U.S. 59 Texas city bypass project clears route for future I-69

December 6, 2022

Land Line Staff

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There has been a ground-breaking ceremony for a town bypass on U.S. 59 in Texas on what’s expected to one day be Interstate 69.

Construction is getting started on the Corrigan Relief Route, a 6.3-mile project stretching 3 miles north and south of U.S. 287.

When done, travelers on U.S. 59 between Houston (about 100 miles away) and Lufkin, Texas, (about 25 miles away) will not have to stop at  red light at the junction of U.S. 59 and U.S 287 in Corrigan, Texas.

The project is expected to create a safer evacuation route in case of hurricanes hitting the Gulf Coast, according to the Lufkin Daily News.

The $172.8 million project is expected to take six years.

The Corrigan Relief Route has been in the works off and on since the late 1990s but was hampered by budgetary constraints. Work on the project resumed in 2012. There are signs on U.S. 59 designating it as the future Interstate 69 corridor.

The Interstate 69 system is being developed incrementally. When completed, I-69 will extend through Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan providing a new continuous interstate corridor connecting Mexico, the United States and Canada.

In Texas, the Interstate 69 system will extend along the following highways:

  • U.S. 59 from I-30 in Texarkana to Laredo.
  • U.S. 84 from the Louisiana border to U.S. 59 in Timpson.
  • U.S. 77 from U.S. 59 in Victoria to Brownsville.
  • U.S. 281 from U.S. 59 in George West to I-2 in Pharr .
  • State Highway 550 (formerly Farm to Market Road 511) from I-69E to state Highway 48 at the Port of Brownsville.
  • State Highway 44 from U.S. 59 in Freer to state Highway 358 in Corpus Christi.

More than 172 miles of the Interstate 69 system have been designated and signed as an interstate highway. The original segment of I-69 stretches from Indianapolis to Port Huron, Mich. It opened in 1971. LL

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