The stretch of US 59 between Nacogdoches and Lufkin is one of the pieces still missing from Interstate 69 in Deep East Texas. It now has the money to start closing that gap, at least on paper.
U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions announced $3 million in federal funding in Nacogdoches this week for a feasibility study and environmental clearance on that section of highway. The City of Nacogdoches is the recipient.
What the money does
It doesn’t pave anything. A feasibility study and environmental clearance are the steps that come before design, right-of-way and construction on a federal highway project, and nothing else moves until they’re done.
According to Sessions’ office, the funds will be used to complete that work on the remaining gap along US 59 between Nacogdoches and Lufkin. The project begins the process of bringing the road up to interstate standards so it can be designated as part of the I-69 corridor. The office lists mobility, safety and freight movement as the goals.
The office originally asked for $5 million for the project in its fiscal 2026 funding requests.
Where the gap sits
Work is already underway on both ends. On the north side of Lufkin, TxDOT’s $63 million upgrade of US 59 through Redland, from Loop 287 to FM 2021, adds frontage roads and rebuilds the main lanes to interstate standards. TxDOT expects it to wrap up this fall, weather permitting.
In Nacogdoches, the US 59/Loop 224 south interchange was scheduled to be finished in late 2026, TxDOT officials said in 2024. North of town, reconstruction of the US 59/US 259 interchange, estimated at $213.3 million, is set to start construction in spring 2029.
The section between those projects is the gap. And it matters for more than looks. A TxDOT planning director told the Nacogdoches Rotary Club in 2024 that a road has to connect to an existing interstate before it can be signed as one.
Why it matters here
About a quarter of the traffic on US 59 at Nacogdoches is trucks, according to TxDOT, and traffic volume there is expected to grow 70% between 2020 and 2050. The highway is also a hurricane evacuation route for the Gulf Coast.
Local support for the upgrade goes back years. When TxDOT asked the public in 2014 how to bring I-69 through the Nacogdoches area, 70% of participants backed upgrading the existing US 59 instead of building on a new route. Earlier this year, Angelina County commissioners passed a resolution supporting construction of I-69 between Lufkin and Nacogdoches.
The Texas Forest Country Partnership thanked Sessions after the announcement and said the money will help move forward planning for safer travel, freight movement and economic growth across the region. Staff with State Rep. Joanne Shofner’s office also attended.
