Texas State Highway 78

State Highway 78
Route information
Maintained by TxDOT
Length:	90.83 mi[1] (146.18 km)
Existed:	1926 – present
Major junctions
South end:	I-30 in Dallas
	I-635 in Garland US 380 in Farmersville US 69 in Leonard US 82 in Bonham
North end:	OK 78 at Texas–Oklahoma state line
Highway system
Highways in Texas Interstate US State Toll Loops Spurs FM/RM Park Rec ← SH 77 SH 79 →

State Highway 78 or SH 78 is a state highway that follows surface roads in a predominantly southwest-to-northeast direction in the Dallas area before traveling 90 miles (145 km) north-northeast to the Oklahoma State border.

Route description

The highway's southern terminus is at Interstate 30 in Dallas. From there, it follows Grand Avenue along White Rock Lake and then Garland Road into Garland as it passes Interstate 635. In downtown Garland, Highway 78 follows the central streets of Avenues B and D before joining Lavon Drive and moving northeastward.

It continues to the northeast through Sachse and Wylie, crossing between Lake Ray Hubbard and Lake Lavon. It passes through Lavon before turning north through Farmersville and Blue Ridge. At SH 160, just before SH 121, SH 78 turns east, continuing to Leonard before turning northeast again to Bailey. At Bailey, SH 78 turns north and cuts through Bonham (as Center Street) just before it reaches the border with Oklahoma, where it crosses a 1938 truss bridge over the Red River. The route continues as Oklahoma State Highway 78 through Durant to its terminus at Tishomingo.

History

The highway was originally designated in 1926 along its current route. Part of this route was used to be designated as SH 5C.

SH 78A was a spur designated by 1928 from Desert to Denison. This spur was renumbered as SH 160 by 1931.

The section of the highway between I-30 and SH 66 was part of U.S. 67 until sometime in the 1960s.

Flooding

In 1990 SH 78 was flooded, as engineers at the Lake Lavon Dam decided to release the water from the lake into the East Fork of the Trinity River. For a month and a half, the traffic going between Wylie and the Eastern portion of Collin County was diverted to go through the city of Rockwall, a nearly 20-mile (32 km) detour. The railroad that ran adjacent to the highway was completely washed out, and significant shoulder damage was done to the highway.

Junction List

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Dallas	Dallas			I-30 (R.L. Thornton Freeway)	Southern terminus; I-30 exits 48B-49A
				Loop 12 (Buckner Boulevard)
				Spur 244 west (Northwest Highway) to I-635
	Garland			I-635 west (Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway)	I-635 exit 8
				SH 66 east
				Pres. George Bush Tpk.	Interchange
Collin	Wylie			FM 544 west
				FM 2514 north (Ballard Avenue)
				FM 3412 west (Brown Street)
	Lavon			SH 205 south – Rockwall
				Bus. SH 78 north – Lavon
				Bus. SH 78 south – Lavon
	​			FM 6 east – Caddo Mills
	​			Bus. SH 78 north – Copeville
	​			Bus. SH 78 south – Copeville
	Farmersville			US 380 – McKinney, Greenville	Interchange
				Bus. SH 78 north
	​			Bus. SH 78 south – Farmersville
	​			FM 2756 west
	​			Bus. SH 78 north – Blue Ridge
	Blue Ridge			FM 981 – Blue Ridge, Celeste
	​			Bus. SH 78 south – Blue Ridge
	​			SH 160 north to SH 121 – Whitewright
Fannin	​			FM 815 north – Trenton
	​			FM 981 north	South end of FM 981 overlap
	​			FM 981 south	North end of FM 981 overlap
	Leonard			FM 896 north
				US 69 south – Celeste	South end of US 69 overlap
				US 69 north / Spur 241 west – Whitewright	North end of US 69 overlap
	​			FM 1553 north
	Bailey			FM 816 south
				SH 11 – Whitewright, Wolfe City
	​			FM 1552 east
	​			FM 1553 west
	​			FM 68 east
	​			FM 1629 south
	​			FM 271 south – Bonham State Park
	Bonham			SH 56 – Ector, Dodd City
				Loop 205 (10th Street)
				US 82 – Sherman, Paris
				FM 898 north
	​			SH 121 south – Melissa, McKinney
	​			FM 1753 west
	​			FM 1396 east
	​			FM 274 west
Red River				State Highway 78 Bridge — Highway continues into Oklahoma as SH-78
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

References