Interstate 35W (Texas)

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Interstate 35W
I-35W highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by TxDOT
Length	85.203 mi[1] (137.121 km)
Existed	1959–present
NHS	Entire route
Major junctions
South end	I-35 / I-35E / US 77 near Hillsboro
Major intersections	US 67 in Alvarado I-20 in Fort Worth I-30 in Fort Worth US 287 in Fort Worth US 377 in Fort Worth I-820 in Fort Worth US 81 / US 287 in Fort Worth
North end	I-35 / I-35E / US 77 in Denton
Location
Country	United States
State	Texas
Counties	Hill, Johnson, Tarrant, Denton
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Future Highways in Texas Interstate US State Toll Loops Spurs FM/RM Park Rec
← I-35E → SH 35

Interstate 35W (I-35W^[a]), an Interstate Highway, is the western half of I-35 where it splits to serve the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. I-35 splits into two branch routes, I-35W and I-35E, at Hillsboro. I-35W runs north for 85.2 miles (137.1 km), carrying its own separate sequence of exit numbers. It runs through Fort Worth before rejoining with I-35E to reform I-35 in Denton. It is the more direct route for long-distance expressway traffic, as is noted on signs on I-35 leading into the I-35W/I-35E splits. During the 1970s, billboards existed on I-35 encouraging travelers to take the faster and shorter I-35W route.

During the early years of the Interstate Highway System, branching Interstates with directional suffixes, such as N, S, E, and W, were common nationwide. On every other Interstate nationwide, these directional suffixes have been phased out by redesignating the suffixed route numbers with a loop or spur route number designation (such as I-270 in Maryland, which was once I-70S) or, in some cases, were assigned a different route number (such as I-76, which was once I-80S). In the case of I-35 in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, since neither branch is clearly the main route and both branches return to a unified Interstate beyond the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, officials at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) have allowed the suffixes of E and W in Texas to remain in the present day. I-35 also splits into I-35E and I-35W in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota, for similar reasons as the I-35 split in the Dallas–Fort Worth area.

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