U.S. Route 290

U.S. Highway 290
Route information
Maintained by TxDOT
Length:	261 mi (420 km)
Existed:	1927 – present
Major junctions
West end:	I-10 southeast of Junction, TX
	US 87 at Fredericksburg, TX US 281 at Johnson City, TX I-35 at Austin, TX US 183 at Austin, TX US 77 at Giddings, TX
East end:	I-610 at Houston, TX
Highway system
United States Numbered Highways List • Bannered • Divided • Replaced Highways in Texas Interstate • US • TX (Loops – Spurs – Rec – FM) ← US 287 US 377 →

U.S. Highway 290 intersection with Interstate 610 in Houston

U.S. Highway 290 (or U.S. 290) is an east–west U.S. Highway located entirely within the State of Texas. Its current western terminus is at Interstate 10 north of Sheffield, and its eastern terminus is at Interstate 610 on the northwest side of Houston.

Route Description

West of Austin, U.S. 290 is a rather scenic route through the Texas Hill Country, passing through the towns of Fredericksburg and Johnson City, and hence close to the historical sites connected with Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, a top commander during the War in the Pacific (1941–45) and the deceased President from Texas, Lyndon Baines Johnson. East of Austin, U.S. 290 is a divided highway that passes through or near the towns of Giddings and Brenham.

In Austin, U.S. 290 runs concurrently with Interstate 35 for approximately 8 miles (13 km), including the Downtown Austin area.

U.S. 290 is part of a hurricane evacuation route. That route starts at SH 6 in Galveston. SH 6 is taken to U.S. 290. Then U.S. 290 is taken to where SH 6 and US 290 break apart. Then SH 6 is taken to Waco.

In Harris County outside of Houston, State Highway 6 (SH 6) joins with U.S. 290 and the two highways run concurrently until splitting just north of Hempstead.

The large remnant of U.S. 290 continues to be an important highway, one that connects Austin with Interstate 10, and from there eastward to Houston. Parts of U.S. 290 in Austin and near Houston are multilane freeways.

In Houston, U.S. 290 is sometimes called the Northwest Freeway. The Texas Legislature officially designated this highway within Harris County as the Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway in 2005.

History

U.S. 290 originally had an eastern terminus in San Antonio before 1935 when it was re-routed further north and extended eastward. The old highway into San Antonio was redesignated US 87.

Prior to the Interstate era, it extended nearly 300 miles (483 km) farther west to an intersection with US 80 (now Interstate 20) before Interstate 10 supplanted it.

Prior to construction of the Northwest Freeway, U.S. 290 through Houston followed Hempstead Highway, which runs parallel to the freeway approximately one-half mile to the southwest. The eastern terminus of U.S. 290 was also approximately one mile to the southeast at the intersection of Hempstead Highway, Washington Avenue and Old Katy Road. There is a small directional T interchange at this intersection.^{[citation needed]}

Because of truncations in its length, U.S. 290 no longer intersects with its "parent" route, U.S. 90.^{[citation needed]}

Toll roads are planned along segments of U.S. 290 in Houston and Austin. In Houston, the Harris County Toll Road Authority is planning to construct toll managed lanes along and adjacent to the U.S. 290 right-of-way, to be called the Hempstead Tollway. In Austin, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is constructing the Manor Expressway along U.S. 290 from Austin to Manor.

In 2011 two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Culberson and Michael T. McCall, asked TxDOT to advocate for the relabeling of U.S. 290 as an interstate highway.

Houston

Prior to construction of the Northwest Freeway, U.S. 290 through Houston followed Hempstead Highway, which runs parallel to the freeway approximately one-half mile to the southwest. The eastern terminus of U.S. 290 was also approximately one mile to the southeast at the intersection of Hempstead Highway, Washington Avenue and Old Katy Road. There is a small directional T interchange at this intersection.

The Interchange with I-610 and first part of frontage roads opened in 1963. The first freeway section opened in 1975. In 1982, freeway main lanes completed to just inside Beltway 8. In 1990, the stack interchange with Beltway 8 were completed. From 1985 to 2005, the main lanes outside Beltway 8 were completed.

The freeway was constructed to only 3 lanes in each direction, but a major investment study in 2002 requested expansion to 5 lanes in each direction inside Beltway 8 and 4 lanes in each direction from Beltway 8 to the proposed Grand Parkway. It also recommended a new tollway along Hempstead Highway.

Business routes

US 290 has three business routes.

Business U.S. Route 290-F is the original routing of U.S. 290 through the town of Brenham. The route was established in 1990 when the main line of US 290 was rerouted along with State Route 36 around the western and southern sides of Brenham. The routing begins to the west of town at an intersection with State Highway 36. The business route continues east into downtown on Main Street. Before reaching downtown, the route splits into two parallel one-way streets: Main Street carrying westbound traffic and Alamo Street carrying eastbound traffic. It passes through downtown, meeting the business routing of State Highway 36 and the western terminus of State Highway 105. At this intersection, the business route turns south on Market Street, and continues out of Brenham, rejoining the mainline U.S. 290 near an intersection with Farm to Market Road 544. The entire route is 4.59 miles in length.

Business U.S. Route 290-H is the original routing of US 290 through the towns of Hempstead, Waller, and Hockley. This route was designated between 1995 and 1998 in stages as a limited access bypass route was constructed to the north of these towns.

Business U.S. Route 290-L is the original routing of US 290 through the town of Cypress. The route was designated in 1993 as a limited access bypass was built to the northeast of the original routing.

Junction list

County	Location	Destinations	Notes
Kimble		I-10 – Junction
		RM 479 north
		RM 385 north
Gillespie	Harper	RM 783 south – Kerrville	West end of RM 783 overlap
		RM 783 east / FM 2093	East end of RM 783 overlap
		US 87 north – Mason	West end of US 87 overlap
	Fredericksburg	RM 965 north (N Milam Street) – Enchanted Rock
		SH 16 south (S Adams Street) – Kerrville	West end of SH 16 overlap
		SH 16 north (N Llano Street) – Llano	East end of SH 16 overlap
		US 87 (S Washington Street) – Comfort, San Antonio	East end of US 87 overlap
		RM 1631 north
		RM 1376
	Stonewall	RM 1623 north	West end of RM 1623 overlap
		RM 1623 south – Blanco	East end of RM 1623 overlap
Blanco	Hye	RM 1320 north
	Johnson City	Spur 356 north (Nugent Avenue)
		US 281 north – Marble Falls	West end of US 281 overlap
		RM 2766 east (Robinson Road)
		US 281 south – Blanco	East end of US 281 overlap
		RM 3232 north
Hays		RM 165
	Dripping Springs	RM 12 – San Marcos
Travis		RM 1826 west
	Austin	SH 71 west – Marble Falls, Llano	West end of SH 71 overlap; west end of freeway
		W William Cannon Road
		Loop 1 (S MoPac Expressway)
		Southwest Parkway
		Loop 360 (Capital of Texas Highway)
		Loop 343 (S Lamar Boulevard)
		Manchaca Road
		S 1st Street
		Loop 275 (S Congress Avenue)
		I-35 south / SH 71 east – San Antonio, Bastrop	west end of IH-35 overlap, east end of SH 71 overlap
		Woodward Street	Northbound exit is via exit 230
		Oltolf Street
		Woodland Avenue
		Riverside Drive
		Bridge over the Colorado River (Lady Bird Lake)
		Holly Street	Northbound exit only
		Cesar Chavez Street, Holly Street	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		Cesar Chavez Street, 2nd-4th Streets	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		8th-3rd Streets – Huston-Tillotson University	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		6th-12th Streets	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		12th-11th Streets – State Capitol	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		15th Street, MLK Boulevard – University of Texas, State Capitol
		Manor Road
		Dean Keeton Street, 32nd-38½ Streets	Signed as exits 236A (Dean Keeton Street, 32nd Street) and 236B (38½ Street) southbound
		Loop 111 (Airport Boulevard)
		51st Street, Cameron Road
		RM 2222 west
		I-35 north – Waco	West end of Spur 69 overlap, east end of IH-35 overlap
		Cameron Road	East end of Spur 69 overlap
		US 183 – Lampasas, Lockhart
		Springdale Road
		Giles Lane
		Harris Branch Parkway
		Blue Goose Road
		FM 3177 (Decker Lane)
		SH 45 / SH 130 – Georgetown, Austin
		FM 734 (Parmer Lane)
	Manor	Loop 212 east
		FM 973 / Loop 212
		FM 1100 east
Bastrop	Elgin	SH 95 north – Taylor	West end of SH 95 overlap
		Loop 109 (Harris Street) – Elgin
		FM 1704 south (S Main Street)
		SH 95 south – Bastrop	East end of SH 95 overlap
		FM 696 north – Lexington
		FM 2336 south
		SH 21 – Bastrop, Caldwell
	Paige	FM 2104 south – Smithville
Lee	Giddings	US 77 (Main Street) – Lexington, La Grange
		FM 141 north (N Orange Street)
		FM 180 north
Fayette	Ledbetter	FM 1291 south
	Carmine	Spur 458 east
		SH 237 south – Round Top, Warrenton, La Grange
Washington		FM 2502 east
	Burton	Spur 125 – Burton
		FM 1948 north
		FM 2679 north – Zionville
	Brenham	US 290 Bus. east / SH 36 north – Brenham, Caldwell	West end of SH 36 overlap
		FM 389 (Prairie Lea Street)
		SH 36 south – Bellville, Sealy	East end of SH 36 overlap
		FM 577 (Blue Bell Road)
	Chappell Hill	FM 1155 north (Main Street)
		FM 1371 south
Waller	Hempstead	FM 1736
		SH 6 north – Bryan, Hempstead, College Station	West end of SH 6 overlap
		FM 1488 – Hempstead, Magnolia
		FM 359 – Brookshire	Eastbound exit is via the FM 1488 exit
	Prairie View	Liendo Parkway
		FM 1098 – Prairie View
		James Muse Parkway
Harris	Waller	FM 362
		Field Store Road
		FM 2920 – Waller, Tomball
		Binford Road
		Kickapoo Road
	Hockley	Kermier Road
		Hegar Road
		Badtke Road
		Roberts Road, Katy Hockley Road
		Becker Road
		Bauer Road
		Mason Road
		Mueschke Road
	Cypress	US 290 Bus. / Spring-Cypress Road, Cypress-Rosehill Road, Fry Rd.	No eastbound exit
		Skinner Road, Spring-Cypress Road
		Barker-Cypress Road
		Telge Road
		Hempstead Road, Huffmeister Road
		SH 6 south / FM 1960 east	East end of SH 6 overlap
	Satsuma	Eldridge Parkway, West Road
	Jersey Village	Jones Road
	Houston	Beltway 8 (Frontage Road) / FM 529 / Senate Avenue
		Sam Houston Tollway
		Beltway 8 (Frontage Road) / West Little York Road, North Gessner Road
		Fairbanks-North Houston Road
		West Tidwell Road, Hollister Road
		Pinemont Drive, Bingle Road, West 43rd Street
		Antoine Drive, West 34th Street
		Mangum Road, Dacoma Street
		I-610	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance