The highway opened on February 20, 2014 with a ribbon cutting at 2:00 p.m.[citation needed] The entire current route of SH 9 is a two-lane expressway sandwiched between the city of Copperas Cove and Fort Cavazos.

SH 9 begins at an intersection with FM 116 (which is briefly a four-lane highway with a wide median) north of downtown Copperas Cove.

It travels east entering the border of Fort Cavazos first crossing over Old Georgetown Road, then under Tank Destroyer Boulevard.

Much like other highways at the time, multiple alternate routings has been created using the same number, and SH 9 was no exception.

It continued west on SH 234 into Odem, and south on U.S. Route 77 back to I-37 to its terminus in Corpus Christi.

On February 17, 1920, SH 9A was designated on the more direct route from San Angelo to Brady.

The second routing retained the SH 9 designation, continuing the numbering into Corpus Christi that way.

[7] On April 21, 1924, SH 9 was to be rerouted from Three Rivers to Alice when right of way is acquired and the bridges were dedicated to the state of Texas.

[15] On September 26, 1939, most of SH 9 was cancelled, leaving only the Three Rivers-Corpus Christi segment to the old highway.

When I-37 was completed, SH 9 was cancelled, with the sections that were not replaced by I-37 redesignated as FM 3024 and Spur 459.

[18] TxDOT released a plan to improve the mobility and safety of the FM 116 and SH 9 interchange.