Navarro County Northbound Rest Area
0 mi from route
Trip from Dallas, TX to Fulshear, TX
Pin this tripCompiled and reviewed by the US Trip Planner planning team at COD Solutions Oy · Last reviewed Oct 25, 2026 · Editorial standards
Drive Time
4h 46m
Distance
268.4 mi
432 km
Drive Score
8/10
Great drive
Same Day?
Yes, doable
Fuel Cost
$40
one way
EV Charging
Unknown
Best Time to Leave
4 AM
4h 33m
★
6 AM
4h 47m
8 AM
5h 13m
10 AM
4h 56m
12 PM
4h 53m
3 PM
4h 57m
5 PM
5h 12m
8 PM
4h 38m
Estimated drive times based on typical traffic patterns. Actual times may vary with weather, construction, and real-time conditions.
Dallas, TX
Wikimedia Commons
Fulshear, TX
Al d'Vilas
Trip Overview
Dallas to Fulshear is 268.4 miles and takes about 4h 46m via Julius Schepps Freeway, with a fuel budget near $39 and enough daylight to finish in a day. This drive mostly stays within the Great Plains region, transitioning from urban Texas sprawl to more rural landscapes as you approach Fulshear. Given its duration and highway focus, it's a straightforward trip suitable for a single day of travel. Plan for a consistent driving experience with minimal scenic detours, making it an efficient option if you need to get from point A to point B without much fuss.
Trip Pace
Same-day drive is realistic
A same-day return is possible, but it will make for a full day on the road.
Break Rhythm
1 planned break
Plan on a short reset every 3 to 4 hours to stay fresh behind the wheel.
Midpoint
134.2 miles from Dallas, TX
A natural place for your longest stop of the day , about 2h 19m into the drive .
Main Roads
| Road | Distance | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Julius Schepps Freeway | 213.8 mi | 3h 40m |
| North Grand Parkway West | 44.1 mi | 48m |
| Farm to Market 1093 Road | 3.1 mi | 4m |
| FM 1093 | 2.1 mi | 3m |
| Westpark Tollway | 1.9 mi | 2m |
| Woodall Rodgers Freeway | 0.4 mi | <1m |
| McKinney Avenue | 0.2 mi | <1m |
| North Lamar Street | <0.1 mi | <1m |
Longest stretch:
Julius Schepps Freeway
— 213.8 mi, about 3h 40m
Traffic on I-45
Hour-of-day weekday pattern from 36 FHWA count stations on your route.
Peak
4 PM
~1,985 veh/hr typical · worst 2,601
Quietest
2 AM
~289 veh/hr
Peak-to-quiet ratio
6.9×
busier at peak than in the quiet hours
12a
6a
noon
6p
11p
Averaged across 88 weeks of 2023 FHWA Travel Monitoring Analysis System data. Weekday hours only (Mon–Fri).
Turn-by-Turn Driving Directions
Step-by-step road directions between Dallas, TX and Fulshear, TX.
1
Start on North Lamar Street
433 ft
·
14 sec
·
North Lamar Street
2
Turn right onto McKinney Avenue
0.2 mi
·
24 sec
·
McKinney Avenue
3
Take the ramp
0.2 mi
·
29 sec
Toward US 75 North
4
Merge onto Spur 366
0.4 mi
·
37 sec
·
Woodall Rodgers Freeway
5
Keep slight right at fork
0.5 mi
·
49 sec
Toward I 45 South: Houston
Use the slight right lane.
6
Merge onto I 45
3.1 mi
·
3 min
·
Julius Schepps Freeway
Use the straight / right lanes.
7
Keep slight left at fork onto I 45
211 mi
·
3 hr 37 min
·
Julius Schepps Freeway
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
8
Take the exit
1.0 mi
·
1 min
Exit 71A
Toward 99 Toll West: Grand Parkway
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
9
Keep slight left at fork
0.2 mi
·
30 sec
10
Merge onto TX 99 Toll
44 mi
·
48 min
·
North Grand Parkway West
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
11
Take the exit
0.4 mi
·
42 sec
Toward FM 1093
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
12
Turn right onto FM 1093
0.4 mi
·
41 sec
·
Farm to Market 1093 Road
Use the straight / right lanes.
13
Continue on FM 1093
0.2 mi
·
19 sec
·
FM 1093
14
Take the ramp
0.3 mi
·
17 sec
Toward WPT Toll West
Use the slight left lane.
15
Merge onto WPT
1.9 mi
·
2 min
·
Westpark Tollway
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
16
Continue on FM 1093
1.9 mi
·
2 min
·
FM 1093
Use the right lane.
17
Continue on FM 1093
2.8 mi
·
4 min
·
Farm to Market 1093 Road
Use the straight / left lanes.
18
Turn slight left
243 ft
·
8 sec
19
Arrive at destination
Trip Plan
To make the most of this 4h 46m drive, consider departing Dallas in the late morning to avoid peak rush hour traffic. With only one recommended stop and 268.4 miles to cover, you can easily complete this trip in a single day. Keep an eye on your fuel gauge, especially during the long 213.8-mile stretch on Julius Schepps Freeway, as services can be more spread out. The relatively short duration means you have flexibility; if you find a good stopping point earlier, feel free to take a break. Ensure your vehicle is in good condition before departing, as the majority of the route is highway driving.
Morning Departure
An early start around 7-8 AM gets you there with plenty of daylight left.
Evening Departure
A late afternoon start means arriving after dark. Morning is better.
You can normally do this drive in one day.
Plan roughly 1 meaningful break for fuel, food, and rest.
The halfway point lands around 134.2 miles from Dallas, TX, or about 2h 19m into the drive.
The longest continuous stretch on this route runs about 213.8 miles.
This is a comfortable same-day trip.
Departure
Before you leave
Start with fuel, water, and navigation already sorted so the first hour feels easy.
First stop
Around 59 miles or 1h 2m in
Use this first pause for coffee, a restroom break, and a quick traffic check ahead.
Halfway reset
Around 134.2 miles or 2h 19m in
This is the best place for your longest stop, a real meal, and a full fuel check.
Final approach
Final hour starts around 3h 50m
Traffic, exits, and arrival timing usually matter more near Fulshear, TX than in the middle of the route.
Before You Leave
+
Open the route before leaving Dallas, TX so your first major turns are already loaded.
+
Leave with enough water and a charging cable within reach, not packed away.
+
Check your fuel range against the first long segment, especially if you are starting outside city service areas.
Day 1
Settle into the route from Dallas, TX
This is one driving day of about 268.4 miles and 4h 46m.
Your first comfortable stop window is around 59 miles from Dallas, TX.
This route can stay practical as a one-day drive if traffic stays reasonable.
Plan about 1 real break rather than only quick fuel stops.
The longest stretch is on Julius Schepps Freeway for about 213.8 miles.
Where to Stop
Rest stops, refuel points, and overnight suggestions along this route.
Mid-route town
Meal stop
134 mi into the route
Best for: Lunch, fuel, and a longer reset
This sits close to the middle of the route, so it works well for the longest stop of the day.
Pacing Suggestions
Fuel and coffee
A short stop after about 59 miles helps settle the day before fatigue starts building.
Meal break
The midpoint is around 134.2 miles from Dallas, TX, which is a good place for a longer meal and fuel stop.
Before the longest stretch
Fuel checkTop up before Julius Schepps Freeway if your tank is already low. That segment runs about 213.8 miles.
These stop ideas are pacing suggestions — the exact town or exit can change with traffic, hotel plans, and fuel range.
Stops Along Your Drive
Picked by where they fit in your drive — first break, midpoint reset, final stretch.
Love's Travel Stop
0.1 mi from route
Love's Travel Stop
0.1 mi from route
Love's Travel Stop
0.1 mi from route
Navarro County Southbound Rest Area
0.1 mi from route
Buc-ee's
0.1 mi from route
Love's Travel Stop
0.1 mi from route
Road Ranger
0.1 mi from route
TA Express
0.1 mi from route
QuikTrip
0.1 mi from route
Pilot Travel Center
0.2 mi from route
Walker County Southbound Rest Area
0.2 mi from route
Walker County Northbound Rest Area
0.2 mi from route
Pilot Travel Center
0.2 mi from route
TA Express
0.2 mi from route
Buc-ee's
0.2 mi from route
QuikTrip
0.2 mi from route
QuikTrip
0.2 mi from route
Flying J Travel Center
1.4 mi from route
Service Plaza
1.4 mi from route
TA
1.6 mi from route
Place data sourced from public business listings. Hours and availability may vary.
Heads-up: tricky spots
5 of 135 decision points cluster between mile 0.9 and 261 — GPS handles the exact turns, but know they're coming. Your lane choice matters more than the turn itself.
7
0.9 mi into trip
|
~1m in
Keep slight right at fork toward I 45 South: Houston
Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here
Use the slight right lane.
Toward I 45 South: Houston
6
4.5 mi into trip
|
~6m in
|
I 45 / Julius Schepps Freeway
Keep slight left at fork onto I 45 / Julius Schepps Freeway
Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
7
215.2 mi into trip
|
~3h 43m in
Take the exit toward 99 Toll West: Grand Parkway
Exit ramp - move to the correct lane early. Lane positioning matters here
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
Exit 71A
Toward 99 Toll West: Grand Parkway
6
260.6 mi into trip
|
~4h 34m in
Take the exit toward FM 1093
Exit ramp - move to the correct lane early. Lane positioning matters here
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
Toward FM 1093
6
261 mi into trip
|
~4h 35m in
|
FM 1093 / Farm to Market 1093 Road
Turn right onto FM 1093 / Farm to Market 1093 Road
Lane positioning matters here
Use the straight / right lanes.
Fuel & Cost
Regular Gas
$40.29 one way
$80.58 round trip
$3.81/gal
25.4 MPG avg
94 kg CO2
| Fuel Type | $/gal | One Way | Round Trip |
|---|---|---|---|
| midgrade | $4.22 | $44.58 | $89.16 |
| premium | $4.57 | $48.24 | $96.48 |
| diesel | $6.28 | $66.32 | $132.64 |
Estimated Tolls: $0.13
Westpark Tollway
(1.9 mi)
$0.13
Toll estimates based on average 2024-2025 rates. EZ-Pass/SunPass discounts may lower the actual cost.
Estimated Trip Cost (one way, 1 person)
Fuel
$40
Tolls
$0
Meals
$25–$50
Total
$65–$90
Rough estimate based on US averages. Hotel $80–$140/night, meals $25–$50/day.
Estimated CO2 emission: 93.9 kg one way. Prices: EIA weekly data, 2026-10-19.
Driving Electric?
About $28 in charging · 0 stops · 67% less CO2
| Vehicle Type | kWh | Stops | DC Fast | Home Charge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average EV | 80.5 | 0 | $28.18 | $12.88 |
| Efficient EV | 67.1 | 0 | $23.49 | $10.74 |
| EV Truck/SUV | 107.4 | 1 | $37.58 | $17.18 |
Gas CO2
94 kg
EV CO2
31 kg (67% less)
Plan for 0 charging stops, roughly every 270 miles. Allow 25-40 minutes per stop at a DC fast charger.
DC fast charging avg $0.35/kWh. Home charging avg $0.16/kWh. US grid CO2: 0.39 kg/kWh.
Travel Intel
Current conditions at both ends of the drive.
Origin
Dallas, TX
Late night in Dallas on Sunday
Local time
5:46 AM
CDT
Current temp
77°F
Mostly Sunny
SE 0 to 5 mph
0% chance
Live forecast
Destination
Fulshear, TX
Late night in Fulshear on Sunday
Local time
5:46 AM
CDT
Current temp
79°F
Partly Sunny
NE 5 to 10 mph
1% chance
Live forecast
58°F
Madisonville, TX
134 mi in
Seasonal Notes
Summer travel usually means heavier construction, hotter rest stops, and busier weekend traffic around major cities.
Winter travel shortens daylight, so a route that looks manageable on paper can feel much longer after dark.
Holiday weekends tend to make both departure and arrival windows slower than the raw route time suggests.
Time zone
Same local time
Origin and destination are on the same clock, so arrival timing is easier to judge at a glance.
Temperature spread
2 degrees warmer at arrival
A meaningful temperature swing is a good cue to rethink layers, water, and how soon you want to arrive.
Road read
4h 46m on the road
An early start around 7-8 AM gets you there with plenty of daylight left.
Weather data from the National Weather Service. Conditions may change; check closer to your travel date.
What kind of drive is this?
This route is overwhelmingly highway, with 97% of the drive on major roads. You'll experience a long stretch of 213.8 miles primarily on Julius Schepps Freeway, indicating a consistent cruising experience for most of the trip. Surface roads, like Farm to Market 1093 Road, will likely appear in the final segment as you near Fulshear. Expect a high volume of exits and potentially urban merging early in the drive before transitioning to more open highway.
97% highway — fuel and pacing are the main things to plan.
19 navigation steps total — most of the decisions cluster near the start and finish.
Longest single stretch: 213.8 mi on Julius Schepps Freeway.
How Hard Is This Drive?
9/10
This is a straightforward highway drive that stays mostly on Julius Schepps Freeway and North Grand Parkway West. This route has several spots where lane changes, forks, or exits need your full attention. The trickiest moment comes around 0.9 miles in.
Driving Effort
9/10
High effort - long or complex enough to need steady focus all day
Balances navigation complexity with total wheel time.
This is a demanding drive. With 13 significant decision points across 268.4 miles, you will need to stay alert - especially through interchange areas and urban stretches. Consider splitting it into segments if you are not comfortable with fast highway navigation.
Where does it get tricky?
The main spots that need attention: at 0.9 miles: Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here; at 4.5 miles (I 45 / Julius Schepps Freeway): Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here; at 215.2 miles: Exit ramp - move to the correct lane early. Lane positioning matters here.
Elevation Profile
Mostly flat terrain
500 ft
129 ft
Total Climb
416 ft
Total Descent
716 ft
Highest Point
500 ft
~38.3 mi in
Elevation Range
371 ft
About the Cities
Starting in Dallas, TX
Full guide →“Big D” · Founded 1841
Dallas, with a population of more than 1.3 million residents, is the ninth largest city in the United States and the third largest in the state of Texas. It is an impressive melting pot of culture and character. Boasting high-end luxury hotels, innumerable fine dining spots, and one of the busiest airports in the world, Dallas maintains an upscale ethos reflected by an affluent population, world-class museums, and a shimmering modern skyline. Its history was marred by the infamous assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, but there is more historic and contemporary heritage to be discovered in the city. As a center of the oil and cotton industries in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Dallas was a classic American boom town and remains one of the fastest growing cities in the nation.
Top landmarks
- • Dallas Museum of Art — art museum in Dallas, Texas
- • Texas School Book Depository — building in Dallas, Texas, United States
- • George W. Bush Presidential Center — Presidential library and museum for U.S. President George W. Bush, located in Da...
Arriving in Fulshear, TX
Full guide →City content from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata (CC0).
Who Is This Route For?
Weekend Trip
Doable as a same-day drive at 4h 46m. Total distance: 268.4 miles.
Family Friendly
Moderate complexity with 1 natural rest stops along the way.
Solo Traveler
4h 46m drive, comfortable solo distance.
First-Time Driver
Mostly highway driving (97%). Some complex stretches to watch for.
Frequently Asked Questions
The longest stretch is about 213.8 miles on Julius Schepps Freeway. The full list of main roads is in the Roads section above.
Expect about $0.13 in tolls one way, starting with Westpark Tollway. Most Northeast and Midwest toll agencies accept E-ZPass; in the West and Texas, transponders like TxTag or FasTrak apply. If you do not have a transponder, cashless tolling plates will mail a bill to the vehicle's registered address — usually with a surcharge, so a rental-car toll pass is often cheaper than paying by mail.
Yes — we found about 21 rest areas or service plazas within a short detour of the route (from OpenStreetMap). See the Rest Stops tab under Nearby Places for locations and mile markers. Plan to stretch, use the bathroom, and top off fluids every 2–3 hours on longer drives.
It helps. This route has a higher-than-average number of complex decision points, which get harder in the dark. If the last hour of the trip is on surface roads or mountain grades, aim to arrive at Fulshear, TX before sunset when you can. Check the Trip Plan for departure windows that land you in daylight.
Only with planning. This is a long drive for kids — consider splitting it into two days rather than pushing through. Plan at least 1 meaningful breaks. There are 21 rest areas along the route for bathroom stops.
The main spots that need attention: at 0.9 miles: Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here; at 4.5 miles (I 45 / Julius Schepps Freeway): Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here; at 215.2 miles: Exit ramp - move to the correct lane early. Lane positioning matters here.
Possible but tiring. At 4.8 hours each way, an in-and-out day trip would put you behind the wheel for 9.6 hours — manageable with a long break at Fulshear, TX, but most travelers stay overnight.
How this page is built
Compiled by the US Trip Planner planning team at COD Solutions Oy from open government datasets — OSRM over OpenStreetMap for geometry, EIA for fuel prices, USGS 3DEP for elevation, and FHWA TMAS for hourly traffic volumes. See our methodology for refresh cadence and limitations.
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