Loop 289 is a multi-lane

beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

servicing

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northwe ...

as a

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

. The highway serves as the southern end for

Interstate 27 Interstate 27 (I-27) is an Interstate Highway, entirely in the US state of Texas, running north from Lubbock to I-40 in Amarillo. These two cities are the only control cities on I-27; other cities and towns served by I-27 include (from south ...

on the south side of the city. The highway passes about a mile south of

Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport is five miles north of Lubbock, in Lubbock County, Texas, United States. Originally Lubbock International Airport, it was renamed in 2004 for former Texas governor Preston E. Smith, an alumnus of Te ...

on the north side near the intersection with I-27.

History

Lubbock is among the smallest U.S. cities to be encircled by a beltway or loop highway. Loop 289 is a

grade-separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tran ...

controlled-access freeway. Built from 1960 to 1972, it is 26 miles (42 kilometers) long. When first constructed, Loop 289 passed through entirely rural areas. Today,

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

extends beyond the beltway, especially in southwestern Lubbock. Loop 289 was designated on September 20, 1955. I-27, completed through Lubbock in 1992, serves as the city's north-south freeway. In 2004, construction began on the Marsha Sharp Freeway, the east-west freeway. Cosigned as

US 62 U.S. Route 62 or U.S. Highway 62 (US 62) runs from the Mexican border at El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York, near the Canadian border. It is the only east-west United States Numbered Highway that connects Mexico and Canada ...

US 82 U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is an east–west United States highway in the Southern United States. Created on July 1, 1931 across central Mississippi and southern Arkansas, US 82 eventually became a 1,625-mile (2,615 km) route extending from ...

at its interchange with the east leg of Loop 289, the Marsha Sharp Freeway begins northeast of downtown Lubbock and extends to a mile west of the west leg of Loop 289. From there, it is under construction and is to be extended west to the nearby suburb of Wolfforth.

Lane configuration

Loop 289 is a complete loop freeway with four to six mainline lanes. The freeways have frontage roads for nearly the entire route. It is one of only three complete

controlled-access A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

loops in Texas, the other two being Interstate 610 and

Beltway 8 Beltway 8 (BW8), the Sam Houston Parkway, along with the Sam Houston Tollway, is an beltway around the city of Houston, Texas, United States, lying entirely within Harris County. Beltway 8, a state highway maintained by the Texas ...

(Sam Houston Parkway, and Sam Houston Tollway), both of which encircle

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. At certain junctions, the freeway widens using auxiliary (exit only) lanes. At most interchanges with other highways, there are partial to full access ramps, that directly serve the mainline lanes and/or frontage roads.

Popular culture

The

Dixie Chicks The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and E ...

reference Loop 289 in "Lubbock or Leave It", a track from their 2006 release ''

Taking the Long Way ''Taking the Long Way'' is the seventh studio album by American country music group Dixie Chicks. Released on May 23, 2006, through Columbia Nashville, it was also the group's last album released under the “Dixie Chicks” name. The album debut ...

''. The lyric reads: 'Oh, boy, rave on down Loop 289 / That'll be the day you see me back in this fool's paradise".

Exit list

Counter-clockwise (CCW) reads down and clockwise (CW) reads up.

References

{{reflist 289 Freeways in Texas Transportation in Lubbock, Texas Transportation in Lubbock County, Texas Beltways in the United States