San Antonio Area Roads History
Pre-Interstate
Highway Routes History |
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This page last updated December 29, 2021
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Prior
to the construction of the Interstate Highway System, US and state
highways provided for intercity and interstate travel. (For those of
you younger than 40, yes, there was a time before Interstates!) These
highways
took various routes through
the area over the years. Before construction of the city's expressways
and then the Interstate Highway System, those routes were along the
city's streets and outlying county roads. By the late 1930s, the routes
through the
downtown area became increasingly congested. So
starting in
the late '40s, the city and
state began constructing expressways to route through traffic onto in
order to keep it
out of downtown. These early
expressways were then incorporated into the Interstate Highway system
as it was
built starting in the late '50s, and most of the US and state highways
were then routed onto the expressways and off of city streets.
(A
history of the city's freeway system is here.)
Below
is the best history that I
can
assemble of those early US and state highways
routes through
San Antonio, Bexar County, and the surrounding area at
selected years between the formation of the state highway system and
the start of construction of the Interstate Highway System. The years
selected are
those that I was able to find good information for and that represent
significant changes in the system. In
some cases, there were some intermediate route changes that were
significant enough to mention; these are noted as a footnote in that
route's detailed history.
The
information on this page was generally
compiled from an assortment of old maps from a
variety of sources as well as old TxDOT right-of-way maps. Each
year below includes a detailed
turn-by-turn description of each route
from downtown outbound and use today's
road names for ease of reference. I've also plotted the routes on
Google Maps
to make visualizing them easier.
This is a work in progress. As
I mentioned above, this is the best history I can glean from the
resources I have found, and I have tried to cross-reference and
correlate data as much as possible, but there may still be
some
inaccuracies. So if you have any corrections or additional information,
please contact me.
General
history
While
a few states were starting to build
statewide road systems at
the turn of
the 20th Century, there was as yet no organized road system in
Texas. Instead, counties were
responsible for building roads with the only direction from the state
being to connect county seats with "first-class" roads. The result was
that connections between towns were
generally rough and often cobbled together using old
stagecoach or
wagon routes, cattle trails, ranch roads, or historical roads
such
as the Camino Real.
Roads during this time were often just flattened earth where trees,
brushes, stumps, and large rocks had been removed. There were few
bridges-- most rivers and creeks were either forded or crossed using
ferries. Roads that were considered "improved" at this time typically
had a gravel or macadam surface.
A
few
years into the new century, various groups, such as auto clubs, "good
roads" groups, touring organizations, and chambers of commerce began to
develop and mark
numerous interstate "auto trails" throughout the country. This was
typically done
by identifying the best existing roads between
towns and marking them using unique colored bands or other markings on
telephone poles
or signposts. In some cases, improvements were also made to the routes.
Several of these auto trails traversed
the San Antonio area including the King
of Trails, Glacier
to Gulf
Highway, the Meridian
Highway, and, perhaps most notably, the Old Spanish Trail (OST),
which was headquartered in San Antonio.
Around
1915, the
US Post Office appropriated money to improve the road between
San
Antonio and Austin in order to speed mail delivery. The
resulting 16-foot
wide, macadam "post road" was considered the finest road in the state
for several years. You can still find segments of this route named
"Post Road" in New Braunfels and San Marcos.
State highway system is born
Several
attempts to create a state highway department in the first decade of
the 1900s failed as counties did not want to give up control. But the
passage of
the Federal Road Aid Act in 1916, which made federal funding available
for roadbuilding, required states to establish a highway
department and develop a designated highway system in order to receive
those federal
road funds. This
finally gave the state the political will to establish a highway
department in 1917. A few months later, the first numbered state
highway system was created. Three of those
seminal highways passed through San Antonio:
- State Highway 2, heading
north to Fort Worth and south to Laredo and which
would
subsequently become US 81 and eventually I‑35
- State Highway 3, running
west to Del Rio and east to Houston and which
would
eventually become US 90
- State Highway 9,
heading
northwest to San Angelo (subsequently becoming US 87) and southeast to
Corpus Christi (subsequently becoming US 181)
In
those first
years, the state highways just followed the established county roads
along the designated corridors. But with federal and state funds now
available and road building technology improving, the state
quickly started improving those roads and, in many cases, built
completely new routes to replace the older ones,
especially ones that had winding, narrow, or unsafe paths between or
through towns. These improvements resulted in the routings and
numbering for many of the highways
to change several times in a relatively short period.
By
the early '20s, two new state highways made their appearance on local
maps:
- State Highway 27,
heading northwest to Bandera, then north to Centerpoint and west
through Kerrville and Junction to Sonora. By the mid '20s, this would
be
renumbered SH 81
and routed from Bandera through Medina to Kerrville
and north to Fredericksburg, Llano, and beyond, eventually becoming SH
16. SH 27 was rerouted along SH 9 from San
Antonio to Comfort, then west from there to Kerrville.
- State Highway 41,
running northwest with SH 9 to the Waring-Comfort area, then
heading west to Kerrville, Ingram, Mountain Home and Rocksprings. By
1933, the stretch between Comfort and Ingram would be renumbered as
part of SH 27 instead.
State Highway 108, heading
north to Blanco and beyond, was created around 1925. It was
redesignated as State
Highway
66 in 1931 and also extended south to Edinburg;
this route eventually became US 281.

Historical US 81 and SH 2 route
markers ca. 1930
(Photo
courtesy of TxDOT)
US Highways
Other states were also expanding their highway systems at this time.
However, each state marked their
highways differently. This, along with
the frequent changes
and
the assortment of named trails that often overlapped the state
routes, resulted in a messy and disjointed
system for travelers. In
1925, in an effort to create a standard and consistent national highway
numbering system, the
American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHTO)
created the US Highway System. Contrary to common perception,
the
US
Highways were not a network of
new federal roads. Instead, it was a system of
identifying state
highways that were deemed important interregional roads and numbering
them with coordinated
and consistent numbers so as to make it easier for interstate travelers
to find
their way. Texas began designating their US highway routes in 1927.
In
the first
version of the US Highway System, the route northwest from San Antonio
was numbered as US 290. It ran to Comfort, Kerrville, and on to Ft.
Stockton; most
of this route west of Mountain Home eventually became I-10. In Comfort,
another road, US 385, started and headed northeast and north along the
Old San Antonio Road through Bankersmith to Fredericksburg, San Angelo,
and
beyond. By 1928, it appears
the route for US 385 was rerouted away from Comfort and instead headed
south through Waring and Welfare to meet US 290 at Nelson
City, likely to
facilitate a more direct route to San Antonio. Although the official
southern terminus for US 385 was listed as being at its
junction with US 290, it appears that by 1932, US 385
was co-signed with US 290 into San Antonio. Then, in a 1935
revision of the system, US
87 was extended south from Wyoming into Texas and supplanted
US 385.
Contemporaneously,
US 290 was rerouted east from north of Mountain Home through
Fredericksburg, Austin, and on to
Houston, leaving the segment from Comfort through Kerrville and
Mountain Home as SH 27. Finally, a new road for US 87 from Fredericksburg to Comfort
was completed by 1935 and the "Old Number 9" route through
Bankersmith was removed from the state highway system.
During
the first years of the US Highway System, the existing
state highway numbers were used alongside the new US route number.
This was likely done so that travelers with older
maps and those already familiar with the existing state routes could
still
easily find their way. The redundant state highway numbers were
officially phased-out in a major renumbering of the state's highway
system in 1939. Locally, this renumbering included changing SH
81 to SH 16; this was probably to avoid
confusion with the new US 81 as both ran through San
Antonio.
The
chart below summarizes
the changes to the different highways in San Antonio during those first
couple of decades. It also
shows
the two forms of the state highway shield used in those early
days. I'm sure all the changes caused
quite
a bit of confusion!
1924 |
1928 |
1936 |
1940 |
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NORTH |
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WEST |
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The Arneson Plan
In 1930, the
state authorized a study of existing highways in Bexar County and
proposals to
improve them. This study, by local engineer Edwin P. Arneson (for
whom the Arneson River Theater is named), was completed in 1932. It
recommended rerouting nearly all routes coming into San
Antonio
and widening and
straightening sections that were not to be relocated. It also
recommended the replacement of numerous railroad crossings with
overpasses or underpasses and the elimination of all low-water bridges.
The
Arneson Plan was also the first official recommendation for a loop
system around the city, parts of which were eventually manifested as
Loop 13 and Loop 410. The entire plan was estimated to cost $9.4
million, or about $186 million in today's dollars. While
only a few of
his
recommendations were adopted exactly as he prescribed, most of his
concepts were eventually implemented in some form or another, and the
paths of several of
today's highways can be traced back to his plan.
1932 Arneson Plan
for State Highways in Bexar County
(Photo by Brian Purcell)
1950 Master Plan The
City of San Antonio commissioned local engineer Walter Lilly to conduct
a master plan and study for the city around 1950. His report, sometimes
called the "Lilly Report", came at the cusp of the freeway-era and included a major street plan that made
dozens of recommendations for new and extended arterials and
connections, a downtown "inner loop", one-way streets, revised parking
regulations, support for off-street parking, upgraded mass transit, and
increased enforcement. Especially noteworthy was his proposal for the
completion of Loop 13, which at the time existed only south of US 90.
His plan revised the earlier Arneson plan for routing the loop on the
northeast side, which eventually came to fruition, and the
northwest side, which did not. Lilly also recognized that Loop 13 on
the South Side was quickly losing its usefulness as a bypass due to
traffic and becoming hemmed-in by development, so he recommended a
new southern bypass route that eventually became the path for Loop
410 from US 90W to I-37.
Zero
milepost
Main Plaza was (and
still is, to my knowledge) the "zero milepost" for San Antonio and thus
was the logical destination for the first highways into San Antonio. While
both Commerce St. and Houston St. were initially used for routes
through downtown, it appears that by the mid '30s, all of the
east-west routes through downtown were trunked over Commerce St., which
was two-way until about 1954.
Downtown
congestion
The convergence of all these routes and the
dramatic growth in automobile traffic by the late 1930s
caused severe
congestion in the downtown area. To address this growing problem,
officials began planning a series of
"interregional highways" to carry through traffic around downtown.
However, the outbreak of World War II delayed this initiative. After
the war ended in 1945, the effort resumed and the first expressways
opened in the late '40s and early '50s to provide a
high-speed bypass around downtown San Antonio. The routings of
state
and US
highways
through the city were changed several times to use the new
expressway segments as they opened.
Commerce St. at Lasoya St.
looking
west ca. 1940
Note the US Highway shields on the lamppost and
the two-way traffic.
(Photo
courtesy of TxDOT)
1926

Click here to view a detailed map
of these routes on
Google Maps
This
map shows
the earliest state highway routings in San Antonio I can verify. These
routes
generally followed the original county roads headed out of San Antonio
to adjacent county seats. As a result, there are quite a few
interesting paths for these routes and explains why some roads are
named and/or laid-out the way they are to this day. For example, the
following roads were named for the destinations of the routes that ran
over them at this time: Castroville Rd., Bandera Rd./Old Bandera Rd.,
Fredericksburg Rd./Old Fredericksburg Rd., Austin Hwy./Old
Austin Rd.,
Seguin St./Seguin Rd./Old Seguin Rd., Corpus Christi Hwy., Old Pearsall
Rd., Bulverde Rd., and
Pleasanton Rd. In addition, Goliad Rd., Houston St., Blanco Rd., and,
perhaps
most notably, Nacogdoches Rd. also represent
previous routings of roads to those towns. New Braunfels Ave. may
have also been so-named as it was part of routes to that town at
various times.

NORTH |
To New Braunfels - San Marcos -
Austin - Waco - Ft. Worth
This route left downtown headed east
on Houston St., then
turned north on
N New
Braunfels Ave., passed through Ft. Sam Houston (Ft. Sam was open to the
public until 2002), then turned east on Eleanor St. and veered onto Old
Austin Rd. behind where the Botanical Garden is today, passed through
Ft. Sam again onto Harry Wurzbach
to Corinne Dr., then along Corinne and curving northeast onto
Austin Highway (Austin Hwy. between here and Alamo Heights did not
exist at this
time), along Austin Hwy. and then east along
today's Loop 410
through the town of Fratt. It then crossed today's I-35 and
onto Sherri Ann Rd. and Randolph Blvd. before
joining today's I‑35 at
Judson Rd, then northeast from there. It's unclear if it followed Old
Austin Rd. near the I‑35/Loop 1604 interchange at this time, but it
seems likely. It's also likely that the route between today's FM 2252
and New Braunfels followed the current FM 482 through Comal and Solms,
returning to today's I‑35 near Rueckle Rd. and into New Braunfels on W
San Antonio St. to the plaza. There, the route turned right onto S
Seguin Ave. and then left onto Faust St. where it crossed the Guadalupe
River on the historic bridge there. It then followed the old Post Road
north from there.
Prior
to this time, it appears the favored route to New Braunfels left downtown
traveling
north along Broadway (then known as River
Ave.), then turned east onto
Grayson St., north onto N New Braunfels, and followed the rest of
the route above. It is likely that earlier routings of SH 2 followed the Broadway - Grayson route. |

SOUTH |
To Devine - Pearsall - Cotulla -
Laredo
This route left
downtown headed south and then west on S Laredo St. (parts of which are
now
missing between Nueva and El Paso Streets and also part of which is now
I‑35), then turned south on S
Brazos St. before veering southwest onto Frio City Rd. It continued
along Frio City Rd. through today's Port San Antonio on a road that
once
connected Frio City Rd. to Old Pearsall Rd. (looking
at a map,
you can see how they line up; part of that road is now the Port San
Antonio section of General
Hudnell
Dr.) The route then continued on Old Pearsall Rd.
to Lytle and beyond. |

WEST |
To Castroville - Hondo - Uvalde
- Del Rio
This route headed west from downtown along W Commerce St., then
turned south on SW 24th St. traveling past Our Lady of the Lake. At
that time, 24th St. continued straight south at El Paso St. to
Castroville Rd. where the route then turned southwest and followed
Castroville Rd. Past Callaghan, it zig-zagged a bit along today's
US 90 right-of-way, crossed Leon Creek, then continued along what's now
an
abandoned stretch of Castroville Rd. behind the 9/11 Memorial before
joining today's US 90 and heading west. It
then curved onto Kriewald Rd. before rejoining today's US
90 at
Loop 1604, then west to just past SH 211 where it used what's
now Old Highway 90 West south of the current route to Jungman
Rd.
and a stretch of road that no longer exists between Jungman and Mechler
Lane, where it rejoined today's route. |

EAST |
To Schertz - Seguin - Gonzales -
Houston - Beaumont
Like SH 2 North, this route
left downtown to the east along Houston St., then turned north on N New
Braunfels Ave. It then made a couple of right turns on Crosby and
Tilden streets and turned northeast onto Seguin St. which continued
across
today's I‑35 at Walters and mostly followed the path of todays'
southbound access road to Salado Creek. There, the route
left today's I‑35 following Seguin Rd. Just before Binz-Engleman, it
forked to the right to the railroad
underpass at I‑35 and Binz-Engleman, where it passed through the
underpass and turned northeast on FM 78. The route followed Old Seguin
Rd. through Kirby, then back onto FM 78. Just south of Converse,
it followed Upper Seguin Rd. to today's FM 1516 where it continued on
Seguin Rd. through Converse and back
onto today's
FM 78 north of Converse. From there, it followed FM 78 on to the
northeast past Randolph AFB, through Schertz, and on to Seguin.
There
is some evidence suggesting that, prior to 1922, the route from
Converse to Schertz actually hooked a left under the tracks north of
Converse onto Converse Rd. and followed Old Cimarron Trail and Kitty
Hawk to Cibolo Creek, forded the creek about 1.1 miles south of I-35,
then followed present-day FM 1518 to Schertz, where it crossed back
over the tracks and back onto today's FM 78 eastward. There is
also some evidence that the route between Converse and Kirby during
that same time ran along Gibbs-Sprawl Rd. I'm still researching
those alignments. |
 
NORTH
|
SH 9: To Leon Springs - Boerne -
Waring - Fredericksburg - San Angelo - Lubbock - Amarillo
SH 27: To Leon Springs - Boerne
- Comfort - Kerrville - Junction - Ft. Stockton - El Paso (via SH 1)
This
route headed north from downtown on N
Flores St. up to the Five Points intersection where it then followed
Fredericksburg Rd. northwest all the way to north of Huebner and
joined today's I‑10. From there it headed northwest, likely following
Old Fredericksburg Rd. around today's Loop 1604 interchange, then
rejoining I‑10 and continuing to Leon Springs. Through Leon Springs,
it followed Old Fredericksburg Rd., much of which is no longer
in
existence-- it ran parallel to and just to the east of the today's main
road through
Leon Springs (i.e. that little road behind Rudy's). There, it
turned left onto
Boerne Stage Rd. and followed it northwest and then curved north onto
Scenic Loop Rd. and continued into Kendall County. The route entered
Boerne on Old San Antonio Rd. and curved left onto Oak Park Dr. and
right onto Main St. through Boerne. North of Boerne, the route crossed
back and forth on today's I-10 right-of-way to Nelson City.
There,
the route curved onto
today's FM 289 and onto the Waring-Welfare Rd. to the T intersection at
Green Cedar Rd. There, SH 9 turned right to Welfare while SH 27 turned
left and continued mostly on today's FM 289,
Old Comfort Road, and High Street Rd., before crossing the Guadalupe
River on the High St. bridge into Comfort.
At
some point prior to this, it appears there was another route between
Leon Springs and
Boerne that continued north-northwest from Rudy's on the Old
Fredericksburg Road. It crossed Leon Creek, then crossed the former
railroad tracks at Aue
Road and continued northwest before heading back to today's
I-10
at Buckskin Dr. It then followed I-10 to today's Fair Oaks
Parkway
where it left today's I-10, zig-zagging north
and west to and along Cascade Cavern Road and then onto Old San Antonio
Road. From there, it followed the rest of the route described
above into Boerne. |

SOUTH |
To Pleasanton - Mathis - Alice -
Edinburg
This route headed south from downtown on S Flores St., then
south on S Pleasanton Rd. all the way through the South Side. At Ansley
St., it veered to continue on Pleasanton Rd., crossed today's Loop 410,
and continued south to the Medina River, where is crossed the river on
the impressive arched concrete bridge built in 1910. From there, it
followed the present-day road all
the way into Atascosa County where it joined the route of today's US
281. |
 |
To Elmendorf - Floresville -
Kenedy -
Beeville - Corpus Christi
Heading south of downtown on S. Alamo St., the route turned left onto
S.
Presa St. and continued to Pyron Ave. where it veered onto Corpus
Christi Hwy. From there, it continued south and then east along the
southern edge of today's Brooks City Base before turning south
onto Southton Rd. (now Siluria St.). It then
turned east again on San Juan Rd., crossing today's Loop 410 and then
turning onto Old Corpus Christi Hwy. It followed that road through
Elmendorf
and continued on into Wilson County to Labatt Road where it continued
on a stretch of road that no longer exists to join today's route of
US 181 near Shannon Ridge Drive.
At
some point
prior
to SH
16, the route to the southeast appears to have followed this
path: S
Alamo St. to S
Presa St,
then veering southeast onto Carolina St. which then fed into Denver
Blvd., where it continued east to Gevers St. There, it turned south
onto Gevers and veered southeast onto Goliad Rd. The route then
continued on Goliad which becomes Corpus Christi Hwy. and joins the
route for SH 16 described above. |

WEST |
To Helotes - Bandera - Kerrville
Leaving downtown on N Laredo St. (parts of which are now gone between
Houston St. and Martin St.), it curved west and northwest along San
Pedro Creek and onto what's now the inbound lanes of I‑10 up to
Poplar St. (which was named Castro St. at that time), then west on
Poplar to Zarzamora
St. There, it turned north
briefly before turning west on Culebra Ave. and then veering northwest
onto Bandera Rd. It followed Bandera all the way to Evers, where it
then veered onto Evers and continued northwest, then turned west on
Daughtry St. and then along today's Loop 410. (Today's Bandera
Rd. between Wurzbach and Evers did not exist at this time.) It then
turned onto a section of Bandera Rd. between Loop 410 and Wurzbach that
no longer exists; this ran just to the west of today's Bandera
Rd. From there,
it followed Bandera Rd. northwest to Helotes where it followed FM 1560
west
briefly to Riggs Rd. and continued on Riggs and Old Bandera Rd. through
Helotes, then back onto today's SH 16 north of Scenic Loop Rd. (i.e. at
the El Chaparral.) From there, it followed SH 16 into Bandera County.
Around
1920, the route to Bandera may have used Cincinnati Ave. to
Zarzamora St., then south on Zarzamora and west on Culebra to Bandera
Rd. It appears
Culebra did not connect to Fredericksburg Rd. until sometime around
1930. |

EAST |
To
La Vernia - Stockdale - Cuero - Victoria - Port Lavaca
This route simply followed Houston St. east from downtown through St.
Hedwig to La Vernia and onward. |
 |
To
Blanco - Johnson City -
Lampasas - Stephenville - Strawn
This route headed north from downtown on Broadway through Alamo Heights
and turned northeast onto Nacogdoches Rd. It continued on Nacogdoches
to Salado Creek where it turned northwest on a road that no longer
exists to Wetmore Rd. There, it turned northeast again and followed
Wetmore Rd. to the former community of Wetmore (at today's intersection
at Thousand Oaks Dr.), then followed Bulverde Rd. north to the county
line. |
Austin Hwy. (SH 2) at Salado
Creek
looking northeast ca. 1920
This is where the road curved onto today's Corinne Dr. (to
the right.)
The low-water bridge in the center of the photo is still
there today below the current bridge.
(Photo
courtesy of TxDOT)
1936

Click here to view a detailed map
of these routes on
Google Maps
By
1936, US
Highway route numbers had been well-established. Per the 1932 Arneson
Plan to improve local highways, most routes through San Antonio
and Bexar County had been significantly
changed to use new wider and straighter roads. SH 66 and US
281
replaced the former SH 108 north from the city.
Changes
from 1926 are noted in bold
below.
 
NORTH |
To New Braunfels - San Marcos -
Austin - Waco - Ft. Worth
The route left
downtown along Broadway
and
turned northeast onto
Austin Highway in Alamo Heights. It continued along Austin
Hwy. and
then east
along
today's Loop 410
through the town of Fratt and
onto Randolph Blvd. before
joining today's I‑35 at
Judson Rd, then northeast from there. It
used the current route of I‑35
through today's Loop 1604 interchange and beyond to Engel Rd. Just past
there, it followed today's Old Hwy 81 to Solms and the
current FM 482
back to today's I‑35 near Rueckle Rd. It then bypassed New Braunfels on
the current route of Business 35, over a new Guadalupe River bridge,
and then north from there to San
Marcos on today's I‑35.
Sometime
after 1926 but prior to the opening of Austin Highway through Alamo
Heights in 1935, it appears this route was changed from its
previous routing through Fort Sam Houston and instead went up
Broadway to Cleveland Court, then right on Garraty Rd. and
over to
Harry Wurzbach, where it then followed the previous route north. |
 
SOUTH |
To Devine - Pearsall - Cotulla -
Laredo
This route left
downtown headed south and then west on S Laredo St. (parts of which are
now
missing between Nueva and El Paso Streets and also part of which is now
I‑35), then turned south on S
Brazos St. before veering southwest onto Frio City Rd. It continued
along Frio City Rd. through today's Port San Antonio on a road that
once
connected Frio City Rd. to Old Pearsall Rd. (looking
at a map,
you can see how they line up; part of that road is now the Port San
Antonio section of General
Hudnell
Dr.) The route then continued on Old Pearsall Rd.
to Lytle and beyond. |

 
NORTH
|
SH 9: To Leon Springs - Boerne -
Comfort - Fredericksburg - San Angelo - Lubbock - Amarillo
SH 27: To Leon Springs - Boerne
- Comfort - Kerrville - Junction - Ft. Stockton - El Paso (via SH 1)
This
route headed north from downtown on N
Flores St. up to the Five Points intersection where it then followed
Fredericksburg Rd. northwest all the way to north of Huebner and
joined today's I‑10. From
there it headed northwest to Leon Springs. It
then followed a new road through Leon Springs (now the former WB
frontage
road) and returned to today's I-10 near Aue Rd. It then
ran along
today's I‑10 all the way to
Boerne and through Boerne on Main St. North
of Boerne, the route used
today's path of I-10 to Nelson City. There, the route curved onto
today's FM 289 and
followed it to Comfort crossing the Guadalupe on a new bridge (today's
Business 87.) There, the route split to
Kerrville and Fredericksburg. The route to
Kerrville used today's SH 27 while the route to Fredericksburg used a
new road that is today's US 87. |
 
EAST |
To
La Vernia - Stockdale - Cuero - Victoria - Port Lavaca
This route replaced
the E Houston St. route between downtown San Antonio and La Vernia. It
left downtown
along E Commerce St. It
then turned south at S New Braunfels Ave. and followed that to Rigsby
Ave. There, it turned east and followed today's path of US 87 to the
east. In East Bexar County, it followed the paths of today's Loop 106
and Loop 107.
It
appears that this route was conceived at some point around 1930.
Initially, this route was numbered as SH 81, having been rerouted here
from its previous route on E Houston St. It appears the first version
of
this route left S. New Braunfels on Hedges
St., turned right on Meerscheidt St., left on Virginia
Ave., right on Mittman St., left on Vine St.,
veered right onto Clark Ave., then left on J St. to Roland Ave., and
finally
left onto Rigsby Ave. The complexity of this route likely led it to be
altered to the simpler route listed above by 1936. |
 
WEST |
To Castroville - Hondo - Uvalde
- Del Rio
This route headed west from downtown along W Commerce St. and veered southwest on Enrique
Barrera Blvd. (Old Highway 90) before joining today's US
90 and heading west. It
then curved onto Kriewald Rd. before rejoining today's US 90 at
Loop 1604, then
west to just
past SH 211 where it used what's now Old Highway 90 West south
of the
current route to Jungman Rd. and a stretch of road that no longer
exists between Jungman and Mechler Lane, where it rejoined today's
route. |
 
EAST |
To Seguin - Gonzales -
Houston - Beaumont
This followed
an entirely new route from San Antonio to Seguin. It left
downtown headed east on Commerce St. and onto what's now
I‑10 near E. Houston St. and then on to Seguin. Beyond
Seguin, through, the route still
meandered through
Gonzales, Waelder, Columbus, Rosenberg, and Sugar Land before reaching
Houston. |
  |
To Floresville -
Kenedy -
Beeville - Corpus Christi
Heading south of downtown on S. Alamo St., the route turned left onto
S.
Presa St. and continued to Pyron Ave. where it veered onto Corpus
Christi Hwy. From there, it continued south and then east along the
southern edge of today's Brooks City Base before turning south
onto Southton Rd. (now Siluria St.). It then
turned east again on San Juan Rd., crossing today's Loop 410 and then veering left at S. Presa and
joining today's
route of
US 181 just east of there.
|
 
NORTH |
To Blanco - Johnson City -
Lampasas - Mineral Wells - Wichita Falls
This was a new route that headed
north from downtown on Navarro St. and onto San
Pedro
Ave., where
it continued north to Blanco, Johnson City, and beyond. (The southbound
route through downtown used Main St.)
|
 
SOUTH |
To Pleasanton - George West - Alice
-
Edinburg
This was a new
highway that headed
south from downtown on Main St., then left onto Navarro St. It then
turned right onto S St. Mary's St. and onto
Roosevelt Ave. (The railroad underpass near the Lone Star Brewery was
under construction at this time; it would open in 1937.) It
continued south on Roosevelt and onto the current route of US 281 south
of today's Loop 410.
|

SOUTH |
To Pleasanton - Mathis - Corpus
Christi
This route headed south from downtown on S Flores St. and continued south-southeast on
Flores to Roosevelt Ave. where it merged into the route for US
281/SH 66 (see below.) At Three Rivers, it split from US 281 and headed
to Corpus Christi via Mathis; this eventually became the route for I‑37. |

WEST |
To Helotes - Bandera - Kerrville
This route followed
the same route for US 87 north of downtown (see above) to Woodlawn
Ave. There, it turned west and followed Woodlawn to Bandera Rd.
It then veered northwest
onto Bandera Rd. and followed it to Evers, where it
then veered onto Evers and continued northwest, then turned west on
Daughtry St. and then along today's Loop 410. (Today's Bandera
Rd. between Wurzbach and Evers did not exist at this time.) It then
turned onto a section of Bandera Rd. between Loop 410 and Wurzbach that
no longer exists; this ran just to the west of today's Bandera Rd. From
there,
it followed Bandera Rd. northwest to Helotes where it followed FM 1560
west
briefly to Riggs Rd. and continued on Riggs and Old Bandera Rd. through
Helotes, then back onto today's SH 16 north of Scenic Loop Rd. (i.e. at
the El Chaparral.) From there, it followed SH 16 into Bandera County.
Around
1931, it appears this route was following W Commerce to Zarzamora,
then north on Zarzamora to Culebra, then west on Culebra to Bandera Rd.
In 1932, the route was changed to use Fredericksburg Rd. and Woodlawn
Ave. |
Austin Highway at Broadway in
Alamo Heights looking northeast ca. 1935
(Photo
courtesy of TxDOT)
1940

Click here to view a detailed map
of these routes on
Google Maps
The
1939
renumbering of state highways had now eliminated the state highway
routes that were redundant with the new US routes. In
the few years
since 1936, some more significant changes in local routings had
occurred. US 81 South was
now using a completely new route and US 181 had been straightened near
Brooks. Additionally, the former SH 81 was changed to SH 16 (likely to
prevent confusion with US 81) and SH 9 through the area had been
dropped with the section of it on S Flores being rolled into SH 16.
In an effort to help relieve chronic congestion along Commerce St., US
81 was routed south on S Alamo St. to Flores St. In 1937, the
state took
over the existing Military Rd. (today's Military Dr.) between Kelly
Field
and Brooks Field and began upgrading it as the first segments of Loop
13, which at the time was only planned to run around the
south and east sides of the city and end at the Austin Highway at Fratt.
Changes
from 1936 are
noted in bold
below.

NORTH |
To New Braunfels - San Marcos -
Austin - Waco - Ft. Worth
The route left
downtown along Broadway
and
turned northeast onto
Austin Highway in Alamo Heights. It continued along Austin Hwy. and
then east
along
today's Loop 410
through the town of Fratt and onto Randolph Blvd. before
joining today's I‑35 at
Judson Rd, then northeast from there on the current
route of I‑35 to Engel Rd. Just past
there, it followed today's Old Hwy 81 to Solms and the current FM 482
back to today's I‑35 near Rueckle Rd. It then bypassed New Braunfels on
the current route of Business 35 and then north from there to San
Marcos on today's I‑35. |

SOUTH |
To Devine - Pearsall - Cotulla -
Laredo
This was a new
routing for this highway. It left downtown on S. Alamo
St. and turned left onto S. Flores. It then veered right onto Nogalitos
St.
and continued southwest to a traffic circle at Aviation Blvd. (which
today is part of Zarzamora St.) It then veered onto New Laredo
Hwy. and followed it south and onto the current path of I‑35 near
today's Loop
410 where it continued on to the southwest, following today's SH 132
into Lytle and merging with the previous route from there. |

NORTH
|
To Leon Springs - Boerne -
Comfort - Fredericksburg - San Angelo - Lubbock - Amarillo
This
route headed north from downtown on N
Flores St. up to the Five Points intersection where it then followed
Fredericksburg Rd. northwest all the way to north of Huebner and
joined today's I‑10. From there it headed northwest to Leon
Springs and followed the road through Leon Springs (now the old WB
frontage
road) and returned to today's I-10 near Aue Rd. It then
followed today's I‑10
all the way to
Boerne and through Boerne on Main St. North of
Boerne, the route used
today's path of I-10 to Nelson City. There, the route curved onto
today's FM 289 and followed it into Comfort. |

EAST |
To
La Vernia - Stockdale - Cuero - Victoria - Port Lavaca
This highway left downtown
along E Commerce St. It
then turned south at S New Braunfels Ave. and followed that to Rigsby
Ave. There, it turned east and followed today's path of US 87 to the
east. In East Bexar County, it followed the paths of today's Loop 106
and Loop 107. |

WEST |
To Castroville - Hondo - Uvalde
- Del Rio
This route headed west from downtown along W Commerce St. and veered
southwest on Enrique
Barrera Blvd. (Old Highway 90) before joining today's US
90 and heading west. It
then curved onto Kriewald Rd. before rejoining today's US
90 at
Loop 1604, then
west to just
past SH 211 where it used what's now Old Highway 90 West south
of the
current route to Jungman Rd. and a stretch of road that no longer
exists between Jungman and Mechler Lane, where it rejoined today's
route. |

EAST |
To Seguin - Luling - Columbus -
Houston - Beaumont
This road left
downtown headed east on Commerce St. and onto what's now
I‑10 near E. Houston St. and then on to Seguin. East of
Seguin, the route now went through Luling and Schulenburg to Columbus.
The more direct route to Houston between Columbus and Katy via Sealy
was nearing completion. |
 |
To Floresville -
Kenedy -
Beeville - Corpus Christi
Heading south of downtown on S. Alamo St., the route turned left onto
S.
Presa St. and continued
on a new, straightened route between Pyron Ave. and Old Corpus Christi
Hwy. where it joined today's
route for
US 181.
|

NORTH |
To Blanco - Johnson City -
Lampasas - Mineral Wells - Wichita Falls
This route headed north from downtown on Navarro St. and onto San Pedro
Ave., where
it continued north to Blanco, Johnson City, and beyond. (The
southbound route through downtown used Main St.) |

SOUTH |
To Pleasanton - George West - Alice
-
Edinburg
This route headed south on Main St., then left onto
Navarro St. It then turned right onto S St. Mary's St. and onto
Roosevelt Ave. (The railroad underpass near the
Lone Star Brewery was now open.) It
continued south on Roosevelt and onto the current route of US 281 south
of today's Loop 410.
|

NORTH |
To Helotes - Bandera - Kerrville
This route followed
the same route for US 87 north of downtown (see above) to Cincinnati
Ave. There, it turned west and followed Cincinnati to Bandera Rd.
It then veered northwest
onto Bandera Rd. and followed it to Evers, where it
then veered onto Evers and continued northwest, then turned west on
Daughtry St. and then along today's Loop 410. (Today's Bandera
Rd. between Wurzbach and Evers did not exist at this time.) It then
turned onto a section of Bandera Rd. between Loop 410 and Wurzbach that
no longer exists; this ran just to the west of today's Bandera Rd. From
there,
it followed Bandera Rd. northwest to Helotes where it followed FM 1560
west
briefly to Riggs Rd. and continued on Riggs and Old Bandera Rd. through
Helotes, then back onto today's SH 16 north of Scenic Loop Rd. (i.e. at
the El Chaparral.) From there, it followed SH 16 into Bandera County. |

SOUTH |
This route headed
south from downtown on S Flores St. and
continued south-southeast on
Flores. The route then
ended
at Roosevelt Ave. |
 |
The
route started on
Old Pearsall Rd. at today's Military Dr. and continued northeastward to
Leon
Creek, then curved back to the southeast and onto today's Military Dr.
and ran east and ended at New Laredo Hwy. Another section to the east
ran from S Flores St. along Military Dr. to the San
Antonio River where it then turned northeastward and
intersected S Presa St. about 100 yards north of the current
intersection. The section between New Laredo Hwy. and S Flores St.
existed at this time as a gravel county road and was in the process of
being upgraded to state highway standards. |
S Alamo St. at S Presa St. (US
81/US 181)
looking SW ca. 1940
Note the
US Highway shields on the signpost at the left and, if you look
closely, also at the right across the intersection. US 181 turned left
onto Presa here while US 81 continued south
on Alamo.
(Photo
courtesy of TxDOT)
1950

Click here to view a detailed map
of these routes on
Google Maps
There
were only a few changes in the radial highways in the decade between
1940 and 1949, mainly
straightening some of the remaining kinks in the older routes. A
new
route was added in 1946 when the
road
to Poteet and Jourdanton was designated as State Highway 346.
Loop 13 was extended northwest to US 90 through the new Lackland AFB
and east to WW White Rd. and then north to US 90, and the first section on the North Side was completed running
from San Pedro Ave. to Austin Hwy., which mostly usurped the existing
Zercher Rd. and Harry Wuzbach Military Hwy.
But the
biggest change came in
1949 with the
opening of the city's first expressway; it was a segment of US 87 that
replaced the routing
on Fredericksburg Rd. from Woodlawn into downtown. SH 16 was also
adjusted to take advantage of the new expressway.
Changes
from
1940
are
noted in bold
below.

NORTH |
To New Braunfels - San Marcos -
Austin - Waco - Ft. Worth
The route left
downtown along Broadway
and
turned northeast onto
Austin Highway in Alamo Heights. It continued along Austin Hwy. and
then east
along
today's Loop 410
through the town of Fratt and onto Randolph Blvd. before joining
today's I‑35 at
Judson Rd, then northeast from there on the current
route of I‑35 to Engel Rd. Just past
there, it followed today's Old Hwy 81 to Solms and the current FM 482
back to today's I‑35 near Rueckle Rd. It then bypassed New Braunfels on
the current route of Business 35 and then north from there to San
Marcos on today's I‑35. |

SOUTH |
To Devine - Pearsall - Cotulla -
Laredo
This highway left downtown on S. Alamo
St. and turned left onto S. Flores. It then veered right onto Nogalitos
St.
and continued southwest to a traffic circle at Aviation Blvd. (which
today is part of Zarzamora St.) It then veered onto New Laredo
Hwy. and followed it south and onto the current path of I‑35 near
today's Loop
410 where it continued on to the southwest, following today's SH 132
into Lytle and merging with the previous route from there. |

NORTH
|
To Leon Springs - Boerne -
Comfort - Fredericksburg - San Angelo - Lubbock - Amarillo
This route left downtown headed
north on the San Saba St. (NB)/Pecos St. (SB)
one-way pair and entered the new
expressway that
started at the Martin St. intersection. The
expressway ended and merged onto Fredericksburg Rd. at Woodlawn.
The route then continued on
Fredericksburg Rd. northwest all the way to north of Huebner where it
joined today's I‑10. From there it headed northwest to Leon
Springs and followed the road through Leon Springs (now the old WB
frontage
road) and returned to today's I-10 near Aue Rd. It then followed today's
I‑10
all the way to
Boerne and through Boerne on Main St. North of
Boerne, the route used
today's path of I-10 to Nelson City. There, the route curved onto
today's FM 289 and followed it into Comfort. |

EAST |
To
La Vernia - Stockdale - Cuero - Victoria - Port Lavaca
This highway left downtown
along E Commerce St. It
then turned south at S New Braunfels Ave. and followed that to Rigsby
Ave. There, it turned east and followed today's path of US 87 to the
east. In East Bexar County, it followed the paths of today's Loop 106
and Loop 107. |

WEST |
To Castroville - Hondo - Uvalde
- Del Rio
This route headed west from downtown along W Commerce St. and veered
southwest on Enrique
Barrera Blvd. (Old Highway 90) before joining today's US
90 and heading west. (The
sections along Kriewald Rd. and on Old Highway 90 near Jungman
Rd. in far west Bexar County were now bypassed.) |

EAST |
To Seguin - Luling - Columbus -
Houston - Beaumont
This road left
downtown headed east on Commerce St. and onto what's now
I‑10 near E. Houston St. and then on to Seguin. East
of Seguin, the route followed today's route for US
90 to Houston. |
 |
To Floresville -
Kenedy -
Beeville - Corpus Christi
Heading south of downtown on S. Alamo St., the route turned left onto
S.
Presa St. and continued south and southeast and onto today's
route for
US 181.
|

NORTH |
To Blanco - Johnson City -
Lampasas - Mineral Wells - Wichita Falls
This route headed north from downtown on Navarro St. and onto San Pedro
Ave., where
it continued north to Blanco, Johnson City, and beyond. (The
southbound route through downtown used Main St.) |

SOUTH |
To Pleasanton - George West - Alice
-
Edinburg
This route headed south on Main St., then left onto
Navarro St. It then turned right onto S St. Mary's St. and onto
Roosevelt Ave. It
continued south on Roosevelt and onto the current route of US 281 south
of today's Loop 410.
|

NORTH |
To Helotes - Bandera - Kerrville
This
route left downtown headed north on the San Saba St. (NB)/Pecos St. (SB)
one-way pair and entered
the new
expressway that started at the intersection with Martin St. It followed
the new expressway to the northwest and exited
onto Cincinnati Ave. There,
it turned west and followed Cincinnati to Bandera Rd.
It then veered northwest
onto Bandera Rd. and followed
it northwest to Helotes where it
veered onto Old Bandera Rd. through
Helotes, then back onto today's SH 16 north of Scenic Loop
Rd. (i.e. at
the El Chaparral.) From there, it followed SH 16 into Bandera County. (The segments
along
Evers, Daughtry,
and Loop 410 as well as the section along
Riggs Rd. in Helotes were now bypassed.) |

SOUTH |
This route left downtown headed
south on the San Saba St. (NB)/Pecos St. (SB)
one-way pair and probably turned left onto El
Paso St., then right onto S. Flores St. From there, it
continued south-southeast on
Flores to Roosevelt Ave. where it ended. |
 |
To Poteet - Jourdanton
This was a new route that started
at the traffic circle on US 81 South at Aviation Blvd./Zarzamora St.
and continued southwest on Somerset Rd. It then turned south onto Palo
Alto and continued south to the Medina River where it made a dogleg to
the east on Old Palo Alto Road to cross the river before returning back
to today's route to Poteet. |
 |
The route started at US 90 West
and ran southeast along Military Dr. through Lackland AFB, then east along Military Dr.
to WW White Rd., then north along WW White Rd. to I-10 East. Another
section was completed from San Pedro Ave. east to Austin Hwy. |
Fredericksburg Rd. at the US 87
expressway terminus looking NW ca. 1950
You
can see the on-ramp to the new expressway at the
left and the curve up to Fredericksburg Rd. from the end of the
expressway just past the overpass at the right.
(Photo
courtesy of TxDOT)
1956

Click here to view a detailed map
of these routes on
Google Maps
This
was the last
year before the construction of the Interstate Highway System began and
therefore the last year in this historical review. Locally,
this
period saw the most changes in local
highway routings in decades as two new sections of expressway north and
south of downtown were completed. Although primarily designed to be a
bypass
for US 81, the two new expressway segments facilitated
changes to
all the other routes so that they could now completely
bypass the downtown core. The other linchpin for this was the
construction of Steves Ave. connecting Probandt St. to Roosevelt Ave.
and S. Presa St. This new road allowed
the three southeastern routes to be trunked and shunted westward south
of downtown. There, they were routed onto the new expressway and the
San Saba/Pecos one-way street pair along the west side of downtown.
Another significant change during this time was the routing of SH 16
North-- it had now been changed to use a dramatically improved section
of Culebra Ave. and Bandera Rd. Finally, Loop 13 had been extended
north on the East Side to US 81 at Fratt, and plans were now in the works to extend it around the northwest side of the city.
Changes
from 1950 are
noted in bold
below.

NORTH |
To New Braunfels - San Marcos -
Austin - Waco - Ft. Worth
This
route left downtown headed
north on the San Saba St. (NB)/Pecos St. (SB) one-way pair and entered
the new US 81 expressway at Travis St. It then followed the
expressway northeast to its end at Broadway where the route then turned
left onto Broadway. From there, it followed Broadway
north and
turned northeast onto
Austin Highway in Alamo Heights. It continued along Austin Hwy. and
then east
along
today's Loop 410
through the town of Fratt and onto Randolph Blvd. before joining
today's I‑35 at
Judson Rd, then northeast from there on the current
route of I‑35 to Engel Rd. Just past
there, it followed today's Old Hwy 81 to Solms and the current FM 482
back to today's I‑35 near Rueckle Rd. It then bypassed New Braunfels on
the current route of Business 35 and then north from there to San
Marcos on today's I‑35. |

SOUTH |
To Devine - Pearsall - Cotulla -
Laredo
This
route left downtown headed south on the San Saba St. (NB)/Pecos St.
(SB) one-way pair and entered the new US
81 expressway at Guadalupe
St. The
expressway ended and merged onto Nogalitos St. The
route then continued southwest on Nogalitos
St. to a
traffic circle at Zarzamora St. where it veered onto New
Laredo
Hwy. and followed it onto the current path of I‑35 near today's Loop
410. It continued on to the southwest, following today's SH 132
into Lytle and merging with the previous route from there. |

NORTH
|
To Leon Springs - Boerne -
Comfort - Fredericksburg - San Angelo - Lubbock - Amarillo
This
route left
downtown headed
north on the San Saba St.(NB)/Pecos St.(SB) one-way pair and entered
the US 87 expressway at the Martin St. intersection. The
expressway ended and merged onto Fredericksburg Rd. at Woodlawn.
The route then continued on
Fredericksburg Rd. northwest all the way to north of Huebner where it
joined today's I‑10. From there it headed
northwest to Leon
Springs and followed the road through Leon Springs (now the old WB
frontage
road) and returned to today's I-10 near Aue Rd. It then followed today's
I‑10
all the way to
Boerne and through Boerne on Main St. North of
Boerne, the route used
today's path of I-10 to Nelson City. There, the route curved onto
today's FM 289 and followed it into Comfort. |

EAST |
To
La Vernia - Stockdale - Cuero - Victoria - Port Lavaca
This
highway left downtown headed south on the San Saba St. (NB)/Pecos St.
(SB) one-way pair and entered the new US
81 expressway at Guadalupe
St. and immediately exited at S. Alamo St.
It turned left onto S. Alamo and followed it to Probandt St. It veered
onto Probandt and turned left onto Steves Ave. It continued on Steves
to S. Presa St. where it turned left (north) and then made a right turn
(east) onto Highland Blvd. From there, it followed Highland Blvd. east
to S. New Braunfels Ave. (Highland at this time continued east through
what's now the I‑10/I‑37 interchange). There, it turned left (north)
onto S New Braunfels before turning right again onto Rigsby Ave. It then
followed today's path of US 87 to the
east. In East Bexar County, it followed the paths of today's Loop 106
and Loop 107. |

WEST |
To Castroville - Hondo - Uvalde
- Del Rio
This route headed west from downtown along W Commerce St. from San Saba
and veered
southwest on Enrique
Barrera Blvd. (Old Highway 90) before joining today's US
90 and heading west. |

EAST |
To Seguin - Gonzales -
Houston - Beaumont
From W. Commerce
St. on the west side of downtown, the route turned south on the San Saba St. (NB)/Pecos St. (SB) one-way pair where it entered the new US 81 expressway
at Guadalupe
St. and immediately exited at S. Alamo St.
It then turned left onto S. Alamo and followed it through Southtown,
crossing S. Presa St before veering right onto Water St. It then
followed Water St. through what's now Hemisfair Park back to E Commerce
St. at Elm St. where it turned right. It then
headed east on Commerce St. and onto what's now
I‑10 near E. Houston St. and then on to Seguin. East of Seguin, the
route followed today's route for US 90 to Houston. |
 |
To Floresville -
Kenedy -
Beeville - Corpus Christi
Starting at the US
81 South expressway at S. Alamo St., the route followed S.
Alamo southeast to Probandt St. It veered onto Probandt and
turned left onto Steves Ave. It continued on Steves to S. Presa St.
where it then turned right. From
there, it continued south and southeast on S.
Presa and onto today's
route for
US 181.
|

NORTH |
To Blanco - Johnson City -
Lampasas - Mineral Wells - Wichita Falls
This
route left downtown headed
north on the San Saba St. (NB)/Pecos St. (SB) one-way pair and entered
the new US 81 expressway at Travis St. It then followed the
expressway briefly before exiting at San Pedro Ave. and turning
left. It then
followed San Pedro
Ave. north to Blanco, Johnson City, and beyond.
|

SOUTH |
To Pleasanton - George West - Alice
-
Edinburg
This
highway left downtown headed south on the San Saba St. (NB)/Pecos St.
(SB) one-way pair and entered the new US
81 expressway at Guadalupe
St. and immediately exited at S. Alamo St.
It turned left onto S. Alamo and followed it to Probandt St. It veered
onto Probandt and turned left onto Steves Ave. It continued on Steves
and turned right onto Roosevelt Ave. It
continued south on Roosevelt and onto the current route of US 281 south
of today's Loop 410.
|

NORTH |
To Helotes - Bandera - Kerrville
This
route left downtown headed north on the San
Saba St. (NB)/Pecos St. (SB) one-way pair. At
Martin St., it entered
the new
expressway and followed it to the northwest. It then exited at Culebra Ave.,
turned west, and followed
Culebra to Bandera Rd. There, it veered northwest
onto Bandera Rd. and followed it to Helotes where it
veered onto Old Bandera Rd. through
Helotes, then back onto today's SH 16 north of Scenic Loop Rd. (i.e. at
the El Chaparral.) From there, it followed SH 16 into Bandera
County. |

SOUTH |
This road left downtown headed
south on the San Saba St. (NB)/Pecos St.
(SB) one-way pair and entered the new US
81 expressway at Guadalupe
St. and immediately exited at S. Alamo St. It turned left onto S. Alamo and
then right onto S. Flores St. From
there, it continued south-southeast on
Flores to Roosevelt Ave. where it ended. |
 |
This highway
started
at the traffic circle on US 81 South at Zarzamora St.
and continued southwest on Somerset Rd. It then turned south onto Palo
Alto and continued south on today's route to Poteet. (The previous
dogleg at the Medina River had been straightened and used a new bridge
by this time.) |
 |
The route started
at US 90 West
and ran southeast along Military Dr. through Lackland AFB,
then east along Military Dr. to WW White Rd., then north along
WW White Rd. to Loop
410, then north along Loop 410 and I-35 to Randolph Blvd., then west
along Loop 410 to San Pedro Ave. |
Fredericksburg Rd. (US 87) at
Donaldson Ave. looking SE ca. 1959
(Photo
courtesy of TxDOT)
Postscript
By
1959, the
elevated "Central Expressway" along the west side of downtown
connecting the three previously completed sections of expressway north
and south of downtown was complete and open to traffic. This allowed
all the routes except US 90 that had previously been using the San
Saba/Pecos
one-way street pairs to now pass over the west end of downtown without
stopping. At that time, this was a big deal!
As
the Interstates were built and the city's expressway system was
expanded, all of the US Highways through the city were routed over them
with the exception of US 87 East. US 81 was routed along I‑35, US 87
North was routed on I‑10 West, US 90 East was routed over
I‑10 East,
and part of US 281 South was routed over I‑37 and Loop 410. US 181
was truncated at I‑37 and US 90
West and US 281
North were routed over their own new expressways. In several
cases, parts of the old highway routes in the outlying areas were
upgraded in-place to Interstates or expressways.
After
the US Highways were moved to the Interstates and expressways, some of
the roads were decommissioned as state highways and returned to the
city for maintenance, but most of
the old routes through the city were kept as state highways.
These were renumbered as State Loops or Spurs. Three of them--
Fredericksburg
Rd., Austin Hwy./Broadway, and New Laredo Hwy./Nogalitos were actually
signed as Business US 87 and Business US 81 respectively until about
1991 even though they officially carried different state highway
numbers. For
unknown reasons, Old Highway 90, Commerce St., and San Pedro
inside
Loop 410 did not remain part of the state highway system. The
table below summarizes the route changes after 1960.
ORIGINAL
ROUTE |
RENUMBERED
ROUTE |
REMARKS |

NORTH |
 |
1962:
The
stretch between I‑35 and Loop 410 was renumbered and the section
along Randolph Blvd. was
decommissioned. Was signed as Business US 81 until about 1991.
2014:
The
section from I‑35 to Alamo Heights was decommissioned.
|

SOUTH |
 |
1961:
Renumbered
in 1961. Was signed as Business US 81 until about 1991.
|

NORTH |
 |
1962:
Remaining portion north of Woodlawn was renumbered. Was signed as
Business US 87 until about
1991.
2014:
The section from Woodlawn to Balcones Heights was decommissioned.
|

EAST |
|
1970:
Routed
over I‑10 East and Roland Ave. and the previous segments west
of Roland were decommissioned.
|

WEST |
|
1968:
Replaced
by US 90 expressway. Old Highway 90 (Enrique Barrera Pkwy)
and W Commerce decommissioned.
|

EAST |
|
1968:
Routed
over I‑10 East. E Commerce St. decommissioned.
|
 |
 |
1974: US
181
truncated at I‑37 with the section from there to Loop 13 (SE
Military) renumbered as Spur 122. The remaining route was
decommissioned.
|

NORTH |
 |
1978:
San
Pedro north of Loop 410 to the new US 281 expressway renumbered
while San Pedro inside Loop 410 was decommissioned.
2015:
Spur 537 decommissioned.
|

SOUTH |
 |
1978: US
281
north of Loop 410 routed over Loop 410 and I‑37
and the
stretch of former US 281 between Loop 410 and I‑35 renumbered.
|

NORTH |
 |
1965: SH
16 south of Loop 410 routed over Loop 410 to Poteet-Jourdanton Freeway
and the segment inside Loop 410
renumbered.
|

SOUTH |
|
1964: S.
Flores St. route decommissioned.
|
 |
 |
1957:
The section south of I-35 to Zarzamora was
upgraded with the construction of I-35.
1964:
Section
of the route north of I‑35 decommissioned.
1965:
SH 346
south of Loop 410 renumbered to SH 16, SH 346 north of Loop 410 to I‑35
renumbered to Spur 422, and SH 16 north of Loop 410 routed over Loop
410 to Bandera Rd.
|
Since
it was completely co-existent with I‑35 (and therefore superfluous), US
81 south of Ft. Worth was
decommissioned in 1991.
Starting
in 2014, some sections of those old US highways were decommissioned
by the state and returned to the City of San Antonio as part of TxDOT's
"turnback" program to help reduce maintenance costs. Those sections
are Broadway from I‑35 to Alamo Heights, Fredericksburg from I‑10 to
Balcones Heights, and San Pedro from Loop 410 to US 281.
Other
pages of interest on this site
Other
sites of
interest
|