Texas State Highway 78
State Highway 78 is a state highway that follows surface roads in a predominantly southwest-to-northeast direction in the Dallas area before traveling north-northeast to the Oklahoma State border.
Route description
The highway's southern terminus is at I-30 in Dallas near Fair Park. From there, it follows Grand Avenue along White Rock Lake and then Garland Road into Garland as it passes I-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 to reach Sowell's Bluff 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 on August 21, 1923, from Dallas to Bonham, replacing SH 5C. On May 19, 1924, the section from Desert to Bonham was cancelled. SH 78 was instead rerouted on its current route north of Desert to Bonham. On March 30, 1933, SH 78 was extended to Oklahoma. On October 6, 1943, SH 78 was extended south to Loop 12.On June 21, 1951, the section from US 67 to Loop 12 was renumbered to Texas State [Highway Spur 244|Spur 244]. US 67 was rerouted over current I-30, and the old route was transferred to rerouted SH 78 and the rest northeast of SH 78 was renumbered to FM 7, which was cancelled and transferred to SH 66 on November 30, 1961.
SH 78A was a spur designated on May 9, 1927 from Desert to Bells. This spur was renumbered as SH 160 on March 19, 1930.