Pan-American Highway - Northern Section of The Pan-American Highway

Northern Section of The Pan-American Highway

No single road in the U.S. or Canada has been officially or unofficially designated as the Pan-American Highway. In 1966, the Federal Highway Administration designated the entire Interstate Highway System as part of the Pan-American Highway System.

Thus the primary road officially starts at the U.S.-Mexico border. The original route began at the border at Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas (opposite Laredo, Texas) and went south through Mexico City. Later branches were built to the border at Nogales, Sonora (Nogales, Arizona); Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua (El Paso, Texas); Piedras Negras, Coahuila (Eagle Pass, Texas); Reynosa, Tamaulipas (McAllen, Texas); and Matamoros, Tamaulipas (Brownsville, Texas).

On the other hand, several roads in the U.S. were locally named after the Pan-American Highway. When the section of Interstate 35 in San Antonio, Texas was built, it was named the Pan Am Expressway, as an extension of the original route from Laredo. Interstate 25 in Albuquerque, New Mexico has been named the Pan-American Freeway, as an extension of the route to El Paso. U.S. Route 85, which goes north from El Paso, is designated the CanAm Highway, which continues into Canada in the province of Saskatchewan, before terminating at La Ronge. The CANAMEX Corridor is also similarly designated throughout the western United States, and continuing into the Canadian province of Alberta. Finally, Interstate 69 from the Canadian Border at Port Huron, Michigan to Indianapolis, Indiana, and its planned extension southward to the Mexican Border at McAllen, Texas has been designated as the NAFTA Superhighway along with Ontario Highway 402 in Canada. When completed, I-69 will connect with an official branch of the Pan-Am Highway at the McAllen-Reynosa border crossing.

Between Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and Panama City, Panama, the route is known as the Inter-American Highway, and more specifically, in the Central American countries, it is known as the CA-1 (Central America 1).