U.S. Route 81 Totally Explained

Everything about Us 81 totally explained

U.S. Route 81 is one of the many United States Numbered Highways established in 1926 by the US Department of Agriculture Bureau of Public Roads.
   The route of US 81 follows that of the old Meridian Highway (so called because it roughly followed the sixth principal meridian of the US Public Land Survey System) which dates back as early as 1911. The highway has alternately (and unofficially) been known as part of the Pan-American Highway. In the segment in the State of Oklahoma, the highway closely corresponds to the old Chisholm Trail for cattle drives from Texas to railheads in Kansas in the 1860's & 1870's
   As of 2004, the highway's northern terminus is just north of Pembina, North Dakota at the Canadian border. At this point, it's routed along Interstate 29 and continues northward on Highway 29, a short feeder route into Highway 75 that in turn leads to Winnipeg.
   Its southern terminus is in Fort Worth, Texas, at an intersection with Interstate 35W. Between the inception of the numbered highway system in 1926 through 1991, US 81's southern terminus was at the Mexican border in Laredo, Texas. In 1991, the terminus was moved to San Antonio. The route was shortened to its present length of in 1993, when the terminus was moved to Fort Worth. In both cases, the dropped portions of US 81 were replaced by Interstate 35.

Route description

Major cities
Fort Worth, Texas Duncan, Oklahoma Chickasha, Oklahoma El Reno, Oklahoma Enid, Oklahoma Wichita, Kansas McPherson, Kansas Salina, Kansas Concordia, Kansas York, Nebraska Columbus, Nebraska Norfolk, Nebraska Yankton, South Dakota Madison, South Dakota Watertown, South Dakota Fargo, North Dakota Grand Forks, North Dakota Pembina, North Dakota

Texas

U.S. 81 at its inception in 1926 followed the route of Texas State Highway 2, which began in Laredo and passed through San Antonio, Austin, Waco, and Fort Worth before passing over the Red River into Oklahoma four miles (6 km) north of Ringgold. The 1936 Official Map of the Highway System of Texas clearly shows the route labeled both as U.S. 81 and S.H. 2. It was cosigned with U.S. Route 83 for from Laredo to south of Webb, with U.S. Route 79 for from Austin north to Round Rock, and with U.S. Route 77 for from Waco to Hillsboro. In 1940 U.S. Route 287 was extended south into Texas, and a stretch from Fort Worth northwest to Bowie was cosigned with U.S. 81. The Summer 1941 Texas Highway Map shows this pairing, and the current southern terminus of U.S. 81 is still cosigned with U.S. 287. The Spring and Summer 1949 Texas Highway Department Official Map designates the length of U.S. 81 from Laredo to Fort Worth as part of the National System of Interstate Highways, but no numeric designation is given.
It isn't until 1959 that parts of U.S. 81 in Texas appear on the Texas Official Highway Travel Map cosigned with Interstate 35 shields. Succeeding maps reflect the slow completion of I-35 and I-35W over the stretch of U.S. 81 between Laredo and Fort Worth, with the 1978-79 Texas Official Highway Travel Map showing only a section from Encinal north to south of Artesia Wells as incomplete, and the 1980 Texas Official Highway Travel Map showing that section completed. In 1980, U.S. 81 was cosigned with I-35 and I-35W except where the Interstate bypassed towns, with U.S. 81 providing the main route through town and then reconnecting with I-35 on the other side. The longest section of U.S. 81 in 1980 not cosigned with the Interstate ran from I-35 in Hillsboro north to I-35W, just north of Grandview.

Oklahoma

Enid & El Reno are major Oklahoma towns on the highway; historically, the small town of Hennessey is notable. Among the elders throughout the small towns that are dotted along Route 81 in Oklahoma, the sixth meridian is commonly known among the locals as the "Indian Meridian". Route 81 is also known at the "Indian Meridian Highway." By pure coincidence, the Chisholm Trail of the Post-Civil-War decades roughly followed along this meridian; the region wasn't opened for settlement until several years after the cattle drives were discontinued; cultural memory harkened exclusively for many years to Indian Meridian Highway until recognition of the old cattle trail grew in the late 1900's.

Kansas

Nearly all of U.S. 81 in Kansas is either freeway or expressway. The route enters Kansas as a two-lane near Caldwell. From South Haven to Wichita it closely parallels Interstate 35. At Wichita, U.S. 81 joins Interstate 135. The two highways remain joined until Salina. Interstate 135 ends at Interstate 70 but U.S. 81 continues as a freeway to Minneapolis, then as an expressway passing through Concordia before exiting the state north of Belleville.
From Salina to Concordia, the highway is named the Frank Carlson Memorial Highway, in honor of the late Senator Frank Carlson. Senator Carlson was a native of Concordia who represented Kansas in the U.S. Senate from 1951-1969. Before serving in the Senate, he was Governor of Kansas from 1947–1950.

Nebraska

U.S. 81 enters Nebraska as an expressway at Chester and continues as an expressway to York, where the highway intersects Interstate 80. After a two-lane section going north from York and an overlap with Nebraska Highway 92, U.S. 81 again becomes an expressway at Nebraska Highway 64. This expressway section passes through Columbus and Norfolk. North of Norfolk, U.S. 81 is a two-lane, undivided highway which passes through no towns before exiting the state in Cedar County.

South Dakota

U.S. 81 enters South Dakota by a Missouri River crossing, via the Meridian Highway Bridge at Yankton. Its junction with Interstate 90 is south of Salem. U.S. 81 passes near Madison before it joins with Interstate 29 at Watertown. The two highways remain paired through the rest of the state, leaving South Dakota near New Effington.
The South Dakota section of U.S. 81, with the exception of a concurrency with U.S. 14, is defined at South Dakota Codified Laws § 31-4-179.(External Link

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North Dakota

U.S. 81 enters North Dakota concurrently with Interstate 29. It is paired with I-29 from the South Dakota border to the north side of Grand Forks. There it splits off to the northwest. It parallels I-29, passing through the town of Grafton before joining North Dakota Highway 5 near Cavalier. It rejoins I-29 and continues to the US/Canada border at Pembina.

History

US 81 started out as the Meridian Highway, an auto trail organized in 1911 to connect Winnipeg, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico near the Sixth Principal Meridian. The southern terminus, initially at Galveston, was later moved to Laredo, where it would connect with a proposed extension to Mexico City (later built as part of the Pan-American Highway). Five of the six states along the route assigned a single number to the highway, mostly changing at the state line. (Kansas didn't number its highways until 1926.) Planning to replace these designations - and the Meridian Highway name - began in 1925, when the Joint Board on Interstate Highways created a preliminary list of interstate routes to be marked by the states; the entire Meridian Highway was assigned Route 81. The new number was officially adopted in late 1926. The Interstate Highway System was approved in 1956, and included several routes that would replace much of US 81. Interstate 35 followed the corridor from Laredo north to Wichita, where I-35 turned northeast towards Kansas City, with a branch - Interstate 35W - continuing parallel to US 81 to Salina, Kansas. Between Fort Worth, Texas and South Haven, Kansas, I-35 didn't directly replace US 81, instead following U.S. Route 77 through Oklahoma City, but replaced it as a long-distance highway. From Salina north through Nebraska, the US 81 corridor wasn't part of the Interstate system, but Interstate 29 began at Kansas City, gradually heading northwest and intersecting US 81 at Watertown, South Dakota, then following it north to the Canadian border. The portion through northern Kansas and Nebraska remains an important regional corridor, but by the late 1970s, the rest had been mostly replaced by I-35 and I-29 for non-local traffic. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials approved a truncation in 1991, changing the southern terminus from Laredo to north of Fort Worth and removing long overlaps with and short sections parallel to I-35.
   The portion of US 81 between Grandview, Texas and Hillsboro, Texas that wasn't part of Interstate 35W was renamed State Highway 81.
   Business U.S. 81 in San Antonio, Texas was replaced by Loop 368 and Loop 353. The north side (Loop 368) traveled down Broadway & Austin Highway while the south side (Loop 353) was Nogalitos & Laredo Highway. When it was replaced, they renamed the street New Laredo Highway.
   Old portions of US 81 in various parts of North Dakota are now county routes. The current US 81 in these areas is co-signed with Interstate 29.
   Completion of the four-lane section of U.S. 81 between Salina and Minneapolis, Kansas occurred in 1971.
   Between Wichita and Salina, Kansas, old sections of US 81 are now county routes and short sections of state highways. The current US 81 in this area is co-signed with Interstate 135. In McPherson County, the old alignment of US 81 is signed as Business US 81.

Major intersections

Interstate 35W (Texas) in northern Fort Worth, Texas

Interstate 44 at Chickasha, Oklahoma

Interstate 40 just south of El Reno, Oklahoma

Interstate 135 in southern Wichita, Kansas (concurrent along entire length of Interstate 135 except for the southernmost half-mile)

Interstate 70 in Salina, Kansas

Interstate 80 south of York, Nebraska

Interstate 90 south of Salem, South Dakota

Interstate 29 north of Watertown, South Dakota (concurrent with route with Interstate 29 until north of Grand Forks, North Dakota)

Interstate 94 at Fargo, North DakotaFurther Information

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