingen and Penitas was conditionally approved to be designated as I-2, with FHWA concurrence. The US 83 freeway in south Texas was widely anticipated to receive an I-x69 designation instead of I-2. In any case, Texas is proceeding in the same fashion as Indiana, conducting environmental studies for its portion of I-69 in a two-tier pr
caption: I-69/US 59 in Houston looking east
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