Farm to Market Road 78 (FM 78) is a
farm-to-market road connecting
San Antonio and
Seguin,
Texas.
Route description
The western terminus of FM 78 is in
Bexar County, near
Fort Sam Houston and the southern end of the concurrency of
Interstates 35 and
410
__NOTOC__
Year 410 (CDX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year after the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius (or, less frequently, year 1163 ...
in San Antonio.
Access to FM 78 is available from I-35 Exit #162 and from I-410 Exit #31A (southbound) and #32 (northbound). Heading in a northeasterly direction, the route briefly enters
Kirby
Kirby may refer to:
Buildings
* Kirby Building, a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, United States
* Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Corby, Northamptonshire, England
* Kirby House (disambiguation), various houses in England and the Unit ...
before reentering San Antonio. FM 78 crosses into
Converse and then
Universal City, where it has a junction with
Loop 1604
Loop 1604 is the outer highway loop encircling San Antonio, Texas, spanning approximately . Originally constructed as a two-lane highway, the northern segment of the route, from US 90 in western San Antonio to Kitty Hawk Road in northeaster ...
. Outside of the loop, the route borders the north edge of
Randolph Air Force Base.
FM 78 then enters
Guadalupe County and passes through
Schertz,
Cibolo,
Santa Clara,
Marion, and
McQueeney. The highway then crosses the
Guadalupe River and enters the city of Seguin. It has a junction with
I-10
Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...
at Exit #607, an interchange it shares with
SH 46
The following highways are numbered 46:
International
* AH46, Asian Highway 46
* European route E46
Australia
* Greensborough Highway
* Carnarvon Highway
Canada
* Saskatchewan Highway 46
Czech Republic
* part of R46 expressway (Czech Repu ...
. FM 78 continues eastward into Seguin along West New Braunfels Street and then southward on 8th Street before reaching its terminus at
US 90.
FM 78 provides a connection (in conjunction with I-35) between central San Antonio and Randolph Air Force Base. It also provides an alternate route (versus I-10 and Loop 1604) between Seguin and portions of the northeastern San Antonio metropolitan area. Between San Antonio and Cibolo, FM 78 is a four-lane road, dropping to a two-lane road until McQueeney, before becoming a four-lane divided route to I-10/SH 46.
History
Present-day FM 78 is part of what was the much longer original
SH 3 designated in 1917. Most of this route was usurped by US 90 during the mass redescription of the state's highway system in 1939, while FM 78 was designated on August 3, 1943 over the portion of SH 3 which ran from
FM 25 (now part of SH 46) in western Seguin to SH 218 at what was then known as Randolph Field.
On February 14, 1947, the western terminus was extended to Loop 13 (the northern section of which would become I-410 in the Interstate era), and the extension to I-35 occurred on August 1, 1977. The route was extended eastward into Seguin along New Braunfels and 8th Streets to its current terminus at US 90 on September 26, 1979.
On June 27, 1995, the mileage of the section from I-35 to
FM 3009 in Schertz was officially transferred to Urban Road 78 (UR 78).
The designation reverted to FM 78 with the elimination of the Urban Road system on November 15, 2018.
An older segment of FM 78 became
Loop 539 on September 26, 1996, when the alignment of FM 78 in southern Cibolo was shifted to the south, while FM 78 was rerouted over the old Loop 539.
Loop 539 was cancelled and given to the city of Cibolo on November 30, 2014.
Major intersections
References
{{reflist
0078
Transportation in Bexar County, Texas
Transportation in Guadalupe County, Texas