 |
|
|
| I27 is an intrastate Interstate
Highway, located entirely in Texas, running north from
Lubbock to i40 in
Amarillo. These two cities are the
only control cities on i27; other cities and towns
served by i27 include (from south to north) New Deal,
Abernathy, Hale Center, Plainview, Kress, Tulia, Happy,
and Canyon. In Amarillo, i27 is commonly known as the
Canyon Expressway (or Canyon E-Way), although it is also
called Canyon Drive on its access roads. I27 officially
designated as the Marshall Formby Memorial Highway after
former attorney and Texas State Senator Marshall Formby.
However, the name is not commonly used, the colloquial
reference by the general public is i27. The entire
length of i27 replaced U.S. Highway 87 for through
traffic. |
|
|
 |
|
|
| I27 parallels the BNSF Railway's
Plainview Subdivision, which splits from its
Chicago-Southern California Transcon line at Canyon and
runs south to Lubbock. A large amount of the alignment
is on former US 87, but several portions through
built-up areas have been bypassed, as well as two longer
areas where US 87 still follows the old road. |
|
|
| The Interstate begins at a point
along the four-lane US 87 freeway south of downtown
Lubbock. Mile 0 is posted near 77th Street, about five
blocks south of Loop 289. Exit numbering begins just to
the south, with exit 1 at the 82nd Street interchange;
the freeway becomes six lanes at its north end. The Loop
289 interchange is a cloverleaf between the one-way
frontage roads of each highway, and with direct ramps
from i27 south to Loop 289 west (exit 1A) and Loop 289
east to i27 north. U.S. Highway 84 (Avenue Q and Slaton
Highway) crosses i27 at a split diamond interchange,
with an extra approach from the northeast carrying US 87
Business (Avenue A) into the junction. Exit 1B connects
i27 south to US 84 and the Loop 289 frontage roads,
while all traffic from US 87 north to US 84, US 87
Business, or Loop 289 must use exit 1 for 82nd Street. |
|
|
|
The six-lane cross section that began at exit 1 remains
through Lubbock. Major junctions in that city include US
62/State Highway 114 (19th Street, exit 3) and US 82 (4th
Street, exit 4), which is also the north end of US 87 Business.
Between these two interchanges, the frontage roads temporarily
end as i27 crosses over a rail line. Spur 326 (Avenue Q) merges
with i27 at exit 6A, and exit 6B is a split diamond with Loop
289. The outer lanes leave at FM 2641 (Regis Street, exit 8),
reducing i27 to two lanes in each direction as it passes Lubbock
Preston Smith International Airport and leaves the city. |
|
|
|
I27 crosses over the Plainview Sub for the first time north
of FM 1294 (Drew Street, exit 11), and another short gap exists
in the frontage roads there. North of the overpass, the frontage
roads are two-way; i27 then passes through New Deal, bypassing
the central part of the town to the west. Old US 87 between
exits 13 and 15 is now Loop 461; at exit 15, i27 begins to
parallel the rail line, just to its west. Along this part of the
highway, and other similar portions, slip ramps still connect
the main lanes with the frontage roads, but intersecting roads
pass over all four roadways and the railroad on a long bridge; a
pair of two-way roadways connects the frontage roads to the
crossroad, with the one on the east crossing the railroad
at-grade. |
|
|
|
As it approaches Abernathy, i27 curves west away from the
Plainview Sub. The old main road through the city, between exits
20 and 22, is now Loop 369; i27 passes through 1.5 blocks to the
east. Despite i27's location north of Abernathy, 1/2 mile west
of the rail line, all interchanges between Abernathy and Hale
Center, except the one at Farm to Market Road (exit 24), use the
same configuration where the intersecting road crosses over all
roadways. Approaching Hale Center, i27 curves northeast as it
splits from Farm to Market Road 1424 (exit 36) at a simple
diamond interchange. The freeway passes through the city one
block east of the old road, now i27 Business, which is accessed
at exits 36 and 38. As it leaves Hale Center, i27 turns to the
northeast, following the northwest side of the rail line. |
|
|
|
The next two interchanges along the railroad between Hale
Center and Plainview use the same style, in which the crossroad
goes over everything. i27 Business splits at exit 45, a modified
Y interchange, to pass through Plainview, and i27 travels west
of that city on a bypass. The two outer interchanges on this
bypass, FM 3466 (exit 48) and Quincy Street (exit 51), are
handled in the same way as the interchanges along the railroad,
but the other two, U.S. Highway 70 (exit 49) and State Highway
194 (exit 50), are standard diamonds. Between exits 49 and 50 is
another overpass over the frontage roads - 24th Street — with no
separate slip ramps. I27 Business ends at a trumpet interchange
(exit 53) north of Plainview, where i27 again begins to parallel
the Plainview Sub to the west. Both interchanges between this
one and the first split with US 87 (exit 61), a modified Y south
of Kress, continue the pattern with the crossroad bridging over
everything. |
|
|
|
After it leaves US 87, i27 is no longer next to the rail
line, but it continues to handle interchanges as it does
alongside the line, except at State Highway 86 (exit 74), a
standard diamond that serves Tulia. US 87 rejoins the freeway at
a modified diamond (exit 77) north of Tulia, at which i27
crosses to the east side of the Plainview Sub before paralleling
it to that side. After several of the typical interchanges
adjacent to the railroad, US 87 splits again at a modified Y
(exit 88) south of Happy. Except for the northernmost one, all
of the interchanges on the bypass of Happy and Canyon are
diamonds; there is a break in the frontage road north of FM 3331
(exit 108), where i27 crosses the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red
River. Exits 109 (Buffalo Stadium Road) and 110 (US 87 south, US
60 west) are integrated, with some access to one road provided
via the other. |
|
|
|
I27 is overlapped by US 60 and US 87 from exit 110 north of
Canyon to the end of the Interstate in Amarillo; here the
frontage roads are one-way. Several near the south end are
handled by bridging the intersecting road over all roadways,
but, once i27 crosses Loop 335 (exit 116), almost all
interchanges are diamonds. At exit 119A, which marks the south
end of the six-lane cross section in Amarillo, Hillside Road
passes under both the main lanes and the frontage roads, with
two ramps providing partial access. Other connections with
Hillside Road are made via Western Street (exit 119B), which
crosses the frontage roads at grade. The end of i27 at i40 (exit
123B) is a fully directional turbine interchange; US 287 also
passes through, using i40 to the east and US 60/US 87 to the
north. Four lanes continue beyond i40, and are joined by several
from the i40 ramps, making the northernmost portion of the
Canyon Expressway five lanes in each direction. Several blocks
beyond i40, the highway ends at a split into two one-way pairs.
Northbound traffic feeds onto Fillmore Street (US 87 north) and
Buchanan Street (US 60 east and US 287 north), while southbound
traffic approaches on Taylor Street (US 287 south) and Pierce
Street (US 60 west and US 87 south). The rightmost of the five
northbound lanes is barrier-separated from the rest, forcing
traffic exiting i40 west onto Buchanan Street. Through the i40
interchange and the split, the frontage roads are discontinuous. |
|
|
 |
|
|
| i27 in Lubbock Texas |
|
|
|
Go To Top
Of Page! |
|
|
|
