Texas State Highway 20

Texas State Highway 20

State Highway 20 or SH 20 is a 78.1-mile (125.7 km) highway maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) that runs from New Mexico State Road 460 at the state line between Texas and New Mexico at Anthony in El Paso County to Interstate 10 at McNary in Hudspeth County. The route passes through the city of El Paso as well as suburban and rural farming communities along the Rio Grande. With the exception of a stretch north of central El Paso where the route crosses north of I-10, the route generally runs in a narrow belt between I-10 and the Rio Grande. The route has connections to every international border crossing with Mexico in the El Paso area and has important intersections with US 54, US 62, US 85, and US 180.

Until the late 1930s, the route designation belonged to a highway in central Texas along the route of present day US 290. The current route predates the Texas highway system having been a portion of several historic auto trails. The route was included at the creation of the state system as part of SH 1. With the establishment of the U.S. numbered highway system, the route became US 80 and the SH 1 designation was eventually dropped. SH 20 was designated over the route when US 80 was relocated over I-10 before it too was decommissioned in western Texas.