This designated hurricane evacuation route is utilized to evacuate citizens to the north into North and Northeast Texas, Northwest Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma, out of the range of a hurricane's deadly winds, tornadoes, flooding and storm surge.

In Beaumont, the three highways briefly merge with Interstate 10 (I-10), but then split from that freeway continuing northwest.

In 1927 US 96 was originally routed: Beginning at Rosenburg via Wharton, Victoria, Beeville, Skidmore, Alice, Falfurrias, San Juan to Brownsville.

Under this plan, discussed at a meeting of the United States Good Roads Association in Beaumont, US 71 was to be diverted out of Louisiana altogether and instead re-routed from the Texarkana area southward through East Texas.

03/01/1935 - Beginning at Rosenburg, Wharton, Victoria, Beeville, Skidmore, Mathis, Alice, Laredo.

[5] US 96 began in Rosenburg (Near Houston) and roughly followed the current route of US 59 to Alice then on to Brownsville and later was rerouted to Laredo.

[6] Minute Order 016701, dated 09/26/1939 radically re-aligned US 96 to travel a route formerly used by US 59: From Tenaha via Center, San Augustine, Jasper, Buna, Voth, and Beaumont to Port Arthur (Shelby, San Augustine, Sabine, Jasper, Hardin, and Jefferson Counties).

[7] As part of the I-14 System in Texas project, US 96 between Jasper and Beaumont is proposed to be upgraded to interstate standards.

is a 1.3-mile long (2.1 km) spur of US 96 in the Jasper County census designated place of Buna.

Except for one small industry, the highway travels past residential areas before it ends at SH 62 in the center of Buna.

is a five-mile-long (8.0 km) business loop of US 96 serving the Hardin County city of Silsbee.

FM 418's eastern terminus occurs at a stop-controlled T intersection east of the city center.