Interstate 27 Closer To Becoming A True Statewide Route

There was a time in Amarillo when getting from here to anywhere meant dealing with the US highway system, The mother road ran east west and got you to Oklahoma City or Albuquerque. US 87 Was the main route to Lubbock, San Antonio or if you were going the other way points north Like Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Denver. The interstate system came in and gave us wider faster roads in the 50's and 60's and one of them is about to get a major extension. I-27 is strange, it's one of a handful of interstates in Texas that does not really go Interstate and when it was originally created certain parts of it, (to this day) really aren't up to standard as they were just upgraded in place.

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Imagine this, getting on I-27 here in Amarillo and heading down to Lubbock, but instead of I-27 ending at Loop 289 it just kept on going. Thats the very reality that Governor Abbott signed the other day. The Interstate 27 Advisory Committee is looking on how exactly that will happen, what it will look like and where the highway will ultimately end up passing through as it makes its way south to Laredo to link up with I-35 and continue on as part of the Pan American Highway.

There's already a Corridor

The current study includes US 87/287 and I already know the first question you're asking, how are they going to cut through downtown Amarillo? They aren't. It looks like according to TXDOT studies The current loop 335 project may have provisions in there to serve as a bypass connecting both sections of the upgraded I-27 route.

When?

Since they are now in the planning stages this wont likely be a road we can drive on for at least another decade unless you use the existing US and Texas routes already in place. But just imagine a faster way to get to the rest of Texas and for some cities on the route like San Angelo, which happens to be the largest city in the state without freeway access a much needed connection.