State Highway 195 (SH 195) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

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 ...

that runs from

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 ...

in Georgetown north to FM 439 in Killeen. In Killeen, SH 195 is known as Fort Hood Street, as the highway leads to the entrance of

Fort Hood Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. Named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquarters ...

. The Texas Memorial Highway System has designated the entire road as the Phantom Warriors Highway.

History

This route was designated on June 5, 1933, from Georgetown and turned approximately north of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, to meet up with SH 74 (now

U.S. Highway 183 U.S. Route 183 (US 183) is a north–south United States highway. The highway's northern terminus is in Presho, South Dakota, at an intersection with Interstate 90. Its southern terminus is in Refugio, Texas, at the southern intersection ...

), as a renumbering of a portion of SH 74, which was rerouted further west. The section from Killeen southwest 5 miles was originally designated FM 440 on June 11, 1945, but was extended south 3.8 miles on May 26, 1949, and to SH 195 in Florence on May 23, 1951. FM 440 was redesignated as RM 440 on October 1, 1956. On January 27, 1988, the section of SH 195 from Florence to U.S. Highway 183 was redesignated as State Highway 138. SH 195 was rerouted over RM 440 north to US 190 in Kileen. The section of RM 440 from Business US 190 to US 190 became part of FM 439. On January 31, 2002, SH 195 was extended north over part of FM 439 to the east gate of Fort Hood, as part of FM 439 from there to FM 2410 was cancelled, and FM 439 was rerouted south replacing part of FM 2410 to BU 190-F & FM 2410. As of October 2005, portions of the highway between Killeen and Florence are four lanes with median, or two lanes with shoulders. In Florence, the highway becomes a four-lane road with traffic signals at the intersection of FM 487, as well as the intersection of FM 970, near Florence Middle School and Florence High School. South of FM 970, it is a two-lane road all the way to Interstate 35. As of October 2005, SH 195 is undergoing a major overhaul. The former two-lane highway is being widened to four lanes with a median and shoulders. The project has been broken up into phases. In the first phase, the road was widened from just south of FM 3470 in Killeen (known locally as Stan Schlueter Loop) to near the intersection with RM 2670 in the community of Ding Dong. The second phase added two new bridges over the

Lampasas River The Lampasas River ( ) is a river in the U.S. state of Texas. The river originates near the city of Hamilton, Texas, Hamilton and travels southeast for 75 miles through central Texas to a man-made reservoir called Stillhouse Hollow Lake. The river ...

and extended to near the Bell-Williamson county line. The third and final phase was completed. It begins 3 miles south of State Highway 138 near Florence and stretches to Ronald Reagan Boulevard in Georgetown. Due to federally protected bugs which reside in caves under the 195 roads, the progression of the final phase was delayed until funding could be produced to purchase these caves. In the future, new phases will create a divided highway along the entire length of SH 195. A bypass was constructed around the town of Florence, so that travellers can avoid the before-school and after-school traffic in Florence. There are several reasons for the construction project. The road was once known in Central Texas as the "Highway of Death" due to the many fatal accidents on 195. One small period between 1996 and 1998 saw the loss of 21 lives. The road's new design will ease traffic congestion caused by daily commutes to Georgetown and Austin, since the road is the only route directly to Interstate 35 from Killeen, besides

Interstate 14 Interstate 14 (I-14), also known as the "14th Amendment Highway", the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway, and the Central Texas Corridor, is an Interstate Highway that is located entirely in Central Texas, following U.S. Route 190 (US& ...

U.S. Highway 190 U.S. Route 190 (US 190) is an east–west United States Highway in Louisiana and Texas. Segments of US 190 will be upgraded to Interstate 14 (I-14); the first segment was opened on January 26, 2017. Route description , - , TX , , - , ...

. Also, the new highway will facilitate vehicle movement in the event of a deployment of troops from Fort Hood en route to Interstate 35. On May 31, 2007, the highway officially reopened to the public as the finished divided highway.

Business route

SH 195 has one signed business route, Business State Highway 195-H (Bus. SH 195-H), which is a former routing of SH 195 through

. The designation took effect on March 26, 2020, and was one of several realignments of SH 195, which also included the designation of Spur 376 and Spur 377.

Major intersections

References

{{reflist

External links

State Senator Troy Fraser's press release about SH 195 expansion

195 Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 ''Ab urbe cond ...

Transportation in Williamson County, Texas Transportation in Bell County, Texas Fort Hood