Farm to Market Road 734 (FM 734) is a

farm-to-market road In the United States, a farm-to-market road or ranch-to-market road (sometimes farm road or ranch road for short) is a state highway or county road that connects rural or agricultural areas to market towns. These are better quality roads, usually ...

in Travis and Williamson counties in the U.S. state of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. It is the state-maintained portion of Parmer Lane, a major

arterial road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below freeways/motorways on the road hierarchy in terms of traffic flow and speed. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector ro ...

in the region. Most of the route's length is located just within the northern city limits of

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, with portions located in Cedar Park,

Leander Leander is one of the protagonists in the story of Hero and Leander in Greek mythology. Leander may also refer to: People * Leander (given name) * Leander (surname) Places * Leander, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Le ...

, and unincorporated areas.

Route description

The southern terminus of FM 734 is at

US 290 U.S. Route 290 (US 290) is an east–west U.S. Highway located entirely within the state of Texas. Its western terminus is at Interstate 10 southeast of Segovia, and its eastern terminus is at Interstate 610 in northwest Houston. It is the ...

, just west of Manor in Travis County. It travels northwest to intersect with

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border ...

(I-35). It continues to Loop 1 and crosses SH 45 and RM 620 in northwest Austin before reaching its northern terminus at RM 1431 in Cedar Park. The roadway continues beyond RM 1431 as Ronald W. Reagan Boulevard, which travels northward into

before curving eastward back to I-35 within the southern city limits of Jarrell. For most of its length, FM 734 is a six-lane divided roadway. West of Loop 1, the road has wide shoulders and is relatively lightly developed, making it attractive as a bicycling route. However, FM 734 does carry a high traffic load during rush hours, especially at Loop 1 and I-35. FM 734 is primarily a four-lane road between US 290 and Yager Lane, east of I-35. On June 27, 1995, FM 734 was redesignated Urban Road 734 (UR 734). The designation reverted to FM 734 with the elimination of the Urban Road system on November 15, 2018. Except for the section between Loop 1 and I-35, Parmer Lane is designated a scenic roadway by the City of Austin.

History

Previous route

Current route

Parmer Lane between Loop 275 (Lamar Boulevard) and Loop 1 (Mopac Boulevard) was first designated as FM 734 on April 25, 1978. It extended north to RM 620 on April 23, 1981. The current termini of FM 734 were set on October 24, 1985, when the northern terminus was moved from RM 620 to RM 1431, and on May 16, 1988, when the southern terminus was moved from Loop 275 to US 290. In 1997, FM 734 was improved east of I-35 to accommodate a new

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational corporation, multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of ...

chip fabrication facility. Other major developments along FM 734 include a

Freescale Semiconductor Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. was an American semiconductor manufacturer. It was created by the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola in 2004. Freescale focused their integrated circuit products on the automotive, embe ...

office complex built south of RM 620 in 1999, the Round Rock ISD Athletic Complex built between RM 620 and RM 1431 in 2003 and the Tech Ridge shopping center, which opened at I-35 in 2003.

Junction list

References

{{Austin Streets 0734 Transportation in Austin, Texas Cedar Park, Texas Transportation in Williamson County, Texas Transportation in Travis County, Texas