State Highway 16 (SH 16) is a south–north state highway in the U.S. state of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

that runs from Zapata on the boundary with

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to U.S. Highway 281 south of

Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. According ...

. It is the longest state highway in Texas at almost , but is only the ninth-longest of any highway classification in the state.

Route description

SH 16 begins at an intersection at

US 83 U.S. Route 83 (US 83) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that extends in the central United States. Only four other north–south routes are longer: US 1, US 41, US 59, and US 87, while ...

in Zapata. The route continues through south Texas ranchlands, then to the north through San Antonio's far south side. The routes enters

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

from the southeast, and goes around the west side of the city concurrent with Interstate 410. The route veers to the northwest as it passes through Bandera, Kerrville, and Fredericksburg, and then reaches the Texas Hill Country. After passing through the cities of Comanche and Llano, it continues north through ranchland and farms. Its next intersection is with I-20 south of the town of Strawn. It continues to the northwest, wrapping around the northern and eastern sides of Possum Kingdom Lake. It reaches an intersection with

US 380 U.S. Route 380 (US 380) is an east–west United States highway. The highway's eastern terminus is in Greenville, Texas at an intersection with Interstate 30, of which the easternmost 3–4 miles are concurrent with US 69 in a loop around ...

in the town of

Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...

. In North Texas, the highway reaches its northern terminus between Antelope and Windthorst, almost 542 miles from its starting point.

Previous routes

SH 16 was one of the original twenty five state highways proposed on June 21, 1917, overlaid on top of the Fort Worth-Oklahoma Highway. From 1917 the routing mostly followed present day Interstate 35W from Fort Worth to Denton. It continued on, routed along present day

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 ...

from Fort Worth through to Oklahoma. A spur, SH 16A, went from Denton to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

. On March 18, 1919, the route and SH 16A were cancelled, as both routes became part of SH 40. SH 16 was then reassigned to the future route of U.S. Highway 181 (which was routed over it in 1926) from

to Corpus Christi on August 21, 1923. SH 16 then went west on SH 44 to Robstown, south on U.S. Highway 77, and west on SH 285. This route replaced portions of SH 9 and SH 12. On January 20, 1930, SH 16 Spur was created in Sinton. SH 16 was extended on January 19, 1932, following SH 9 to

Brady Brady may refer to: People * Brady (surname) * Brady (given name) * Brady (nickname) * Brady Boone, a ring name of American professional wrestler Dean Peters (1958–1998) Places in the United States * Brady, Montana, a census-designated plac ...

, replaced SH 107 to

Santa Anna Santa Anna may refer to: * Santa Anna, Texas, a town in Coleman County in Central Texas, United States * Santa Anna, Starr County, Texas * Santa Anna Township, DeWitt County, Illinois, one of townships in DeWitt County, Illinois, United States. ...

, following SH 7, SH 4, SH 30, and

SH 18 Route 18, or Highway 18, may refer to: International * Asian Highway 18 * European route E18 * European route E018 Argentina * Australia * Waterfall Way Canada * Alberta Highway 18 * British Columbia Highway 18 * Manitoba Highway 18 * On ...

to Sagerton, then replaced SH 51 to the Oklahoma State line. On February 10, 1937, the southern section of SH 16 was rerouted northwest and northeast to Fredericksburg, replacing part of SH 81. On September 26, 1939, the section from Brady to Santa Anna was promptly reassigned to U.S. Highway 183. The section from San Antonio to Corpus Christi, which was cosigned with US 181, was cancelled. The section from Corpus Christi to Robstown was transferred to rerouted SH 44, south of Robstown to rerouted SH 96 (now US 77), and from there to Falfurrias became an extension of SH 285. The section from Sagerton to the Oklahoma State line was renumbered as SH 283. The sections cosigned with other state highways had their co-designation of SH 16 removed. SH 16 was rerouted north to south of Graham, replacing SH 81 and part of SH 120. SH 16 Spur was renumbered Spur 72. On August 31, 1965, the road was significantly extended via its current routing to Zapata, replacing State Highway 346 from San Antonio to Jourdanton, and also replaced portions of SH 173 and FM 496. On November 16, 1965, it was rerouted over Interstate 410 in San Antonio. On January 31, 1969, SH 16 was extended north to US 281, replacing portions of SH 254 and FM 61. The section of SH 16 from Loop 1604 to Eckhert Road (former FM 1517) was proposed for decommissioning in 2014 as part of TxDOT's San Antonio turnback proposal, which would have turned back over 129 miles of roads to the city of San Antonio. SH 16 would have been rerouted over Loop 1604, and Spur 421 and Spur 422 would have been extended over old SH 16. However, the city rejected the proposal.

Future

The section of SH 16 between Loop 1604 and Triana Parkway in Helotes is in the process of being upgraded into a

superstreet A superstreet, also known as a restricted crossing U-turn (RCUT), J-turn, or reduced conflict intersection (RCI), is a type of road intersection that is a variation of the Michigan left. In this configuration, in contrast to the Michigan left, ...

. The main focus of the project includes reconstructing the intersections at Loop 1604 and FM 1560 / Circle A Trail. Construction at the Loop 1604 intersection is projected to be finished sometime in 2019.

Major intersections

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline, Texas State Highway 16

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