State Highway 78 (SH 78) 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 ...

that follows surface roads in a predominantly southwest-to-northeast direction in the

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 ...

area before traveling north-northeast to the

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

State border.

Route description

The highway's southern terminus is at

Interstate 30 Interstate 30 (I-30) is a Interstate Highway in the southern states of Texas and Arkansas in the United States. I-30 travels from I-20 west of Fort Worth, Texas, northeast via Dallas, and Texarkana, Texas, to I-40 in North Little Rock, A ...

in Dallas. From there, it follows Grand Avenue along

White Rock Lake White Rock Lake is a reservoir located in north-east Dallas, Texas (United States). The lake was formed by damming White Rock Creek, which today widens into the lake before continuing south out of the spillway and emptying into the Trinity Rive ...

and then Garland Road into

Garland A garland is a decorative braid, knot or wreath of flowers, leaves, or other material. Garlands can be worn on the head or around the neck, hung on an inanimate object, or laid in a place of cultural or religious importance. Etymology From the ...

as it passes Interstate 635. In downtown Garland, Highway 78 follows the central streets of Avenues B and D before joining Lavon Drive and moving northeastward. It continues to the northeast through Sachse and Wylie, crossing between

Lake Ray Hubbard Lake Ray Hubbard, formerly Eastern Dallas Lake or Forney Lake, is a freshwater impoundment (reservoir) located in Dallas, Texas in the counties of Dallas, Kaufman, Collin, and Rockwall, just north of the City of Forney. It was created by the co ...

and

Lake Lavon Lavon Lake is a freshwater reservoir located in southeast Collin County, Texas, on the East Fork of the Trinity River near Wylie, off State Highway 78. It is commonly called Lake Lavon for commercial and recreational purposes, but Lavon Lake is ...

. It passes through Lavon before turning north through Farmersville and Blue Ridge. At SH 160, just before SH 121, SH 78 turns east, continuing to

Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate from the Old High German ''Leonhard'' containing the prefix ''levon'' ("lion") from the Greek Λέων ("lion") through the Latin '' L ...

before turning northeast again to Bailey. At Bailey, SH 78 turns north and cuts through Bonham (as Center Street) to reach Sowell's Bluff Bridge (a 1938 truss bridge) over the Red River. The route continues as Oklahoma State Highway 78 through Durant to its terminus at Tishomingo.

History

left, 50px The highway was originally designated on August 21, 1923, from Dallas to Bonham, replacing SH 5C. On May 19, 1924, the section from

Desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

to Bonham was cancelled. SH 78 was instead rerouted on its current route north of Desert to Bonham. On March 30, 1933, SH 78 was extended to

. On October 6, 1943, SH 78 was extended south to

Loop 12 Loop 12 is a state highway that runs mostly within the city limits of Dallas, Texas. The western segment of the loop is named after General Walton Walker, who served and died in South Korea. During the 1950s and 1960s, Loop 12 was the outer be ...

. On June 21, 1951, the section from US 67 to Loop 12 was renumbered to Spur 244. US 67 was rerouted over current I-30, and the old route was transferred to rerouted SH 78 and the rest northeast of SH 78 was renumbered to FM 7, which was cancelled and transferred to SH 66 on November 30, 1961. SH 78A was a spur designated on May 9, 1927 from

to Bells. This spur was renumbered as SH 160 on March 19, 1930.

Flooding

In 1990, SH 78 was flooded, as engineers at the Lake Lavon Dam decided to release the water from the lake into the East Fork of the Trinity River. For a month and a half, the traffic going between Wylie and the eastern portion of Collin County was diverted to go through the city of Rockwall, a nearly detour. The railroad that ran adjacent to the highway was completely washed out, and significant shoulder damage was done to the highway.

Junctions

References

{{Dallas_Streets 078 Transportation in Dallas County, Texas Transportation in Collin County, Texas Transportation in Fannin County, Texas