Texas's 23rd congressional district
Texas's 23rd congressional district stretches across the southwestern portion of Texas. It is a predominantly Hispanic district and its current Representative is Republican Will Hurd; the district runs along the majority of Texas's border with Mexico, just north of the Rio Grande. While it encompasses numerous county seats and a few towns of regional economic importance, the district is predominantly rural, it stretches from western San Antonio to just outside El Paso. Its large size is due to its low population density—one of the lowest in the country, it encompasses all of Big Bend Ranch State Park. Major economic activities in the district include farming, ranching and mineral extraction, recreation and tourism; as of the 2000 census, the district contained 651,620 people. Of these, 41% are non-Hispanic white, 55.1% Hispanic regardless of race, 2% non-Hispanic black, 2.2% other. The district's population is 74.6% urban. Per capita Income for the district is $18,692; the district has a 6.5% unemployment rate.
Of the employed, 71.8% is private, 19.4% government, 8.4% self-employed. Major industries include Retail trade, Education services, Health Care, Manufacturing. 222,012 households are with an average of 2.8 persons per household. This district was created in 1967, following passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In addition, it followed the case of Wesberry v. Sanders, resulting in Texas' previous congressional map being tossed out. Democrats held the district until 1993. Following the 1990 census, in 1992, the Texas Legislature created the new 28th District from the eastern portion of the 23rd. In the process, the legislature left a Republican section of western San Antonio in the 23rd. Republican Henry Bonilla beat 4-term incumbent Albert Bustamante to take the seat in 1992. Although the 23rd leaned Democratic on paper, Bonilla had a conservative voting record; because of his popularity in San Antonio, he didn't face a credible challenger until 2002, when the former Democratic Texas Secretary of State, Henry Cuellar, came within 2 points of unseating him.
During the 2003 Texas redistricting, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature shifted most of Laredo, one of the bases of the 23rd from the beginning, into the 28th district. Several Republican suburbs in the Texas Hill Country north of San Antonio were shifted into the 23rd district, all but ensuring Bonilla of a seventh term. On June 28, 2006, the U. S. Supreme Court, in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry ruled that the 23rd District violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the case turned on the fact. If the 23rd were redrawn to put Hispanics in a minority, a new majority-Hispanic district had to be created. Although Hispanics made up 55 percent of the new 23rd's population, they comprised only 46 percent of the new 23rd's voting-age U. S. citizen population. Therefore, the Court said, the new 23rd was not a true majority-minority district; the Court found that the new Austin-to-McAllen 25th District was not compact enough to be an acceptable replacement. The Court ruled; as a result, on August 4, 2006, a three-judge panel announced replacement district boundaries for the 2006 election in the 23rd district.
Due to the 23rd's size, nearly every district along the El Paso-San Antonio corridor had to be redrawn as well. In the change, the new 23rd lost many of the Republican areas given to it in 2003, as well as the rest of Laredo, it received a large portion of south San Antonio, Democratic. Four other districts were affected: the 28th, 25th, 15th and 21st; as a result, on November 7, 2006, these five districts held open primaries, called a "jungle primary." If no candidate were to receive as much as 50% of the vote, a runoff election in December would decide the seat. In the 23rd, the incumbent Bonilla had two significant opponents, both Democrats: the Vietnam War veteran Rick Bolanos and Ciro Rodriguez, the former Congressman of the 28th district. In the Spring, Bolanos won the now moot 23rd district Democratic primary. Rodriguez lost a primary challenge to Cuellar in the 28th district, vacated; the redrawing placed Rodriguez' home, along with most of his old base, into the 23rd district. Other candidates in the special election were: Albert Uresti, the retired San Antonio Fire Department district chief and brother of the state Senator Carlos Uresti.
Craig T. Stephens, an independent candidate filed to run. Rick Bolanos dropped out of the race on October 19, 2006 and endorsed fellow Democrat Lukin Gilliland. On November 7, 2006, Henry Bonilla received more votes than any of his challengers, but did not receive 50% of the votes cast. Though none of the Democratic candidates came close to Bonilla individually, as a whole the six Democratic candidates received more votes than Bonilla, the only Republican candidate. However, neither party received more than 50% of the vote because of a third party candidate. A runoff election was held on December 12, 2006 between Bonilla and Rodriguez, Rodriguez won; the National Republican Congressional Committee targeted Texas' 23rd Congressional District to try to regain it, supported the Republican campaign financially. Francisco "Quico" Canseco, a San Antonio businessman, became the Republican nominee for the
U.S. Route 277
U. S. Route 277 is a north–south United States Highway, it is a spur of U. S. Route 77, it runs for 633 miles across Texas. US 277's northern terminus is in Newcastle, Oklahoma at Interstate 44, the northern terminus of the H. E. Bailey Turnpike, its southern terminus is in Carrizo Springs, Texas at U. S. Route 83, it passes through the states of Texas. Most of U. S. 277's route through the two states overlaps other U. S. highways. Those include U. S. 62 from Newcastle to Chickasha, Oklahoma, U. S. 62 and U. S. 281 from five miles west of Elgin, Oklahoma, to Lawton, U. S. 281 from Lawton to Wichita Falls, Texas, U. S. 82 from Wichita Falls to Seymour, U. S. 83 from Anson, Texas to Abilene, Texas. Through the Lawton area and again from Randlett, Oklahoma, to near downtown Wichita Falls, U. S. 277 is co-signed with I-44. The highway begins at an intersection with US 83 in Carrizo Springs, about 60 miles northwest of Laredo; the highway runs until reaching Eagle Pass. From here to Del Rio, the highway parallels the Rio Grande River at the U.
S.-Mexico border. The highway overlaps US 377 for about 26 miles, with the highways passing the Amistad National Recreation Area. US 277 crosses I-10 near Sonora, before traveling to Eldorado and San Angelo; the highway overlaps US 87 in the city. In Abilene, the highway overlaps with the latter leaving shortly after. US 83 leaves in Anson. In Seymour, US 82 begins an overlap with US 277; the two highways enter the city of Wichita Falls, with US 82 leaving the highway at US 281/US 287. US 277 joins US 281/287 and the three highways travel into the downtown area of the city, where I-44 begins. US 287 leaves the freeway, while I-44/US 277/US 281 travel to Burkburnett, before crossing the Red River into Oklahoma. From its present terminus at Interstate 44 near Newcastle, U. S. 277 runs concurrent with U. S. 62 through Blanchard into downtown Chickasha, where U. S. 277 joins U. S. 81 for several miles to an intersection south of Chickasha near Ninnekah, where U. S. 277 turns west/southwest through the cities of Cement, Cyril and Elgin - crossing over I-44/H.
E. Bailey east of Cement, under the interstate south of Fletcher and under the interstate/turnpike on the west side of Elgin. About five miles west of Elgin, U. S. 277 rejoins U. S. 62 for the next 10 miles with the triplex 62-277-281 route joining Interstate 44 at the starting/ending point of the H. E. Bailey Turnpike north section near Medicine Park south through Fort Sill to I-44 Exit 40A, where U. S. 62 diverts from the interstate. U. S. 277 and 281 continue their concurrent route with I-44 through the Lawton-Fort Sill area to a point six miles south of Lawton where I-44 becomes the H. E. Bailey Turnpike south to Randlett. At this interchange which includes Oklahoma 36 west/southwest to Chattanooga and Grandfield, U. S. 277-281 diverts east and curve south to parallel the interstate past Geronimo, OK and 10 miles joins Oklahoma 5 about 5 miles west of Walters for three miles west crossing over I-44/H. E. Bailey Turnpike at the Walters exit and toll plaza. West of I-44, U. S. 277-281 turns south from Oklahoma 5 and continues south, crossing under I-44 south of Cookietown and joins U.
S. 70 at Randlett, from where the triplex U. S. 70-277-281 continues 3 miles west to an interchange with I-44 at the beginning/ending points of the H. E. Bailey Turnpike. At this interchange, U. S. 277-281 joins I-44 for the last 6 miles in Oklahoma before crossing the Red River into Texas. From Newcastle to the Red River north of Wichita Falls, Texas, U. S. 277 serves as an alternate free route to the two sections of the H. E. Bailey Turnpike between Oklahoma City and the Red River from Newcastle southwest of Oklahoma to near Medicine Park north of Lawton and from near Geronimo south of Lawton to Randlett just north of the Red River near Burkburnett, Texas; the former route of U. S. 277 through the City of Lawton via 2nd Street and 11th Street has been designated as U. S. 281 Business since the completion of Lawton's Pioneer Expressway in 1964 from present I-44 Exit 39-B to Exit 33. Present U. S. 281 Business and former U. S. 277-281 follows 2nd Street south of I-44 into the downtown area and south of Lee Boulevard, curves into the diagonal route to 11th Street and still locally designated by the City of Lawton as Highway 277 though it is designated as U.
S. 281 Business. From the end of the diagonal route at 11th and Tennessee Avenue south past the Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport to Exit 33 of Interstate 44, the former U. S. 277-281 and current U. S. Business 281 route follows 11th Street. South of this point, U. S. 281 Business ends/begins and current U. S. 277-281 continues to run concurrent with I-44 for another 3 miles to Exit 30, bypassing 3 miles of the former U. S. 277-281 concurrency that followed 11th Street south of Lawton until the completion of the present I-44 route south of Lawton in 1964, when the former highway reverted to local jurisdiction. At Exit 31, Oklahoma 36 begins its route to Chattanooga and Grandfield west of I-44 while U. S. 277-281 uses the same route east of the interstate for a half-mile and tur
Val Verde County, Texas
Val Verde County is a county located on the southern Edwards Plateau in the U. S. state of Texas. The 2014 population is 51,047, its county seat is Del Rio. In 1936, Val Verde County received Recorded Texas Historic Landmark number 5625 to commemorate its founding. Val Verde, which means "green valley", was named for a battle of the American Civil War. In 1862, soldiers of Sibley's Brigade took part in the Texas invasion of New Mexico Territory, where they captured several artillery pieces at the Battle of Val Verde; the battle is memorialized both in a small settlement in Milam County. The Del Rio, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Val Verde County. First inhabitants were 6,000–10,000 years ago and came to include Lipan Apache, Jumanos and Comanches. 1590 Spanish explorer Gaspar Castaño de Sosa leads a mining expedition of 170 who pass through Devils Draw. He refers to a stream by the name of Laxas, believed Devils River. 1673 Juan Larios opens a mission school at between Eagle Pass.
1675 Traveling Franciscan priests celebrate Mass at San Felipe Springs. 1736 Lt. Miguel de la Garza Falcón leads 100 soldiers along the Devils River in pursuit of Apaches. 1834 James Grant and John Charles Beales establish settlement on San Felipe Creek, which becomes undesirable due to Indian attacks. 1850’s Military bases to protect against Indian attacks include Camp Blake, Camp Hudson and Camp San Felipe. 1860 Population of 2,874, includes 1,103 foreign-born. 1868 San Felipe Del Rio community is established on San Felipe Creek next to Camp San Felipe. 1869 through 1882 Seminole Negro Indian Scouts under John Lapham Bullis, namesake of Camp Bullis, defend the Texas border against Indian attack. 1883 Galveston Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway is completed. Frank Qualia establishes Val Verde winery. 1884 Langtry community established. 1885 Val Verde County is organized from Crockett and Pecos counties. Roy Bean elected justice of the peace in Langtry, operating out of the Jersey Lily Saloon and becoming renowned as “the Law West of the Pecos”.
1886 Juno and Devils River communities established. 1888 Comstock community established. 1889 Norris community established. 1928 Lake Hamilton Dam complete. 1904 Lillie Langtry visits the community of Langtry. 1929 Lake Walk Dam complete. 1942 Laughlin Field/Laughin Army Air Field opens to train World War II pilots. 1945 Laughlin Field closes. 1952 Laughlin Field reopens as Laughlin Air Force Base, serves as a secret U2 unit. Major Rudolf Anderson, a U-2 pilot from Laughlin, is the only casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis. 1969 Amistad Reservoir complete. The project cost $78 million. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 3,233 square miles, of which 3,145 square miles are land and 88 square miles are covered by water. U. S. Highway 90 U. S. Highway 277 U. S. Highway 377 State Highway 163 Loop 79 Crockett County Sutton County Edwards County Kinney County Terrell County Acuña, Mexico Jiménez, Mexico Amistad National Recreation Area Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River As of the census of 2000, 44,856 people, 14,151 households, 11,320 families resided in the county.
The population density was 14 people per square mile. The 16,288 housing units averaged 5 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 76.36% White, 4.54% African American, 0.68% Native American, 0.55% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 18.22% from other races, 2.60% from two or more races. About 75.5% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 14,151 households, 42.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.50% were married couples living together, 13.90% had a female householder with no husband present, 20.00% were not families. About 17.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.50% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.11 and the average family size was 3.55. In the county, the population was distributed as 32.10% under the age of 18, 9.40% from 18 to 24, 27.90% from 25 to 44, 19.60% from 45 to 64, 11.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.00 males.
For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.20 males. The median income for a household in the county was $28,376, for a family was $31,434. Males had a median income of $26,485 versus $18,039 for females; the per capita income for the county was $12,096. About 22.10% of families and 26.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.80% of those under age 18 and 26.40% of them age 65 or over. The Val Verde County Library in Del Rio serves the county. Val Verde County government is led by a four-member board of county commissioners, each commissioner representing one of four districts; the county commission appoints a county administrator as chief administrative officer of the county. The chief law enforcement authority of Val Verde is the Val Verde County Sheriff's Office. Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office; the fire protection arm of the Val Verde is the Val Verde County Fire Rescue. Val Verde County Fire Rescue. One county commissioner is elected from each district to serve a 4-year term.
Commissioners are chosen in partisan elections by voters from the districts. The board appoints a county judge to be chief administrative officer of the county, responsible to the commission for the orderly operations of matters within the board’s jurisdiction; the current office holders are: Val Verde County Judge: Honorable Judge Efra
Devils River (Texas)
The Devils River in southwestern Texas, part of the Rio Grande drainage basin, has limited areas of whitewater along its length. It begins in northwest Sutton County, at 30°19′40″N 100°56′31″W, where six watercourses come together, Dry Devils River, Granger Draw, House Draw, Flat Rock Draw, Rough Canyon, it flows southwest for 94 miles through Val Verde County and empties into the northeastern shore of the Amistad Reservoir, an impoundment of the Rio Grande near Del Rio, Texas on the Texas/Mexico border, 29°27′33″N 101°3′34″W. The discharge of the Devils River, as measured at IBWC gaging station 08-4494.00 near the river's mouth, averages 362 cubic feet per second, with a maximum of 122,895 cubic feet per second and a minimum of 54 cubic feet per second. Its drainage basin above that point is 10,259 square kilometres; the Devils River is considered the most unspoiled river in Texas. Its remote location in a hostile environment limits pollution from human and domestic animal populations. In addition, the river flows underground for part of its journey.
As it passes underground, the gravel and limestone scrub the river water clean before it re-emerges some 20 miles downstream. The Devils River Conservancy is a 5013 organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of the Devils River for future generations of Texans and works throughout the basin to promote conservation ethics among landowners and paddlers. Although the river is popular for kayaking and canoeing, it is difficult to gain access because much of the river is bounded by private property. However, much of the river is protected through conservation easements on both sides; the Nature Conservancy holds conservation easements on several ranch properties protecting the river. Along with the Devils River State Natural Area the protected land along the river totals 110,000 acres; the river itself is 90 miles long, but much of the upper half of the river is not suitable for canoeing or kayaking because of a lack of water and limited access. The best part of the river for recreation is about 40 miles long and runs from Bakers Crossing to the last drop off point at Lake Amistad.
The most common point of entry into the river is Bakers Crossing on Texas State Highway 163. Camping sites are available and you can leave your vehicle at Bakers Crossing. Most of the river is calm with class two rapids and small class three rapids; however the river can rise and fall with rainfall if the rain is not in the direct area of the river. Dolan Falls is a waterfall about 15 feet tall and is located at about 16.9 miles and must be avoided. Past Dolan Falls at about 19 miles is Three Tier Rapids, a class four rapid most of the year, but when the river swells, can be a short class 5 and should be attempted by only by the more experienced paddlers; the river is characterized by deep pools with reed covered rapids near the end of these pools. A map is suggested as both Dolan Falls and Three Tier Rapids are not able to be seen until you are right on top of them. After Three Tier Rapids, there are no more large rapids and the river is smooth; some boulder and fields do occur past Three Tier Rapids but are small in size.
The river empties into Lake Amistad after traveling some 40 miles from Bakers Crossing. From this point it is another 12-mile trip on the lake to the last take out at Rough Canyon Marina; the journey for the lake section of the trip can be strenuous on a person kayaking or canoeing because of the strong south headwind. Part of the appeal of the river is its remote location, the rugged and rough terrain, lack of human presence. There are only five visible houses in the first 20 miles of river. At about 25 miles the Dry Devils River flows into the Devils, is considered by many to be the halfway point. There is called the Blue Sage Subdivision. List of rivers of Texas List of tributaries of the Rio Grande Patrick Dearen, author of Devils River: Treacherous Twin to the Pecos, 1535-1900 ISBN 978-0-87565-423-2
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the military land force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, fighting against the United States forces. On February 28, 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a provisional volunteer army and gave control over military operations and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the newly chosen Confederate president, Jefferson Davis. Davis was a graduate of the U. S. Military Academy, colonel of a volunteer regiment during the Mexican–American War, he had been a United States Senator from Mississippi and U. S. Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce. On March 1, 1861, on behalf of the Confederate government, Davis assumed control of the military situation at Charleston, South Carolina, where South Carolina state militia besieged Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, held by a small U. S. Army garrison. By March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress expanded the provisional forces and established a more permanent Confederate States Army.
An accurate count of the total number of individuals who served in the Confederate Army is not possible due to incomplete and destroyed Confederate records. This does not include an unknown number of slaves who were pressed into performing various tasks for the army, such as construction of fortifications and defenses or driving wagons. Since these figures include estimates of the total number of individual soldiers who served at any time during the war, they do not represent the size of the army at any given date; these numbers do not include men. Although most of the soldiers who fought in the American Civil War were volunteers, both sides by 1862 resorted to conscription as a means to force men to register and to volunteer. In the absence of exact records, estimates of the percentage of Confederate soldiers who were draftees are about double the 6 percent of United States soldiers who were conscripts. Confederate casualty figures are incomplete and unreliable; the best estimates of the number of deaths of Confederate soldiers are about 94,000 killed or mortally wounded in battle, 164,000 deaths from disease and between 26,000 and 31,000 deaths in United States prison camps.
One estimate of Confederate wounded, considered incomplete, is 194,026. These numbers do not include men who died from other causes such as accidents, which would add several thousand to the death toll; the main Confederate armies, the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee and the remnants of the Army of Tennessee and various other units under General Joseph E. Johnston, surrendered to the U. S. on April 9, 1865, April 18, 1865. Other Confederate forces surrendered between April 16, 1865 and June 28, 1865. By the end of the war, more than 100,000 Confederate soldiers had deserted, some estimates put the number as high as one third of Confederate soldiers; the Confederacy's government dissolved when it fled Richmond in April and exerted no control of the remaining armies. By the time Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States on March 4, 1861, the seven seceding slave states had formed the Confederate States; the Confederacy seized federal property, including nearly all U.
S. Army forts, within its borders. Lincoln was determined to hold the forts remaining under U. S. control when he took office Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. By the time Lincoln was sworn in as president, the Provisional Confederate Congress had authorized the organization of a large Provisional Army of the Confederate States. Under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, C. S. troops under the command of General P. G. T. Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12–13, 1861, forcing its capitulation on April 14; the United States demanded war. It rallied behind Lincoln's call on April 15, for all the states to send troops to recapture the forts from the secessionists, to put down the rebellion and to preserve the United States intact. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Both the United States and the Confederate States began in earnest to raise large volunteer, armies with the objectives of putting down the rebellion and preserving the Union, on the one hand, or of establishing independence from the United States, on the other.
The Confederate Congress provided for a Confederate army patterned after the United States Army. It was to consist of a large provisional force to exist only in time of war and a small permanent regular army; the provisional, volunteer army was established by an act of the Provisional Confederate Congress passed on February 28, 1861, one week before the act which established the permanent regular army organization, passed on March 6. Although the two forces were to exist concurrently little was done to organize the Confederate regular army; the Provisional Army of the Confederate States began organizing on April 27. All regular and conscripted men preferred to enter this organization since officers could achieve a higher rank in the Provisional Army than they could in the Regular Army. If the war had ended for them, the Confederates intended that the PACS would be disbanded, leaving only the ACSA; the Army of the Confederate States of America was the regular army and was authorized to include 15,015 men, including 744 officers, but this level was never achieved.
The men serving in the highest rank as Confederate States generals, such as Samuel Cooper and Robert E. Lee, were enrolled in the ACSA to ensure that they outranked all
1940 United States Census
The Sixteenth United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 132,164,569, an increase of 7.3 percent over the 1930 population of 123,202,624 people. The census date of record was April 1, 1940. A number of new questions were asked including where people were 5 years before, highest educational grade achieved, information about wages; this census introduced sampling techniques. Other innovations included a field test of the census in 1939; this was the first census in which every state had a population greater than 100,000. The 1940 census collected the following information: In addition, a sample of individuals were asked additional questions covering age at first marriage and other topics. Full documentation on the 1940 census, including census forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Following completion of the census, the original enumeration sheets were microfilmed; as required by Title 13 of the U.
S. Code, access to identifiable information from census records was restricted for 72 years. Non-personally identifiable information Microdata from the 1940 census is available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. On April 2, 2012—72 years after the census was taken—microfilmed images of the 1940 census enumeration sheets were released to the public by the National Archives and Records Administration; the records are indexed only by enumeration district upon initial release. Official 1940 census website 1940 Census Records from the U. S. National Archives and Records Administration 1940 Federal Population Census Videos, training videos for enumerators at the U. S. National Archives Selected Historical Decennial Census Population and Housing Counts from the U. S. Census Bureau Snow, Michael S. "Why the huge interest in the 1940 Census?"
CNN. Monday April 9, 2012. 1941 U. S Census Report Contains 1940 Census results 1940 Census Questions Hosted at CensusFinder.com
Interstate 10 in Texas
Interstate 10 is the major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. In the U. S. state of Texas, it runs east from Anthony, at the border with New Mexico, through El Paso, San Antonio and Houston to the border with Louisiana in Orange, Texas. At just under 880 miles, the Texas segment of I-10, maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation, is the longest continuous untolled freeway in North America, operated by a single authority, it is the longest stretch of highway with a single designation within a single state. Mile marker 880 and its corresponding exit number in Orange, are the highest numbered mile marker and exit on any freeway in North America. After widening was completed in 2008, a portion of the highway west of Houston is now believed to be the widest in the world, at 26 lanes. There is a wider section in China on the G4 Beijing–Hong Kong–Macau Expressway. More than a third of I-10's entire length is located in Texas alone. El Paso, near the Texas–New Mexico state line, is 785 miles from the western terminus of I-10 in Santa Monica, making it closer to Los Angeles than it is to Orange, Texas, 857 miles away at the Texas–Louisiana state line.
Orange is only 789 miles from the eastern terminus of I-10 in Jacksonville, Florida. I-10 replaced and runs concurrently with U. S. Highway 85 from the New Mexico border up until the two diverge at mile marker 13; the two highways parallel each other for several miles until US 85 continues to head south to the border with Mexico and I-10 turns east towards Downtown El Paso. Prior to the Interstate Highway system, US 85 ran concurrent with US 80 from the New Mexico border until the two diverged in Downtown El Paso; when I-10 was constructed in downtown El Paso, several blocks were demolished, a sub-grade trench was built for the freeway. A series of overpasses now carry the preexisting north-south surface streets over the east-west stretch of I-10 through downtown. I-10 replaced US 80 through El Paso and to the southeast and east to the present day junction of I-10 and I-20. US 80 along this route has been removed from the highway system in favor of I-10. At the junction with I-20, I-10 replaced US 290 eastward to the present day junction of I-10 and US 290 southeast of Junction.
This section of US 290 was deleted from the highway system. From this point to near Comfort, I-10 replaced State Highway 27. SH 27 still exists along this stretch paralleling I-10 to the south. From Comfort southeast to San Antonio, I-10 directly replaced US 87. I-10 follows the alignment of US 87 on the northwest side of San Antonio into downtown. A new alignment was built to the south of downtown for the freeway since it was impossible to upgrade the surface streets in downtown that US 87 and US 90 followed prior to the Interstate Highway System. Southeast of downtown, I-10 curves back to the northeast to connect with the pre-interstate alignment of US 90. Construction of portions of I-10 were well underway and completed prior to the commissioning of the highway in 1959; the section from Culebra Road to Woodlawn Avenue opened as the first freeway in San Antonio in 1949, but was signed as US 87. Expansion and construction continued in the 1950s, but the bulk of the construction occurred in the 1960s after the interstate was commissioned.
The current alignment was completed by 1968. Rapid growth in San Antonio has resulted in the original highway becoming inadequate, resulting in the highway being in perpetual construction and expansion. In the 1980s the portion just northwest of downtown was reconstructed to add a double deck feature to expand the freeway to five lanes in each direction. In 1990, the interstate had only two lanes in each direction from Loop 1604 to where the double-deck freeway begins near downtown. Recent construction has expanded the freeway to five lanes in each direction from just outside the I-410 loop all the way into downtown; the I-10/I-410 interchange was reconstructed into a four-level stack interchange. When constructed during the 1960s, the I-10 Katy from Houston, known as the Katy Freeway, was built with six to eight lanes wide barring side lanes, being modest by Houston standards because existing traffic demand to the farming area of West Houston was low; as the population and economic activity increased in the area vehicular traffic increased, reaching an annual average daily traffic of 238,000 vehicles just west of the West Loop in 2001.
In 2000 increased traffic levels and congestion led to plans being approved for widening of the freeway to 16 lanes with a capacity for 200,000 cars per day. An old railway running along the north side of the freeway was demolished in 2002 in preparation for construction which began in 2004; the interior two lanes in each direction between SH 6 and west I-610, the Katy Freeway Managed Lanes or Katy Tollway, were built as high-occupancy toll lanes and are managed by the Harris County Toll Road Authority. The section just west of SH 6 to the Fort Bend–Harris county line opened in late June 2006. Two intersections were rebuilt, toll booths were added, together with landscaping as part of Houston's Highway Beautification Project. Most of the section between Beltway 8 and SH 6 had been laid by September 2006 and work was completed in October 2008. Tolls on the managed lanes vary by axle count and time of day. High occupancy vehicles may travel for free at certain times. Severe flooding of the Sabine River occurred in March 2016.
Days of continuous heavy rains, coupled with the controversial opening of the Toledo Bend Dam and the release of 207,000 to 208,000 cubic feet per second into the river, caused th
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Media related to Sutton County, Texas at Wikimedia Commons
Sutton County, Texas
