US59 in the state of Texas is named the Lloyd Bentsen Highway, after Lloyd Bentsen, former U.S. senator from Texas. In northern Houston, US59, co-signed with I-69, is the Eastex Freeway (from Downtown Houston to the Liberty–Montgomery county line). To the south, which is also co-signed with I-69, it is the Southwest Freeway (from Rosenberg to Downtown Houston), which is one of the busiest sections of freeway in the United States with a vehicle count, as of 2006, over 330,000vehicles per day just outside the Loop.[2]
US59 (overlaped by US71) actually straddles the border between Texas and Arkansas north of I-30 near Texarkana, with the east side of the highway on the Arkansas side and the west side of the highway on the Texas side. In the past, both highways remained on the border past I-30 as State Line Avenue to Downtown Texarkana; today, only US71 does so. Nearly 90% of this route is designated to become part of I-69 in the future. Currently, 75mph (120km/h) speed limits are allowed on US59 in Duval County and portions of northern Polk County.
From the southwestern suburbs of Houston to Downtown Houston, US59 is commonly referred to as the "Southwest Freeway", sometimes derisively as the "Southwest's Best Freeway." Supporting 371,000 vehicles per day,[3] it is one of the busiest freeways in the United States. US59 is known as the "Eastex Freeway" in the north/northeast part of the Houston region. At the Mexican border, it ends at the World Trade International Bridge in Laredo, Texas. In Laredo, US59 is co-signed with both I-69W and Loop 20, and has an intersection of I-35 which ends at the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge. After crossing the bridge into Mexico, I-35 continues as Mexican Federal Highway 85 in Nuevo Laredo, which then runs through Mexico and Central America and ends in Panama at the Panama Canal.
Downtown Houston skyline along US59Uptown Houston skyscrapers along US59
Arkansas
In Arkansas, US59 is concurrent with US 71 from I-30 at Texarkana to Acorn, and with US270 from Acorn to the Oklahoma state line. The Third Loop was to be extended on I-49 from its original northern end to US71 at the Texas state line opened on May 15, 2013, and was extended to State Line Road, where it intersects with US59 and US71 in Texas.
US59 enters the state just south of Chetopa and runs nearly directly north across the state. It runs concurrently with US169 starting about five miles (8.0km) south of Garnett and diverges north again immediately south of Garnett. The intersection immediately south of Garnett used to be a braided intersection with stop and yield signs. It was identified as a high-crash location in 2001, and was rebuilt as a roundabout that opened in April 2006.[4] The Kansas Department of Transportation is rebuilding or planning to rebuild several other rural intersections as roundabouts for increased safety.[5][6] Until 2012, US59 passed through Ottawa, Kansas, and had to be shut down or detoured every time the Marais Des Cygnesfloodwall gates were closed across the highway. The highway now bypasses around Ottawa, running concurrently with I-35 for five miles (8.0km) and using that highway's bridges over the Marais Des Cygnes. US59 passes through Lawrence. The street name of US59 in Lawrence is Iowa Street, then 6th Street as it joins US40 and jogs east to cross the Kansas River near downtown. North of the U.S. 40 and 59 Bridges, it splits with US40 as it joins US24 briefly and jogs back west before resuming a northerly course. It continues north to Nortonville, then northeast to Atchison, where it crosses the Missouri River over the Amelia Earhart Bridge.
US59 has been rebuilt and rerouted just to the east between Lawrence and Ottawa as a divided highway, as the former road was one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the state. The project began in mid-2007, and was completed and opened to the public on October 17, 2012.[7]
Missouri
In Missouri, US59 travels northerly through the northwest corner of the state, largely amidst the Missouri River Valley and Loess Hills. The highway crosses the Missouri River east of Atchison, Kansas at Winthrop and travels northeast towards St. Joseph.[8] In St. Joseph, the highway is paired with I-229 through downtown, and then departs from I-229 as Saint Joseph Avenue. It later joins with Bus. US71 at its first junction with I-29 in Andrew County. US 59 and Bus. US 71 continue up to and through Savannah before reaching US 71, where the business route terminates, and US59 continues west. US59 then tracks with I-29 closely through Holt County, crossing it four separate times, until diverging northward at Craig. There it begins a very northerly route that it follows through the rest of the state. It passes through Fairfax and Tarkio before exiting the state 10 miles (16km) north of Tarkio.[8] This last section of US59 is immortalized in the Brewer and Shipley song "Tarkio Road".[citation needed]
In Iowa, US59 is a main north–south artery in the western part of the state. It enters Iowa south of Shenandoah and joins I-80 at Avoca. It passes through the county seats of Harlan, Denison, Cherokee, and Primghar. Except for small stretches of expressway near Avoca, Denison, and Holstein, the entire length of US59 in Iowa is an undivided two-lane road. US59 exits the state near Hawkeye Point, the highest point in the state of Iowa.
Minnesota
US59 enters Minnesota south of Worthington, just one mile (1.6km) east of Bigelow. It passes through rural western Minnesota for its entire length in the state. Some cities along the way include Slayton, Marshall, Clarkfield, Montevideo, and Morris. US59 overlaps I-94/US52 in the Fergus Falls area. North of Fergus Falls, US59 passes through Pelican Rapids, Detroit Lakes, and Thief River Falls before ending at the Lancaster–Tolstoi border crossing on the Canadian border. US59 runs for about 425 miles (684km) through Minnesota.
The Minnesota section of US59 is legally defined as all or part of Routes 265, 16, 17, 88, 66, 144, 3, 30, and 174 in Minnesota Statutes §§ 161.115(19), (75), and (196) and 161.114(2).[9][10]
The part in Missouri was defined in 1922 as Route52 from Kansas to St. Joseph, Route1 from St. Joseph to Tarkio, and Route61 from Tarkio to Iowa. Route61 became Route9 in 1926, and Route52 became part of Route4 in 1927, and this portion became Route18 in 1932, before being removed in favor of US59 in the 1930s.
Historic termini
Before the 1950s, US59 headed northwest to US75 at Noyes, crossed the Red River of the North at St. Vincent, and terminated at US81 in Pembina, North Dakota. A new highway and border crossing were built north of Lancaster on the present alignment in 1950. The former segment of US59 between Lancaster and US75 became CR6, and the extremely short segment between US75 and US81 became MN171 and ND59. ND59 still exists in Pembina from the state line to I-29.
From 1934 to 1935, the US59 designation referred to a 50-mile-long (80km) route across southeastern Minnesota, from Lake City, Minnesota, to the Iowa state line just short of Chester, Iowa. That entire route is now part of US63, and nowhere close to the present US59, established in 1935.[citation needed]
In 1933, much of the present US59 and the entirety of US96 in Texas were originally proposed to be part of US71. Under this plan, discussed at a meeting of the United States Good Roads Association in Beaumont, US71 was to be diverted out of Louisiana altogether and instead rerouted from the Texarkana area southward through East Texas.[11]
Future
A large portion of US59 is proposed to become part of the future extension of I-69, I-69W and I-369 through Texas, allowing the current alignment and right-of-way to be upgraded without the need for government environmental studies or extensive eminent domain proceedings.[12]
US60/ US69 east-northeast of Afton. US59/US60 travels concurrently for approximately 0.6 miles (0.97km). US59/US69 travels concurrently to north of Dotyville.
Routes in italics are no longer a part of the system. Highlighted routes are considered main routes of the system.
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Fed. 85D at the Mexican border at Laredo, TX 
PTH 59 at the Canadian border near Lancaster, MN 
