The Lost Highway - Old State Highway 6 near Hammond and Reagan, Texas

These are pictures of abanonded State Highway 6 between Hammond and Reagan, Texas, plus curiosities and some history about SH 6.

These photos show what remains of abandoned State Highway 6 between Hammond and Reagan, Texas.  There actually is a good stretch of the old highway and several parts are still drivable. Most of the old highway sections are used by the local residents to get to their driveways.  However, the old highway is not fully drivable, since the bridges and culverts were taken out at the creeks. Some of these have dead end markers.

The old highway parallels the new for about maybe two miles.  One part begins (or ends depending on your direction of travel) at the intersection of SH 6 and State Highway 46 (which is the old SH 6 route that ran through Bremond instead of a more direct route).  More about this intersection later.  The other end (or beginning) is where I took these photos.

One part has been barricaded twice - a large barrier on the side where the road ties in to the main road and a dead end marker and barrier on a section of the old highway.

I found the old highway at the point of the barricades to be unusally wide for an abandoned segment of roadway. There is little striping left, but whatever type of material was used for the road is still in decent shape.  The old highway section farther down from here is a bit narrower, but still not in too bad shape as the road is used to get to local property and driveways.

I didn't have time to check any of the creeks for any old bridge supports, but looking from the present SH 6 I did not see anything resembling any type of bridge crossing, so my guess is the bridges and culverts were all removed. However, from memory I seem to recall seeing crumbling pieces of concrete from disintegrating bridges in creeks. I thought it might have been in this area.

The reason I wanted to take these photos is that many sections of SH 6 are being widened into a four-lane divided highway. If that happens here, the old highway roadbeds will most likely disappear.

Other notes about SH 6

The various sections of SH 6 have an interesting history.  For many years, the road made a large bend and went up to the town of Bremond. In the early 1970s, the route was shortened quite a bit with SH 6 being built from near Hammond across to the present day intersection of SH 6 and SH 46 (a 1969 map shows SH 6 still going through Bremond. The map also shows the SH 6 bypass around Bryan/College Station under construction).  You will notice SH 46 has a bend so that it ties in at more of a t-intersection with SH 6. If you look closely you can see a rough patch of concrete where the old highway 6 continued its old route to Bremond. The newer (shortcut) SH 6 bypassing Bremond may have built parallel to the old highway section I mention.  The old highway would have crossed SH 6 and then paralled it to the left side (if going northbound), coming up quickly on a creek and then continuing ahead to what is now the barricaded section. I can't tell if the old highway was replaced by the Bremond bypass and continuation section or if the continuation section already existed prior to the Bremond bypass. Maybe a reader can help.

I found plenty more to explore along SH 6 because in various places you see roads called Old Bryan Highway and Old Hearne Road. Some of these aren't paved so they have to be really old. They may predate SH 6 or be the earliest incarnation of the highway.

As I mentioned, a lot of State Highway 6 is being widened and/or divided - a bypass around Marlin is currently under construction being widened from 2 to 4 lane divided.  South of Marlin the whole highway is getting a makeover and being widened to 4-lane divided. I recently missed a chance at a photo of 2 abandoned bridges because the new construction not only made 2 new lanes but rebuilt the original two, replacing the bridges.

Another interesting section of SH 6 is the part north of Marlin in the small town of Riesel. A bypass was built around the city - but only two lanes with one way traffic!  So if traveling one direction, you have to slow down going through the town, but going the opposite way the road takes you around the town and the speed limit isn't as slow. I can't say I've seen this road layout anywhere else.

Throughout the year, travel on SH 6 has become much easier and much faster. Here's an example: a typical drive from Houston to Waco on SH 6 is to take US 290/SH 6 to Hempstead and turn north on SH 6 - bypass Navasota, bypass College Station and Bryan and continue to Hearne. You come to your first traffic light in Hearne! Other traffic lights on the way to Waco? There is a traffic light or two in Calvert and I can't recall any others. That's not many traffic lights. I've made the trip in three hours.

Compare that with the same trip in the late 1950s:

US 290 Hempstead Highway in Houston - many traffic lights (at least 12) until out of town
traffic lights in Waller (2 or so), Prairie View and several in Hempstead (about 4)
traffic lights in Navasota
lots of traffic lights in College Station and Bryan
traffic lights in Hearne and Calvert
traffic lights in Bremond (no bypass)
traffic lights in Marlin
possibly other lights on rest of route
very little divided highway if any on the route, but some sections of four-lane road (but no center turn lane making it extremely dangerous at night)
One other interesting item on SH 6 is near Navasota you can still see a tiny section of "crossover" between the highway as this was once a section where the divided highway stopped.

One other item - one of the picnic areas between Hempstead and Navasota apparently was torn down maybe the late 80s. Anyone know why? Also, there's a picnic area closed between Navasota and College Station with lots of "Park Closed" signs. Anyone know anything about that?

So now you know more than you ever needed to know about part of SH 6 in Texas. If you have any questions, please e-mail me at ag5t@arrl.net.