Texas State Highway 35

State Highway 35
Route information
Maintained by TxDOT
Length:	206.5 mi[1] (332.3 km)
Existed:	1919 – present
Major junctions
West end:	I-37 / US 181 near Corpus Christi
	US 87 I-610
East end:	I-45 in Houston
Highway system
Highways in Texas Interstate US State Toll Loops Spurs Park Rec FM ← I-35W SH 36 → ← Loop 4 Spur 5 Spur 6 →

State Highway 35, or SH 35, is a largely north–south highway in southeastern and southern Texas between Houston, junction of I-45 on the southeast side of the city and Corpus Christi, where it terminates at I-37.

SH 35 takes a generally north–south route from Houston to Angleton, junction SH 288, and then roughly parallels the inlets of the Gulf of Mexico in a roughly northeast-southwest course through a low, flat coastal plain. To the south and west of Palacios it gives vistas of several inlets of the Gulf of Mexico, becoming one of the more scenic routes of southern Texas.

At Gregory it meets and joins U.S. Highway 181, which coincide to their mutual terminus over a causeway and bridge over Corpus Christi Bay, meeting I-37 and SH 286 at a freeway interchange.

Only in its southernmost part near Corpus Christi is State Highway 35 a freeway, although significant stretches of it are divided highway. It is not to be confused with Interstate 35, which it never meets. It is not the shortest or quickest route between Houston and Corpus Christi, which consists largely of US 59 and US 77.

Route description

SH 35 begins at an interchange with Interstate 37 near downtown Corpus Christi concurrent with US 181. The two highways run as a freeway near Corpus Christi Bay before crossing Nueces Bay into the town of Portland. In Portland, US 181 leaves SH 35, traveling towards Sinton. Just outside Gregory, the freeway segment of SH 35 ends. After crossing FM 136, SH 35 begins to run in an east-west direction to Aransas Pass, before turning towards the northeast. In the town of Rockport, SH 35 runs as a divided expressway before returning to its business loop. The highway passes by the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge before entering into Refugio County.

Future of SH 35

In Houston, SH 35 is Telephone Road and Reveille Street from its northern terminus at Interstate 45. An upgrade of the facility (in a slightly different corridor) to freeway standards is planned, tentatively named the Alvin Freeway. As of 2006, only 1.3 miles (approximately 2 km) had been built, under the sign Spur 5 (constructed between 1996–99; officially opened September 1999; designated 1998). However, the mainlanes extend less than half a mile south of Interstate 45 adjacent to the campus of the University of Houston.

It should be noted that the number has been previously used for Loop 5, which was designated in 1939 from US 81 through Kyle to US 81.^[2] In 1950, the section along Burleson St was cancelled and the rest along Center St became Spur 5. In 1952, Spur 5 was cancelled and transferred to FM 150(now RM 150). In 1958, another route, also called Spur 5, was designated from FM 1406 and SH 124 to Interstate 10. In 1962, The section of the Spur 5 from FM 1406 to SH 73 became a rerouting of SH 124. In 1988, Spur 5 was cancelled and mileage was transferred to FM 1663. The current route was designated in 1998.

An overlap of Highway 35 with the Gulf Freeway was also constructed in the 1980s. This portion extends from Spur 5 to Dowling Street, a distance of about 1.6 miles (2.6 km). This section contains three elevated lanes in each direction (briefly four southbound lanes near the southern terminus). This overlap section is 22 lanes wide, including mainlanes, feeder roads, and a reversible HOV lane.^[3]

Once built, the Alvin Freeway is planned to follow a corridor near Mykawa Road from the terminus to Beltway 8 before returning to its normal undivided state.

History

SH 35 was originally proposed in 1919 as a route from Paris to Houston. In 1926 the northern half of the highway had been redesignated as SH 49, with the new northern end now going east to the Louisiana border. By 1935, it had been extended southwest along cancelled SH 58 and SH 57, ending in Corpus Christi. By 1939, the section north of Houston was removed when it was renumbered as U.S. Highway 59.

SH 35A was a proposed spur route off SH 35, with a route splitting off at Livingston, and travelling south via Liberty and Devers to Anahuac. By 1926, the section between Devers and Anahuac renumbered as SH 61. By 1928, the Livingston to Liberty section was renumbered as SH 132. By 1933, that became a portion of SH 146.

Junction list

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Nueces	Corpus Christi			I-37 north / Spur 544 west – San Antonio	South end of US 181 overlap; continues south as Spur 544
				Belden Street	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				Burleson Street, Causeway Boulevard	No northbound entrance
				Beach Avenue	No southbound entrance
San Patricio	Portland			Nueces Bay
				Frontage Road	Southbound exit and entrance
				FM 893 (Moore Avenue) – Taft	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				FM 2986 (Wildcat Drive)
				Frontage Road	No northbound entrance
				FM 3239 (Buddy Ganem Drive) / Broadway Boulevard
				Frontage Road	Northbound exit only
	Gregory			US 181 north – Sinton	North end of US 181 overlap; northbound exit and southbound entrance
				FM 3284 (Gregory Street)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				SH 361 south / Spur 202 west – Aransas Pass, Port Aransas, Gregory	No northbound entrance
				FM 136 – Bayside	No northbound exit; north end of freeway
				FM 3512 south – Ingleside
				Bus. SH 35 north – Aransas Pass	Interchange; northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Aransas Pass			FM 1069 – Ingleside	Interchange; no northbound exit
Aransas				SH 188 – Sinton	Interchange
	Rockport			FM 1069 (Market Street) – Rockport	Interchange
				FM 2165 – Rockport	Interchange
				FM 3036 west	South end of FM 3036 overlap
				Bus. SH 35 south / FM 3036 east – Rockport	North end of FM 3036 overlap
				FM 1781 south
	Lamar			PR 13 east – Goose Island State Park
Refugio				FM 774 – Refugio, Austwell
				FM 1684 east
				SH 239 south – Austwell	South end of SH 239 overlap
	Tivoli			SH 239 north – Goliad	North end of SH 239 overlap
Calhoun				SH 185 south – Seadrift, Port O'Connor	South end of SH 185 overlap
				SH 185 north – Victoria	North end of SH 185 overlap
				FM 1679 north
				FM 2235 south
				FM 2541 south
				FM 2433 – Victoria, Indianola
	Port Lavaca			US 87 – Victoria, Port Lavaca
				FM 3084 west (Half League Road)
				FM 1090 (Virginia Street)
				SH 238 south – Port Lavaca, Seadrift
	Point Comfort			FM 1593 – Lolita, Matagorda Bay
				FM 2143 east
Jackson				SH 172 – La Ward
				FM 1862 north – Blessing
				FM 3280 south
Matagorda	Palacios			Bus. SH 35 north – Palacios
				Bus. SH 35 south – Palacios
				FM 2853 north
				FM 521 north – Simpsonville
	Blessing			FM 2853 south
				FM 616 west – La Ward
				SH 71 west – El Campo
	Elmaton			FM 1095 south – Simpsonville
	Markham			FM 1468 south	South end of FM 1468 overlap
				FM 1468 north – Markham	North end of FM 1468 overlap
				Colorado River Rurnaround	Interchange
	Bay City			SH 60 – Wharton, Matagorda
				FM 2668 south
				FM 457 east – Cedar Lane
	Van Vleck			FM 2540 south
				FM 1728 north – Pledger
Brazoria				Loop 419 east – Old Ocean
	Old Ocean			FM 524 north – Danciger	South end of FM 524 overlap
				Loop 419 west – Old Ocean
				FM 524 south – Sweeny	North end of FM 524 overlap
				FM 1459 – Sweeny
				Bus. SH 35 north – West Columbia
	West Columbia			SH 36 – Rosenberg, Freeport
				Bus. SH 35 south (17th Street)
				FM 2851 north – Varner-Hogg Plantation
	Bailey's Prairie			FM 521 south – Brazoria	South end of FM 521 overlap
				FM 521 north – Rosharon	North end of FM 521 overlap
	Angleton			SH 288 (Nolan Ryan Expressway) – Houston, Freeport
				Loop 274 (Hancock Street)
				Bus. SH 288 – Houston, Lake Jackson
				FM 523 (Highway 35 Bypass) – Freeport
				Spur 28 south – Danbury
				FM 2917 south
	Alvin			FM 2403 south
				Bus. SH 35 north – Alvin
				FM 1462 west
				House Street	Interchange
				SH 6 – Sugar Land, Galveston	Interchange
				FM 517 (Dickinson Road) – League City
				FM 528 (Friendswood Road) – Friendswood, Webster
				Bus. SH 35 south – Alvin	Interchange
				FM 2351 north – Friendswood
	Pearland			FM 518 – Friendswood
Harris	Houston			Beltway 8 (Sam Houston Tollway)
				I-610 (South Loop Freeway) to I-45 south (Gulf Freeway) – Galveston	Interchange
				I-45 north (Gulf Freeway) – Downtown Houston	Interchange; northbound exit and southbound entrance
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

See also

• Copano Bay Fishing Pier

References

1. Transportation Planning and Programming Division. "State Highway No. 35". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
2. Transportation Planning and Programming Division. "State Highway Spur No. 5". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
3. Chapter 4, The Spokes, p. 163 Houston Freeways, Erik Slotboom.