Skip to main content

Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive (Texas State Highway Loop 375)

By


Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive is a ten-mile component of Texas State Highway Loop 375 located in the El Paso area.  Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive connects US Route 54 west over the Franklin Mountains to Interstate 10 (also US Route 85 and US Route 180) and functions as a bypass to downtown El Paso.  Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive undoubtedly is the most notable part of the overall forty-nine-mile routing of Texas State Highway Loop 375.  Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive opened in 1970 and carries grades as high as 8%.  The corridor of Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive passes through Franklin Mountains State Park and Castner Range National Monument.  




Part 1; the history of Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive

Fusselman Canyon is a natural cut which follows a fault of the same name through the Franklin Mountains.  The terrain of Fusselman Canyon has made it a natural bypass of much of El Paso well before the establishment of Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive.  The canyon was named in honor former Texas Ranger and U.S. Marshall Charles Fusselman.  Charles Fusselman was shot and killed trying to apprehend cattle rustlers in the Franklin Mountains during April 1890.  The name "Smugglers Pass" now used by Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive is a reference to the cattle rustling incident of April 1890. 


A primitive road can be seen ascending Fusselman Canyon west of Lenoria siding and the White Oaks Railroad on the 1896 United States Geological Survey Map of El Paso.  


The entirety of Texas State Highway Loop 375 was designated in 1963 as part of the long term El Paso Freeway plan.  The segment of Texas State Highway Loop 375 from US Route 54 bypassing downtown El Paso was planned to cross the Franklin Mountains via Fusselman Canyon and Smugglers Pass.  The segment of Texas State Highway Loop 375 over the Franklin Mountains was completed during 1970 and is known as "Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive." 

Construction of Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive involved the largest land excavation undertaken by the Texas Highway Department to that point.  The namesake for the segment of highway is notable local El Paso County politician Woodrow Wilson Bean.  Woodrow Bean had served as the El Paso County Judge and was a figurehead behind the push for numerous public works projects around the city of El Paso.  


Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive can be seen on the 1983 United States Geological Survey Map of El Paso as a component of Texas State Highway Loop 375.  Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive is shown connecting from Texas State Route 20 (former US Route 80) east over the Franklin Mountains to US Route 54 at Dyer Street (now US Route 54 Business).  Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive is shown connecting to Interstate 10 (then also US Route 80, US Route 85 and US Route 180) east of Texas State Highway 20. 



During 2014 Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive was fully converted to four-lane expressway standards west from Franklin Mountains State Park to Interstate 10.  The project included frontage roads and two flyover ramps linking to Interstate 10. 




Part 2; a photo tour of Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive

From US Route 54 on the Patriots Freeway traffic can be access westbound Texas State Highway Loop 375/Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive at Exit 29.  Traffic departing US Route 54 is required to use Gateway Boulevard to reach Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive.  





Traffic on Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive west of US Route 54 is advised they are entering Castner Range National Monument.  Traffic is advised of 8% grades along the highway ahead.  




Castner Range National Monument was established on March 21, 2023, by President Joe Biden.  Presently oversight of the National Monument is administered by the United States Army.  The Castner Range was in use as a munitions test range in the Franklin Mountains circa 1926-1966.  The numerous "Danger, unexploded ordinance" signs along Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive are a reference to the testing days of the Castner Range.  


Westbound Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive passes an access road to the National Border Patrol Museum and El Paso Museum of Archaeology.


Westbound Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive climbs into the Franklin Mountains through Fusselman Canyon.  Traffic is notified of a historical plaque (seen in Part 1 above) which can be accessed by both highway travel directions.  












The transition point where the Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive departs Castner Range National Monument and enters Franklin Mountain State Park has recently been fully signed.  



Westbound Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive crosses the 5,280-foot-high Smugglers Pass and begins the 8% grade descent towards Interstate 10.  





At the beginning of the descent towards Interstate 10 traffic can access the West Franklin Mountains Vista (photo by Adam Prince during June 2023).  


Westbound Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive intersects the access road to the Tom Mays unit of Franklin Mountains State Park.  








Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive becomes a freeway upon entering the city of El Paso.  Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive accesses Paseo Del Norte Road and Plexxar Drive at Exit 12.  




Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive Exit 11B accesses Resler Drive and Northwestern Drive.  


Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive westbound ends at Interstate 10 (also US Route 85 and US Route 180).  Traffic transitioning to eastbound Interstate 10 utilizes a flyover ramp whereas Interstate 10 westbound traffic must use North Desert Boulevard.  Traffic continuing west beyond the end of Woodrow Bean Transmountain Drive transitions onto Texas State Highway Spur 16.  





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

By
In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l
3 comments
Read more

Mines Road

By
Mines Road is an approximately twenty-eight-mile highway located in the rural parts of the Diablo Range east of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Mines Road begins in San Antonio Valley in Santa Clara County and terminates at Tesla Road near Livermore of Alameda County.  The highway essentially is a modern overlay of the 1840s Mexican haul trail up Arroyo Mocho known as La Vereda del Monte.  The modern corridor of Mines Road took shape in the early twentieth century following development of San Antonio Valley amid a magnesite mining boom.  Part 1; the history of Mines Road Modern Mines Road partially overlays the historic corridor used by La Vereda del Monte (Mountain Trail).  La Vereda del Monte was part of a remote overland route through the Diablo Range primarily used to drive cattle from Alta California to Sonora.  The trail was most heavily used during the latter days of Alta California during the 1840s. La Vereda del Monte originated at Point of Timber between modern day Byron and Bre
Post a Comment
Read more

Interstate 210 the Foothill Freeway

By
The combined Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor of the Foothill Freeway is approximately 85.31-miles.  The Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor begins at Interstate 5 at the northern outskirts of Los Angeles and travels east to Interstate 10 in Redlands of San Bernardino County.  Interstate 210 is presently signed on the 44.9-mile segment of the Foothill Freeway between Interstate 5 and California State Route 57.  California State Route 210 makes up the remaining 40.41 miles of the Foothill Freeway east to Interstate 10.  Interstate 210 is still classified by the Federal Highway Administration as existing on what is now signed as California State Route 57 from San Dimas south to Interstate 10.  The focus of this blog will mostly be on the history of Interstate 210 segment of the Foothill Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Interstate 210 and California State Route 210 Interstate 210 (I-210) was approved as a chargeable Interstate during September of
Post a Comment
Read more