U.S. Route 71

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U.S. Route 71
Length: 1,532 mi[1] (2,465 km)
Formed: 1926[1]
South end: US 190 at Krotz Springs, LA
Major
junctions:		 I-49 at Alexandria, LA

I-20 at Shreveport, LA
I-30 at Texarkana, US
I-40 near Van Buren, AR
I-44 near Joplin,MO
I-70 at Kansas City, MO
I-29 near St Joseph, MO
I-80 near Atlantic, IA
I-90 near Jackson, MN
North end: ON-71 at International Falls, MN
United States Numbered Highways

U.S. Route 71 is a north-south United States highway. This original 1926 route has remained largely unchanged by encroaching Interstate highways.

Contents

[edit] Termini

Currently, the highway's northern terminus is in International Falls, Minnesota at the Canadian border, at the southern end of a toll bridge to Fort Frances, Ontario. U.S. Route 53 also ends here. On the other side of the bridge, Trans-Canada Highway 11 is an east-west route. US 71's southern terminus is between Opelousas and Krotz Springs, Louisiana at an intersection with U.S. Route 190.[2]

[edit] Historic termini

Until 1950, US 71 extended down the present-day route of U.S. Route 190 to Port Allen, Louisiana near the state capitol, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Otherwise, the route is largely intact.

[edit] States traversed

Major cities

The highway passes through the following states:

[edit] Louisiana

[edit] Texas

North of Texarkana, U.S. 71 and U.S. Route 59 run together as an expressway to the northern Texas/Arkansas border.

[edit] Arkansas

Follows U.S. Route 59 from Acorn to Interstate 30 at Texarkana, U.S. Route 270 from Y City to Acorn and U.S. Route 62 from Fayetteville to Rogers.

[edit] Missouri

In Missouri, U.S. 71 is a major north-south artery on the western side of the state, connecting Joplin with Kansas City. In Kansas City, U.S. 71 is one of the components of the Grandview Triangle interchange. Though U.S. 71 is a freeway from Harrisonville almost to downtown Kansas City, there is a 2-mile section near downtown that has three at-grade intersections. Ample right of way exists on the corridor to upgrade to a freeway, though there are no plans to do so in the near future.[3] From downtown Kansas City, U.S. 71 is paired with Interstate 29 to Saint Joseph. From there, U.S. 71 continues as an expressway to Maryville before angling towards Iowa just north of Clearmont.

[edit] Iowa

U.S. 71 passes through a rural section of western Iowa. It enters the state at Braddyville and junctions Interstate 80 near Brayton, northeast of Atlantic. North of I-80, U.S. 71 passes through Carroll and is multiplexed with U.S. Route 20 through Early and U.S. Route 18 through Spencer. The highway then passes through the Iowa Great Lakes region before exiting the state.

U.S. 71 formerly entered Storm Lake concurrently with Iowa Highway 7 but was moved to a new alignment east of Storm Lake in 1996 to lessen travel time between Carroll and Spencer, the two largest communities on U.S. 71 in Iowa. A business route of U.S. 71 follows the highway's former alignment through Storm Lake.

[edit] Minnesota

As in Iowa, U.S. 71 in Minnesota is largely a rural highway. It crosses Interstate 90 at Jackson and passes through Windom, Redwood Falls and Willmar before its junction with Interstate 94 at Sauk Centre. From there, U.S. 71 passes through Wadena and Park Rapids before angling northeastward from Bemidji to its end at the Canadian border in International Falls.

[edit] Major intersections

[edit] Former alignments in Arkansas

In northwest Arkansas, the 1926 alignment of US 71 followed Highway 102 from Bentonville to Centerton, then north on Highway 102 Business to Highway 72 southeast of Hiwasse. From there, it followed Arkansas 72 to Gravette, where it turned north on Highway 59 to the Missouri State Line. In the 1930's, US 71 was rerouted along Arkansas 72 between Bentonville and Gravette, then north on Arkansas 59. This alignment lasted until the early 1960's when it was realigned along Highway 100 between Bentonville and the Missouri State Line.

[edit] Former alignments in Louisiana

In southern Louisiana, US 71 originally travelled south to Lebeau, Louisiana where it turned east, passing through Melville before turning south at Ravenswood then turning east at Rosedale towards Baton Rouge.

This segment now generally follows Louisiana Highway 10 between Lebeau and Ravenswood, Louisiana Highway 77 between Ravenswood and Rosedale, and Louisiana Highway 76 to Baton Rouge.

[edit] Northern Missouri

US 71 multiplexes with Interstate 35 just south of the Missouri River in Kansas City. It then continues multiplexed with Interstate 29 from its southern terminus just north of the Missouri River to just north of St. Joseph, Missouri where it diverges.

An alternative in the design of Interstate 29 called for it to follow US 71 on a more populated route through Maryville, Missouri and Clarinda, Iowa. However the interstate was to be routed along the more direct route to Omaha, Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa and more sparsely populated Missouri River bottoms.

During the Great Flood of 1993 when the Missouri River flooded I-29 traffic was detoured along U.S. 71 through Maryville and Clarinda.

The four-lane segment between Savannah, Missouri to Maryville was completed in 2002. It is a two lane highway north of Maryville to the Iowa state line. The long delay in bringing a four-lane highway to Maryville even as most of the highway from Savannah south to the Arkansas line has been a four lanes for some time was a source of considerable irritation for Maryville and Northwest Missouri State University.

Outlaws Bonnie and Clyde engaged in a shoot out with law enforcement officers in 1933 beside the highway at the Red Crown Tourist Court in Platte County, Missouri. The tourist court (which has been torn down) was just east of the main exit for Kansas City International Airport on I-29.

[edit] US 71 and Interstate 49

A large section of US 71 through Arkansas and Missouri is being upgraded to Interstate standards as a potential extension of Interstate 49 from Shreveport, Louisiana to Kansas City, Missouri. For more, see Interstate 49.

[edit] Business and Alternate US 71

Two rather long sections of Business US 71 exist. The Joplin and Northwest Arkansas alignments each run through several cities and total about 30 miles length each. Part of the Joplin section runs several miles as freeway.

[edit] Bypass US 71

[edit] Related U.S. Routes

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b US Highways from US 1 to US 830 Robert V. Droz
  2. ^ Endpoints of US highways
  3. ^ Jackson County Construction projects beginning or continuing in 2006. Missouri Department of Transportation. Last accessed November 22, 2006.


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Main U.S. Routes
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20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38
40 41 42 43 44 45 46 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79
80 81 82 83 84 85 87 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99
101 163 400 412 425
Lists  U.S. Routes - Bannered - Divided - Replaced
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