Farm to Market Road 1518 (FM 1518) is a farm-to-market road in the Greater San Antonio

Greater San Antonio

Greater San Antonio is a 8-county metropolitan area defined by the Office of Management and Budget. It is located in the South Central region of Texas. The MSA of Greater San Antonio is colloquially referred to as the "San Antonio-New Braunfels" metropolitan area as of the 2010 census.The official...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 area.

Route description

The southern terminus of FM 1518 is at a junction with Loop 1604 in the southeastern Bexar County town of Adkins

Adkins, Texas

Adkins is an unincorporated area in eastern Bexar County, Texas, United States. It lies on FM 1518, about 1 mile north of the Texas Pride Restaurant.-History:...

. It continues north through the town of St. Hedwig

St. Hedwig, Texas

St. Hedwig is a town in Bexar County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,875 at the 2000 census. It is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...

 and crosses Interstate 10

Interstate 10 in Texas

Interstate 10 is the major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. In the U.S. state of Texas, it runs east from El Paso, near the border with New Mexico, through San Antonio and Houston to the border with Louisiana in Orange, Texas....

 at its exit 591. The route then passes to the east of Randolph Air Force Base

Randolph Air Force Base

Randolph Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located east-northeast of San Antonio, Texas. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 902d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command ....

 before reaching FM 78

Farm to Market Road 78

Farm to Market Road 78 is a farm-to-market road connecting San Antonio and Seguin, Texas.-Route description:The western terminus of FM 78 is in Bexar County, near Fort Sam Houston and the southern end of the concurrency of Interstates 35 and 410 in San Antonio. Access to FM 78 is available from...

 near Schertz

Schertz, Texas

Schertz is a city in Bexar, Comal, and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. The population was 31,465 at the 2010 census.On July 16, 2007 CNNMoney.com rated Schertz one of the best places to live in the United States...

, just west of the Guadalupe County line. Officially, FM 1518 is discontinuous here, and the route designation resumes at another point farther east along FM 78. Now in Guadalupe County, FM 1518 travels through the southwestern portion of Schertz and into Selma

Selma, Texas

Selma is a city in Bexar, Comal, and Guadalupe Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, where it ends at an intersection with Interstate 35

Interstate 35 in Texas

Interstate 35 in Texas is a major north–south Interstate Highway running from Laredo near the United States-Mexico border to the Red River north of Gainesville where it crosses into Oklahoma. Along its route, it passes through the cities of San Antonio, Austin, and Waco before it splits into two...

's exit 174A.

History

FM 1518 was designated in 1949 as a short route that connected unincorporated southern Bexar county communities to SH 346 (which would ultimately become part of SH 16). The route was extended several times in the 1950s and 1960s, eventually creating a route of approximately 66.5 miles (107 km) that looped around the southwestern, southern, and eastern portions of the greater San Antonio area. The route would be greatly truncated in the 1970s due to the designation of Loop 1604; the mileage that remains reflects the current routing of FM 1518. In 1995, the northern portion of FM 1518, from Interstate 35 to FM 78 (now Urban Road 78), was officially redesignated as Urban Road 1518; however, as with other urban roads, TxDOT continues to sign the route with the farm-to-market route marker.