Loop 289 is a multi-lane

beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

servicing

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

as a

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

. The highway serves as the southern end for

Interstate 27 Interstate 27 (I-27) is an Interstate Highway, entirely in the US state of Texas, running north from Lubbock, Texas, Lubbock to Interstate 40 in Texas, I-40 in Amarillo, Texas, Amarillo. These two cities are the only control cities on I-27 ...

on the south side of the city. The highway passes about a mile south of

Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport is five miles north of Lubbock, in Lubbock County, Texas, United States. Originally Lubbock International Airport, it was renamed in 2004 for former Texas governor Preston E. Smith, an alumnus of Te ...

on the north side near the intersection with I-27.

History

Lubbock is among the smallest U.S. cities to be encircled by a beltway or loop highway. Loop 289 is a

grade-separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...

controlled-access freeway. Built from 1960 to 1972, it is 26 miles (42 kilometers) long. When first constructed, Loop 289 passed through entirely rural areas. Today,

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

extends beyond the beltway, especially in southwestern Lubbock. Loop 289 was designated on September 20, 1955. I-27, completed through Lubbock in 1992, serves as the city's north–south freeway. In 2004, construction began on the Marsha Sharp Freeway, the east–west freeway. Cosigned as

US 62 U.S. Route 62 or U.S. Highway 62 (US 62) is an east–west United States Highway in the southern and northeastern United States. It runs from the Mexican border at El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York, near the Canadian bo ...

US 82 U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is an east–west United States Numbered Highways, United States highway in the Southern United States. Created on July 1, 1931 across central Mississippi and southern Arkansas, US 82 eventually became a route extend ...

at its interchange with the east leg of Loop 289, the Marsha Sharp Freeway begins northeast of downtown Lubbock and extends to a mile west of the west leg of Loop 289. From there, it is under construction and is to be extended west to the nearby suburb of Wolfforth.

Lane configuration

Loop 289 is a complete loop freeway with four to six mainline lanes. The freeways have frontage roads for nearly the entire route. It is one of only three complete

controlled-access A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

loops in Texas, the other two being Interstate 610 and

Beltway 8 Beltway 8 (BW8), the Sam Houston Parkway, along with the Sam Houston Tollway, is an beltway around the city of Houston, Texas, United States, lying entirely within Harris County, Texas, Harris County. Beltway 8, a state highway mai ...

(Sam Houston Parkway, and Sam Houston Tollway), both of which encircle

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. At certain junctions, the freeway widens using auxiliary (exit only) lanes. At most interchanges with other highways, there are partial to full access ramps, that directly serve the mainline lanes and/or frontage roads.

Popular culture

The

Dixie Chicks The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. The band consists of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and Emily Stra ...

reference Loop 289 in "Lubbock or Leave It", a track from their 2006 release ''

Taking the Long Way ''Taking the Long Way'' is the seventh studio album by American country music group Dixie Chicks. Released on May 23, 2006, through Columbia Nashville, it was also the group's last album released under the “Dixie Chicks” name. The album deb ...

''. The lyric reads: 'Oh, boy, rave on down Loop 289 / That'll be the day you see me back in this fool's paradise".

Exit list

Counter-clockwise (CCW) reads down and clockwise (CW) reads up.

References

{{reflist 289 Freeways in Texas Transportation in Lubbock, Texas Transportation in Lubbock County, Texas Beltways in the United States