State Line Avenue

State Line Avenue divides Texarkana between Texas to the west and Arkansas to the east.

State Line Avenue is the site of Texarkana's Federal Building and Courthouse, which physically occupies two states.

State Line Avenue is a north–south arterial road in Texarkana, United States. It follows approximately 11 miles (18 km) of the Texas-Arkansas state line, and divides the city into two separate municipal units. The street's centerline does not follow the state boundary precisely, but the southbound lanes of State Line Avenue are located in Texarkana, Texas (Bowie County), and the northbound lanes are in Texarkana, Arkansas (Miller County).^[1]

State Line Avenue consists of two non-continuous portions, separated by a one-mile (1.6 km) gap directly south of the downtown area.

North State Line Avenue carries the U.S. Route 59/U.S. Route 71 (US 59/US 71) concurrency, south of the Red River bridge. The northern part of this route runs a few hundred feet west of the state line. From Highway 296 (Sugar Hill Road) south to 6th Street downtown, the roadway straddles the boundary line.

A concentration of hotels dominates the four quadrants of the State Line Avenue–Interstate 30 (I-30) interchange, with over a dozen different lodging chains being represented at this exit. At this interchange, US 59 splits from US 71, following I-30 westward for 3.5 miles (5.6 km), before heading southward on its own alignment.

Because Bowie County, Texas, is a dry county, several liquor stores line the Arkansas side of midtown State Line Avenue.^[2] Customers from Texas regularly cross the state line to purchase alcoholic beverages. State Line remains a five-lane street carrying US 71, lined with retail outlets, for about four miles (6.4 km) more before intersecting US 67/US 82 and entering downtown Texarkana. From here, US 71 turns sharply eastward, into a short wrong-way concurrency with US 67, before again turning southeast towards Shreveport, Louisiana.

From here, State Line Avenue continues south. One block south of US 67/US 82, the street splits apart. The traffic island in the middle is occupied by the city's U.S. Post Office and Federal Building, the only such building to be located in two states.

Until 1980, State Line Avenue terminated at Texarkana Union Station, but it now ends at Broad Street. At the west end of downtown, the "Texas Viaduct" carries traffic over a rail yard to South State Line Avenue. Approximately five miles (8.0 km) south of the viaduct the road veers eastward, becoming Miller County Road 28, en route to Pleasant Hill.

Destinations

Texas			Arkansas
← Denison		Red River		Fulton →
← Northridge Country Club		Lakeridge Dr.	Sugar Hill Road	AR 296	AR 296 →
← Aledo	I-30 west	Interstate 30		I-30 east	North Little Rock →
← Laredo	US 59 south
← Loop 14	Loop 14 south	Texas Blvd	Arkansas Blvd	Texarkana Regional Airport →
← Presidio	US 67 south	Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd/ East 7th Street		US 67 north	Sabula →
← Alamogordo	US 82 west			US 71 south	Krotz Springs →
				US 82 east	Brunswick →
← Loop 151 to US 59	Loop 151 north to US 59 / I-369	The Loop		I-49 north	I-49 →

References

1. Dallen J. Timothy, Geoffrey Wall (2001). Tourism and Political Boundaries. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-19696-5.
2. Kelso, John (2006). Texas Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities and Other Offbeat Stuff. Globe Pequot. p. 159. ISBN 9780762741090.