Current and historic endpoints
of US highway 90 in Van Horn TX

Photo credits: Chris Elbert; Alan Hamilton; Alex Nitzman

Of course there wasn't always an Interstate 10 running through Van Horn TX, so the historic endpoint of US 90 was at its intersection with US 80. That route is no longer in commission west of Dallas, but it used to run through Van Horn on its way to El Paso and San Diego. In Van Horn that road is known as Broadway, and today it's signed as Business Loop I-10 through town. I-10 parallels Broadway, running about four blocks to the south. Modern signage leaves some doubt as to whether the US 90 designation still ends at Broadway, or whether it now ends at I-10. Let's begin by heading east on I-10:

Nitzman, Jan. 2006

That's Van Horn's central interchange. If you take that exit, the assembly shown below greets you at the bottom of the offramp:

Nitzman, Jan. 2006

From that, it would seem that US 90 begins to the right, and TX 54 begins to the left (which in my opinion is the way it should be). Now, let's approach this intersection from the right, by heading north on Van Horn Drive:

Nitzman, Jan. 2006

Not much in the way of interesting signage at the end of US 90's 1600-mile journey across the country. Despite the lack of an "End" sign, that would seem to be the west end of US 90, because the assembly visible in the distance (on the other side of the overpasses) looks like this:

Nitzman, Jan. 2006

Continuing ahead a few blocks, we reach the original west end of US 90:

Nitzman, Jan. 2006

That's at the junction with historic US 80 (or Broadway). The assembly at the intersection itself looks like this...

Nitzman, Jan. 2006

...and it's the signage at this intersection that begins to cast doubt on the endpoint of US 90: if we were already on TX 54, then why does this sign say "TO TX 54"? We'll see more of that later.

Anyway, half a block to the right, TX 54 goes north (left) on La Caverna Street. Apparently in 1939 the US 90 designation was extended along that route to US 62 near Pine Springs TX. But according to official records it was truncated back to Van Horn less than a year later - which was probably before that segment ever had a chance to be posted with US 90 shields. Here's a shot from that junction:

Elbert, Mar. 2006

Today that's the north end of TX 54. Pine Springs is about 5 miles ahead, as is the entrance to Guadalupe Mountains National Park (which preserves several interesting geological features, including Guadalupe Peak: at 8749 feet, the highest point in Texas. The mountain visible in the distance is El Capitan, which is a shoulder of Guadalupe). For a time eastbound US 90 was at least planned to end here. Perhaps someone realized it didn't make sense to sign it with an east-west number when it runs north-south for about 60 miles before finally swinging eastward. At any rate, that idea was short-lived. Below, we're back to Van Horn, heading west on Broadway:

Elbert, Mar. 2006

To the right on La Caverna is northbound TX 54. But instead of marking the left turn a half-block ahead (onto Van Horn Drive) as southbound TX 54, it's marked as eastbound US 90. Signage ahead looks like this:

Hamilton, 2002

The west beginning of US 90 was to the left; notice how it's signed as if that's still the case (instead of "TO East US 90). That may have been accurate as recently as 1991, which is when TXDoT decommissioned US 80 through these parts. My guess is that US 90 has now been officially truncated to the I-10 interchange, but signage at the intersection of Broadway and Van Horn simply hasn't been updated yet.

If you take that left turn onto Van Horn, you soon come to what's most likely the true west beginning of US 90:

Nitzman, Jan. 2006

The signage on the other side of the overpasses hopefully prompts drivers to check their fuel gauge before leaving town:

Nitzman, Jan. 2006

These westernmost miles of US 90 are in a starkly dry region - quite a contrast to the climate at the east end of the route, photos from which are available on the main US 90 page.