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End of US highway 75

Photo credits: Justin Cozart, Jeff Morrison, Steven Nelson
Additional research: Nathan Edgars; Stephen Taylor

Approx. time period	North terminus	South terminus
1926-1985	Noyes, MN	Galveston, TX
1985-1987	Noyes, MN	Houston, TX
1987-present	Noyes, MN	Dallas, TX

Ever since the US routes were first commissioned in 1926, the north end of US 75 has been at the Canada port of entry between Noyes MN and Emerson MB. That remains the case (US 75 is still signed to the border as of 2007), but since 2003 that border crossing has been closed:

Nelson, Apr. 2005

From what I've been able to find, it was actually Canada that closed their side of the port in 2003, citing such factors as the age of the facility, the proximity of another port, and workload and resource considerations. And apparently the port is still open to train traffic. So theoretically I suppose the U.S. could've opted to continue letting automobile traffic come in from Manitoba via the Port of Noyes (even though people could no longer leave the U.S. that way). But most of the reasons Canada cited also apply to the U.S. At any rate, it appears the U.S. "unofficially" closed the Port of Noyes at the same time Canada closed its port, but it wasn't until 2006 that Noyes was procedurally and legally closed.

Since 2003, Canada-bound traffic on US 75 has been directed to follow MN hwy. 171 west into North Dakota, where it becomes ND hwy. 59, which joins I-29 at interchange 215. But so far, it appears that Minnesota and North Dakota have not yet petitioned AASHTO to change the definition of US 75 to follow that routing. As of 2007, US 75 was still signed to what's now a dead-end at the old border crossing:

Morrison, May 2007

The white sign in the background is shown close-up below:

Morrison, May 2007

Drivers are clearly informed that they should cross over to Pembina and use the I-29 port of entry. But I don't see the point in continuing to sign US 75 north from this junction. Anyway, the photo below shows the north end of US 75:

Morrison, May 2007

That's the Port of Noyes, now closed. Ahead is Mantioba hwy. 75, which continues into Winnipeg. The backside of the sign in the foreground is shown in the photo below:

Morrison, May 2007

That says "International Historic Highway 75 - King of Trails". It's too bad this port has closed, because this historic highway association has done a good job of signing and promoting US 75. The first mention of US 75 is ahead at the junction with MN 171, and the first southbound marker is posted just beyond there:

Nelson, Apr. 2005

Originally US 75 went all the way down to Galveston TX. South of Dallas, it essentially followed what is now the I-45 corridor. US 75 reached its southernmost point where it landed on Galveston Island - from there, it turned east (but also slightly north) along what was then Avenue J (now Broadway, or TX 87). Exactly where US 75 ended is a bit uncertain, but Stephen Taylor makes a good case for the intersection with 20th Street. Although that's not a major north-south road in town, TXDoT maps as early as 1940 seem to place some significance on this intersection, by marking it with an asterisk and using it as a mileage point-of-reference. Below is a clip from their 1961 map:

As you can see, the highway markers seem to back up Stephen's theory. The photo below is looking west on Broadway at 20th:

Google Maps Street View, 2008

At one time, that was the end of TX 87, and US 75 began straight ahead. By the 1970s, maps seem to indicate that US 75 had been extended to the east end of Broadway, then northeast for a short distance on Seawall Boulevard, ending at the intersection with Ferry Road/2nd Street...

Nelson, Aug. 2007

...although someone shared his recollection that signage in the mid-1980s had US 75 ending on Broadway at Seawall, with TX 87 signage beginning on Seawall.

South of Dallas, US 75 was eventually rendered obsolete by I-45, and now TX 87 extends to the west to join I-45. But you can still drive much of old US 75 in Texas, including the segment that's now marked as TX hwy. 75 from Streetman to Conroe.

In 1985 the US 75 designation was truncated at Houston. I'm considering this a "transitory" endpoint, because already by the time of the 1987 TXDoT map, the US 75 was shown cut back to its current south terminus in Dallas. The photo below is looking south at the end of US 75 (and secret I-345) at I-30:

Cozart, Dec. 2002

Below is the signage heading the opposite direction (north at the end of I-45 and the south beginning of US 75/I-345):

Cozart, Dec. 2002

And here is the beginning as seen from westbound I-30:

Cozart, Dec. 2002

In August 2007, these panels were replaced with Clearview versions, and the control city for US 75 was changed from "Sherman" to "McKinney". From eastbound I-30, US 75 and I-45 traffic is directed onto a C-D road; the photo below shows where the two destinations split:

Cozart, Aug. 2007

If you follow the left fork, the first US 75 sign on the mainline looks like this:

Cozart, Aug. 2007