 State Highway 20 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 SH 20 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byTxDOT | ||||
| Length | 78.061 mi[1] (125.627 km) | |||
| Existed | April 2, 1969–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |   NM 460 /NM 478 inAnthony | |||
| Major intersections |  SH 178 inEl Paso
 US 62 in El Paso | |||
| East end |  I-10 inMcNary | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Texas | |||
| Counties | El Paso,Hudspeth | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
State Highway 20 (SH 20) is a 78.1-mile (125.7 km) highway maintained by theTexas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) that runs fromNew Mexico State Road 460 at the state line betweenTexas andNew Mexico atAnthony inEl Paso County toInterstate 10 atMcNary inHudspeth County. It largely follows a former alignment ofU.S. Route 80. The route passes through the city ofEl Paso as well as suburban and rural farming communities along theRio Grande. With the exception of a stretch north of central El Paso where the route crosses north of I-10, the route generally runs in a narrow belt between I-10 and the Rio Grande. The route has connections to every internationalborder crossing[2] withMexico in the El Paso area and has important intersections withUS 54,US 62,US 85, andUS 180.
Until the late 1930s, the route designation belonged to a highway in central Texas along the route of present-dayUS 290. The current route predates theTexas highway system having been a portion of several historicauto trails. The route was included at the creation of the state system as part ofSH 1. With the establishment of theU.S. numbered highway system, the route becameUS 80 and the SH 1 designation was eventually dropped. SH 20 was designated over the route when US 80 was relocated over I-10 before it too was decommissioned in western Texas.
Before the state established its highway system, the route of SH 20 was used by many historic auto trails including theDixie Overland Highway, theOld Spanish Trail, theLee Highway, theJefferson Davis National Highway, and theBankhead Highway.[3]
The current SH 20 was originally a part of the former SH 1, a route that from the current eastern terminus of the present route continued on throughVan Horn,Odessa,Midland,Abilene,Fort Worth, andDallas before enteringArkansas atTexarkana. This route was also one of the original routes planned in 1917,[4] and remained largely unchanged until the end of the 1930s.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
In 1927, US 80 was designated over the route of SH 1 from the New Mexico state line at Anthony to Dallas and then proceeding east to theLouisiana state line east ofWaskom.[11] The highway carried both the US 80 and SH 1 designations until the 1939 general redescription of the state highway system when SH 1 was decommissioned outside the city of Dallas.[12] In 1944, the full length of US 80 within Texas was designated as the Veterans of World War II Highway.[11] US 80 was relocated over I-10 through El Paso on April 2, 1969, and its former route was then renamed SH 20.[1] US 80 was decommissioned west of Dallas on August 28, 1991.[11]
SH 20 begins whereNM 460 (Co-signed withNM 478), also called Anthony Drive, reaches the state line betweenAnthony, New Mexico and Anthony, Texas in the El Paso area's Upper Valley. The route proceeds south through Anthony along Main Street passingFederal Correctional Institution, La Tuna. The route then entersVinton where it becomes Doniphan Drive. Further south inCanutillo the route intersectsLoop 375, El Paso's beltway. After entering the city of El Paso, the route intersectsSH 178 which connects the route viaNM 136 to the international border with Mexico south ofSanta Teresa, New Mexico. Further south, SH 20 turns off of Doniphan Drive and onto Mesa Street and soon after crosses theI-10 freeway which also carriesUS 85 andUS 180 at this point. The route continues to the southeast passing through the foothills of theFranklin Mountains. The route then passes theUniversity of Texas at El Paso andSun Bowl Stadium before entering central El Paso.[13]
In central El Paso, the route crosses I-10 and US 180 again and then soon after turns northeast on Texas Avenue where the route crosses Santa Fe and Stanton Streets leading to thePaso del Norte International Bridge andGood Neighbor International Bridge toCiudad Juárez. SH 20 then turns east along Alameda Avenue. The route then crossesLoop 478 before crossing the mostly unsignedI-110 andUS 54 at the Patriot Freeway which leads to the internationalBridge of the Americas. The route crossesUS 62 at Paisano Dr. before the route turns southeast at Ascarate Park and enters the Lower Valley.[13]
At Zaragoza Road, which leads to theYsleta-Zaragoza International Bridge, the route intersectsFM 258 and passesYsleta Mission in theYsleta del Sur Pueblo Native American reservation. The route crosses Loop 375 again before enteringSocorro where the route continues along Alameda. Further to the southeast atClint, SH 20 crossesFM 1110 toSan Elizario. InFabens, where SH 20 is known as Main Street, the route crossesFM 76 which leads toward theFabens-Caseta International Bridge. The route passes throughTornillo as Alameda Avenue again before leaving El Paso County.[13]
In Hudspeth County, the route intersectsSpur 148 which passes through centralFort Hancock. A short distance later, the route intersectsFM 1088 which connects Fort Hancock to theFort Hancock – El Porvenir International Bridge. At McNary, the route intersectsFM 2217 which continues along the Lower Valley, and then terminates at I-10.[13]
| County | Location | mi[14] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Paso | Anthony | 0.000 | 0.000 |   NM 460 north (Anthony Drive) toNM 478 | continuation intoNew Mexico |
| 0.041 | 0.066 |   FM 1905 west (Washington Street) | west end of FM 1905 overlap | ||
| 0.138 | 0.222 |   FM 1905 east (Franklin Street) toI-10 | east end of FM 1905 overlap | ||
| 0.585 | 0.941 |  Spur 6 east (Wildcat Drive) toI-10 | |||
| Vinton | 2.852 | 4.590 | ToI-10 / Vinton Road (Spur 37) –Vinton,Westway | ||
| Canutillo | 5.888 | 9.476 |  FM 259 west / La Union Avenue | ||
| 6.372 | 10.255 |  Loop 375 east (Talbot Drive) toI-10 | |||
| El Paso | 7.456 | 11.999 |  Spur 16 north toI-10 /Loop 375 | ||
| 8.413 | 13.539 | SH 178 (Artcraft Road) toI-10 | interchange | ||
| 11.732 | 18.881 |   I-10 /US 85 /US 180 –Las Cruces | I-10 exit 11 | ||
| 19.667 | 31.651 | I-10 (US 180) | I-10 exit 19 | ||
| 19.996 | 32.180 |  ToFed. 45 / Mesa Street | |||
| 22.464 | 36.152 | Copia Street (Loop 478) | |||
| 23.951 | 38.545 | US 62 west (Paisano Drive) | traffic circle; west end of US 62 overlap | ||
| 24.005 | 38.632 | US 62 east (Paisano Drive) | traffic circle; east end of US 62 overlap | ||
| 24.710 | 39.767 | Clark Drive | formerFM 1505 north | ||
| 25.651 | 41.281 |  FM 76 east (Delta Drive) | |||
| 32.133 | 51.713 | Zaragoza Road (FM 258 east) | |||
| 33.356 | 53.681 | Loop 375 (Americas Avenue) toI-10 | Loop 375 exit 47 | ||
| Clint | 41.350 | 66.546 |  FM 1110 (Clint) toI-10 –San Elizario Mission | ||
| Fabens | 47.999 | 77.247 |  FM 258 west | ||
| 48.558 | 78.147 |  FM 76 (Island Road) toI-10 /FM 793 –Port of Entry | |||
| | 52.617 | 84.679 |  FM 3380 (M.F. Aguilera Road) | interchange | |
| Hudspeth | Fort Hancock | 72.044 | 115.944 |  Spur 148 toI-10 | |
| | 72.860 | 117.257 |   FM 1088 south –Port of Entry | ||
| | 77.009 | 123.934 |  FM 192 | ||
| | 78.061 | 125.627 | I-10 –El Paso,Sierra Blanca | I-10 exit 78 | |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
Geographic data related toTexas State Highway 20 atOpenStreetMap
