U.S. Route 175 - Route Description

Route Description

US 175 begins south of Downtown Dallas at an interchange with I-45 south of I-30, South Central Expressway (Dallas), and Good-Latimer Expressway. The highway heads towards the southeast as a freeway carrying the dual monikers of South Central Expressway and S.M. Wright Freeway (the latter named for a local minister and community leader in South Dallas).

At an interchange with SH 310 (known locally as Dead Man's Curve), US 175 begins to head to the east (taking the name C.F. Hawn Freeway, named after a Texas Highway commissioner who lived in Athens) while the South Central Expressway and S.M. Wright Freeway names follow SH 310. The freeway continues east along the north edge of Rochester Park until it turns back to the southeast at an interchange at 2nd Avenue (a previous routing of US 175); from this point US 175 maintains a consistent southeasterly direction.

US 175 passes through the Pleasant Grove area of Dallas to an interchange with Loop 12 (N.Buckner Blvd.) and I-20 just southwest of the I-20 and I-635 interchange/split. The highway continues as a freeway past the I-20 interchange and passes through the cities of Seagoville, Crandall and Kaufman. After passing through Kaufman, US 175 is no longer a freeway and continues as a divided highway. The highway bypasses Kemp to the east and passes near the north end of Cedar Creek Reservoir. East of the reservoir, the highway bypasses Mabank before merging into a 2-lane highway (though construction as of 2008 is underway to widen the road to a divided highway status). As it continues to the southeast, US 175 passes through Eustace on its way to Athens.

In Athens, US 175 passes around the city to the north and east (with Loop 7; multiplexing with parts of TX 19 and TX 31 while bypassing) while the old highway passes through the center as a business route. Outside the city limits the business and bypass sections rejoin, later passing through the cities of Poynor, Frankston and Cuney before reaching Jacksonville, where it reaches its eastern terminus at US 69.

In late 2006, work began on twinning a congested 14.5-mile (23.3 km) segment between Mabank and Athens; the portion from Eustace eastward was completed in 2009 and opened to traffic. The part between the Kaufman County line and Eustace is expected to be open by late December 2010, as an interchange is being constructed at SH 334. Future plans call for widening US 175 to four lanes in phases between Baxter, Poynor and Frankston, and between Frankston and Jacksonville; these phases were originally scheduled to have begun construction already but plans have been delayed due to lack of funding.