Existed: 1959 – present Length 137.1 km | Constructed 1959 | |
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South end: I-35 / I-35E / US 77 near Hillsboro North end: I-35 / I-35E / US 77 in Denton Counties Hill County, Texas, Johnson County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, Denton County, Texas | ||
This article is about the Interstate 35W that services Fort Worth, Texas. For the Interstate 35W that services Minneapolis, Minnesota, see Interstate 35W (Minnesota).
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Map of I-35W, Texas, USA
Interstate 35W (abbreviated I-35W), an Interstate Highway, is the western half of Interstate 35 where it splits to serve the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area. I-35 splits into two branch routes, I-35W and I-35E at Hillsboro. I-35W runs north for 85.20 miles (137.12 km), carrying its own separate sequence of exit numbers. It runs through Fort Worth before rejoining with I-35E to reform I-35 in Denton. It is the more direct route for long-distance expressway traffic, as is noted on signs on I-35 leading into the I-35W/I-35E splits. This is one of two points where I-35 splits into suffixed pairs of Interstate highways to service a metropolitan area, doing the same thing in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota.
Historically, other interstates were given directional suffixes. On every other interstate, the directional suffixes were phased out by giving the route a loop or spur designation. In the case of I-35, since both branches return to a unified interstate beyond the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, the AASHTO committees allowed the suffixes to remain.
During the 1970s, billboards existed on I-35 encouraging travelers to take the faster and shorter I-35W route.
Route description
Interstate 35 splits into two separately named interstate highways just north of Hillsboro, Texas. The routes fork to the northwest and northeast, with Interstate 35W taking the northwest route and Interstate 35E travelling off to the northeast toward Dallas. I-35W travels northwest past the Hillsboro airport through generally rolling farm and ranchlands. It then intersects with US Route 67 on the west side of Alvarado. It continues northwest into the southern edge of Fort Worth. At an intersection with State Highway 174 the route turns due north into greater Fort Worth, passing just west of Fort Worth Spinks Airport. Further north, the road reaches a five level interchange with Interstate 20. The route continues north, reaching downtown Fort Worth. Here it reaches intersections with Interstate 30, U.S. Highway 287, and U.S. Highway 377. I-35W travels north away from downtown concurrent with US 287, next intersecting Interstate 820 just east of Fort Worth Meacham International Airport. Just north of this intersection, US 287 splits to the northwest, along with the southern terminus of U.S. Highway 81. I-35W then gradually shifts to the northeast, passing Fort Worth Alliance Airport and Texas Motor Speedway. It reaches its northern merging point on the southwest side of Denton, merging back together with I-35E to reform Interstate 35, which continues off to the north.