Length 689.4 km | ||
 | ||
South end: I-69E / US 77 / Alt. US 77 in Refugio North end: US-70 / US-183 at Texas-Oklahoma state line | ||
U.S. Route 183 (US 183) is a north-south U.S. highway that begins in Texas in Refugio at an intersection with US 77 (Future I-69E) concurrent with US 77 ALT. The highway runs through many small communities with Austin being the only major city along its route. The highway exits Texas concurrent with US 70, crossing into Oklahoma.
Contents
Route description
US 183 begins in Refugio at an intersection with US 77 (Future I-69E). US 77 ALT also begins at this intersection. The two highways travel north towards the historic town of Goliad. A few miles north of Cuero, US 77 ALT leaves the highway.
US 183 travels through many towns, including Gonzales and Luling before reaching Lockhart. Just north of Lockhart, the highway interchanges with the SH 130 toll road, and begins an "overlap" with the highway. US 183 becomes the frontage road for the toll road until Mustang Ridge, where SH 130 joins the SH 45 toll road.
Upon entering Austin, US 183 has many interchanges before becoming a freeway, just south of US 290. This freeway lasts until the 183A toll road. While 183A serves as a bypass around Cedar Park and Leander, US 183 serves as a more direct surface street.
Leaving the Austin area, 183 reaches Lampasas, where it overlaps US 190 and US 281. In Goldthwaite, the highway overlaps SH 16 and US 84. Just outside Brownwood, the overlap with US 84 ends. Hwy 183 crosses I-20 just south of Cisco. South of Throckmorton, US 283 joins the highway, an overlap that lasts until Vernon, where 183 joins US 70 and US 287. In Oklaunion, US 70 and 183 leave US 287 and cross the Red River together into Oklahoma.
Research Boulevard, Anderson Lane, and Ed Bluestein Boulevard in Austin
Through 1990, none of US 183 through Austin was built to freeway standards. By 2002, the portion of US 183, known as Research Boulevard, had been upgraded to a freeway. At that time, Research Boulevard, between Spicewood Springs Road and Cameron Road, was built as a viaduct with grade separated limited access. The northern freeway portion between Spicewood Springs Road and Bell Boulevard in Cedar Park, was completed by 2003.
The southern freeway portion between Cameron Road and US 290, became completed in 2012.
In Cedar Park, the limited access portion of Research Boulevard would become the 183A Toll Road, as US 183 would serve as a major arterial through the city as Bell Boulevard. The toll road opened in March 2007. The roads rejoin north of Leander.
In 2015, groundbreaking was announced to convert the then fifty-five-year-old portion of US 183 from US 290 to SH 71 into a three-to-five-lane tollway. All cross intersections governed by traffic lights will carry on as interchanges except 51st Street, Techni Center Drive, Bolm Road (which currently serves as a diamond interchange), Vargas Road, and Thompson Lane. In addition to these changes, an interchange at Patton Avenue is being constructed, the pedestrian crossing bridge just south of Manor Road will be upgraded, and Montopolis Bridge will be decommissioned in favor of a new truss bridge that will serve as a pedestrian walkway, no longer open to motorized traffic. Construction began in early 2016 and is expected to be completed in late 2019 or early 2020.
Major intersections
All exits are unnumbered.