Texas State Highway 20

State Highway 20 (SH 20) is a 78.1-mile (125.7 km) highway maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) that runs from New Mexico State Road 460 at the state line between Texas and New Mexico at Anthony in El Paso County to Interstate 10 at McNary in Hudspeth County. It largely follows a former alignment of U.S. Route 80. The route passes through the city of El Paso as well as suburban and rural farming communities along the Rio Grande. With the exception of a stretch north of central El Paso where the route crosses north of I-10, the route generally runs in a narrow belt between I-10 and the Rio Grande. The route has connections to every international border crossing [2] with Mexico in the El Paso area and has important intersections with US 54, US 62, US 85, and US 180.

State Highway 20
SH 20 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by TxDOT
Length	78.061 mi[1] (125.627 km)
Existed	April 2, 1969–present
Major junctions
West end	NM 460 / NM 478 in Anthony
	SH 178 in El Paso I-10 / US 85 / US 180 in El Paso I-10 / US 180 in El Paso I-110 / US 54 in El Paso US 62 in El Paso
East end	I-10 in McNary
Location
Counties	El Paso, Hudspeth
Highway system
Highways in Texas Interstate U.S. State Toll Loops Spurs FM/RM Park Rec ← I-20 → SH 21

Until the late 1930s, the route designation belonged to a highway in central Texas along the route of present-day US 290. The current route predates the Texas highway system having been a portion of several historic auto trails. The route was included at the creation of the state system as part of SH 1. With the establishment of the U.S. numbered highway system, the route became US 80 and the SH 1 designation was eventually dropped. SH 20 was designated over the route when US 80 was relocated over I-10 before it too was decommissioned in western Texas.

History

Previous route

Current route

Before the state established its highway system, the route of SH 20 was used by many historic auto trails including the Dixie Overland Highway, the Old Spanish Trail, the Lee Highway, the Jefferson Davis National Highway, and the Bankhead Highway.[3]

Historic SH 1

The current SH 20 was originally a part of the former SH 1, a route that from the current eastern terminus of the present route continued on through Van Horn, Odessa, Midland, Abilene, Fort Worth, and Dallas before entering Arkansas at Texarkana. This route was also one of the original routes planned in 1917,[4] and remained largely unchanged until the end of the 1930s.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

US 80

In 1927, US 80 was designated over the route of SH 1 from the New Mexico state line at Anthony to Dallas and then proceeding east to the Louisiana state line east of Waskom.[11] The highway carried both the US 80 and SH 1 designations until the 1939 general redescription of the state highway system when SH 1 was decommissioned outside the city of Dallas.[12] In 1944, the full length of US 80 within Texas was designated as the Veterans of World War II Highway.[11] US 80 was relocated over I-10 through El Paso on April 2, 1969, and its former route was then renamed SH 20.[1] US 80 was decommissioned west of Dallas on August 28, 1991.[11]

Route description

SH 20 begins where NM 460 (Co-signed with NM 478), also called Anthony Dr., reaches the state line between Anthony, New Mexico and Anthony, Texas in the El Paso area's Upper Valley. The route proceeds south through Anthony along Main St. passing Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna. The route then enters Vinton where it becomes Doniphan Dr. Further south in Canutillo the route intersects Loop 375, El Paso's beltway. After entering the city of El Paso, the route intersects SH 178 which connects the route via NM 136 to the international border with Mexico south of Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Further south, SH 20 turns off of Doniphan Dr. and onto Mesa St. and soon after crosses the I-10 freeway which also carries US 85 and US 180 at this point. The route continues to the southeast passing through the foothills of the Franklin Mountains. The route then passes the University of Texas at El Paso and Sun Bowl Stadium before entering central El Paso.[13]

In central El Paso, the route crosses I-10 and US 180 again and then soon after turns northeast on Texas Ave. where the route crosses Santa Fe St. and Stanton St. leading to the Paso del Norte International Bridge and Good Neighbor International Bridge to Ciudad Juárez. The route then turns east along Alameda Ave. The route then crosses Loop 478 before crossing the unsigned I-110 and US 54 at the Patriot Freeway which leads to the international Bridge of the Americas. The route crosses US 62 at Paisano Dr. before the route turns southeast at Ascarate Park and enters the Lower Valley.[13]

At Zaragoza Rd., which leads to the Ysleta-Zaragoza International Bridge, the route intersects FM 258 and passes Ysleta Mission in the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Native American reservation. The route crosses Loop 375 again before entering Socorro where the route continues along Alameda. Further to the southeast at Clint, SH 20 crosses FM 1110 to San Elizario. In Fabens, where SH 20 is known as Main St., the route crosses FM 76 which leads toward the Fabens-Caseta International Bridge. The route passes through Tornillo as Alameda Ave. again before leaving El Paso County.[13]

In Hudspeth County, the route intersects Spur 148 which passes through central Fort Hancock. A short distance later, the route intersects FM 1088 which connects Fort Hancock to the Fort Hancock – El Porvenir International Bridge. At McNary, the route intersects FM 2217 which continues along the Lower Valley, and then terminates at I-10.[13]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[14]	km	Destinations	Notes
El Paso	Anthony	0.000	0.000	NM 460 north (Anthony Drive)	continuation into New Mexico
		0.041	0.066	FM 1905 west (Washington Street)	west end of FM 1905 overlap
		0.138	0.222	FM 1905 east (Franklin Street) to I-10	east end of FM 1905 overlap
		0.585	0.941	Spur 6 east (Wildcat Drive) to I-10
	Vinton	2.852	4.590	To I-10 / Vinton Road (Spur 37) – Vinton, Westway
	Canutillo	5.888	9.476	FM 259 west / La Union Avenue
		6.372	10.255	Loop 375 east (Talbot Drive) to I-10
	El Paso	7.456	11.999	Spur 16 north to I-10 / Loop 375
		8.413	13.539	SH 178 (Artcraft Road) to I-10	interchange
		11.732	18.881	I-10 / US 85 / US 180 – Las Cruces	I-10 exit 11
		19.667	31.651	I-10 (US 180)	I-10 exit 19
		19.996	32.180	To Fed. 45 / Mesa Street
		22.464	36.152	Copia Street (Loop 478)
		23.951	38.545	US 62 west (Paisano Drive)	traffic circle; west end of US 62 overlap
		24.005	38.632	US 62 east (Paisano Drive)	traffic circle; east end of US 62 overlap
		24.710	39.767	Clark Drive	former FM 1505 north
		25.651	41.281	FM 76 east (Delta Drive)
		32.133	51.713	Zaragoza Road (FM 258 east)
		33.356	53.681	Loop 375 (Americas Avenue) to I-10	Loop 375 exit 47
	Clint	41.350	66.546	FM 1110 (Clint) to I-10 – San Elizario Mission
	Fabens	47.999	77.247	FM 258 west
		48.558	78.147	FM 76 (Island Rd.) to I-10 / FM 793 – Port of Entry
	​	52.617	84.679	FM 3380 (M.F. Aguilera Road)	interchange
Hudspeth	Fort Hancock	72.044	115.944	Spur 148 to I-10
	​	72.860	117.257	FM 1088 south – Port of Entry
	​	77.009	123.934	FM 192
	​	78.061	125.627	I-10 – El Paso, Sierra Blanca	I-10 exit 78
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

•  U.S. Roads portal
•  Texas portal

References

1. Transportation Planning and Programming Division (n.d.). "State Highway No. 20". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
2. "Minutes of the Sixth Regular Monthly Meeting of the State Highway Commission" (PDF). November 19, 1917.
3. Weingroff, Richard F. "U.S. Route 80 The Dixie Overland Highway". Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
4. Map Showing Proposed System of State Highways (Map) (June 1917 ed.). ¾"=25 mi. Cartography by John D. Miller. Texas State Highway Department, Office of State Highway Engineer. July 1917. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
5. Highway Map, State of Texas (Map) (October 1, 1919 ed.). 1"=25 mi. Texas State Highway Department. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
6. Highway Map of the State of Texas (Map) (December 1, 1922 ed.). 1"=20 mi. Texas State Highway Department. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
7. Official Highway Map of Texas (Map) (1926 ed.). 1"=30 mi. Texas State Highway Commission. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
8. Official Highway Map of Texas (Map) (1928 ed.). 1⅛"=20 mi. Texas State Highway Commission. March 1, 1929. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
9. Official Map of the Highway System of Texas (Map) (June 15, 1933 ed.). ⅞"=30 mi. Cartography by R. M. Stene. Texas State Highway Commission. § M16-N24. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
10. Official Map of the Highway System of Texas (Map) (Centennial ed.). 1"=29 mi. Cartography by R. M. Stene. Texas State Highway Commission. March 1, 1936. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
11. Transportation Planning and Programming Division (n.d.). "U.S. Highway No. 80". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
12. Transportation Planning and Programming Division (n.d.). "State Highway No. 1". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
13. Google (July 20, 2010). "Map of SH 20" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
14. Texas Department of Transportation (2018). "Statewide Planning Map LRS Readout (ArcGIS)". Retrieved October 30, 2019.

External links

Geographic data related to Texas State Highway 20 at OpenStreetMap