U.S. Route 83
 U.S. Route 83 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Route information | |
| Length | 1,885 mi[1] (3,034 km) |
| Existed | 1926–present |
| Major junctions | |
| South end | Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates to   Fed. 101 / Fed. 180 at the Mexico–United States border in Brownsville, TX |
 I-35 from Laredo to Botines, TX
  US 2 / US 52 in Minot, ND | |
| North end |  PTH 83 at the Canada–United States border near Westhope, ND |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| States | Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota |
| Highway system | |
U.S. Route 83 (US 83) is one of the longest north–south U.S. Highways in the United States, at 1,885 miles (3,034 km).[2] Only four other north–south routes are longer: U.S. Routes 1, 41, 59, and 87. The highway's northern terminus is north of Westhope, North Dakota, at the Canada–United States border, where it continues as Manitoba Highway 83. The southern terminus is in Brownsville, Texas, at the Veterans International Bridge on the Mexico–United States border, connecting with both Mexican Federal Highway 101 and Mexican Federal Highway 180.
Despite its length it has comparatively few concurrencies with any Interstate highways, and those segments are short. In no place has it been decommissioned as a route.
Route description
Texas
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (October 2014) |
Oklahoma
US-83 traverses the Oklahoma panhandle along the western border of Beaver County, but in this brief 37-mile (60 km) stretch it encounters no fewer than three other federal highways. Approximately ten miles from the Texas line, US-83 intersects US-412 in the hamlet of Bryan's Corner. Continuing its journey northward, the highway crosses the Beaver River, then intersects US-64 in Turpin. US-83 North and US-64 East are co-signed for three northbound miles, where US-64 turns eastward. At this intersection, US-270 West joins the highway, and together with US-83 proceeds northbound for the final six miles (10 km) to the Kansas line.
Kansas
US 83 enters the Sunflower State in Seward County, approximately four miles south of Liberal, where it intersects US 54. North of Liberal, US 83 begins a multiplex with US 160, and the highways remain joined until reaching Sublette, the seat of Haskell County. US 83 and US 160 split north of Sublette, with US 160 heading west toward Ulysses, and US 83 continuing north toward Garden City.
At Garden City, US 50 and US 400 join US 83 for a brief concurrency on a bypass around the east and north sides of the city while U.S. 83 Business follows the former routing through downtown. All three routes cross K-156, also known as Kansas Avenue, in the northwest portion of the city. At the north end of the US 50-83 Business route, US 83 splits and heads north toward Scott City, while US 50 and US 400 remain joined through the rest of the state. The highway passes through largely unpopulated areas of Finney County and Scott County before reaching a junction with K-96 in downtown Scott City.
In northern Scott County, K-4 has its origins at US 83, heading east toward Healy, and US 83 traverses through rolling farmlands until reaching Oakley, the seat of Logan County. US 83 reaches US 40 less than a mile west of Interstate 70, and the two highways jog west for a brief multiplex before US 83 splits and crosses I-70.
North of I-70, US 83 begins a concurrency with K-383, formerly US 383. Passing to the east of Gem in Thomas County, US 83/K-383 takes a sharp northeasterly track through Rexford and Selden. After passing through Selden, K-383 splits from US 83 and continues northeast to US 36, while US 83 meets the beginning of K-23.
US 83 returns to a northerly course at the Sheridan County–Decatur County line, and passes through Oberlin at US 36. Oberlin is the last area of significant population the highway passes in Kansas; the next city is McCook, Nebraska.
Nebraska
U.S. 83 enters Nebraska south of McCook, where it meets U.S. Route 6 and U.S. Route 34. It continues northward to North Platte, where it intersects Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 30. After leaving North Platte in a northeasterly direction, it turns north near Thedford and goes north through the Sand Hills to Valentine. For 5 miles (8.0 km) before Valentine, it runs concurrent with U.S. Route 20. After passing through Valentine, it continues north to enter South Dakota.
South Dakota
U.S. 83 enters South Dakota south of Olsonville on a segment of highway which passes through the Rosebud Indian Reservation. After a brief overlap with U.S. Route 18 in Mission, the route turns north and meets Interstate 90 at Murdo. The two routes overlap as U.S. 83 goes east with I-90 until Vivian, where U.S. 83 turns north. At Fort Pierre, U.S. 83 meets U.S. Route 14 and South Dakota Highway 34. The three highways overlap as they cross the Missouri River and enter Pierre. At Pierre, SD 34 separates and U.S. 83 turns northeast with U.S. 14. They separate near Blunt and U.S. 83 turns northward. U.S. 83 briefly overlaps with U.S. Route 212 near Gettysburg and with U.S. Route 12 through the Selby area. U.S. 83 leaves South Dakota north of Herreid.
The South Dakota section of U.S. 83, with the exception of concurrencies with U.S. 18, Interstate 90, U.S. 14, U.S. 212, and U.S. 12, is defined at South Dakota Codified Laws § 31-4-180.[3]
North Dakota
U.S. 83 enters North Dakota at the South Dakota state line, near the town of Hague, and runs northward for approximately 68 miles (109 km), serving the small cities of Strasburg and Linton before reaching Interstate 94. It follows I-94 west to Bismarck, where it resumes a generally northward course as a four-lane highway.
Headed toward Minot U.S. 83 traverses mostly agricultural land, passing through the some small cities such as Wilton, Washburn and Underwood north to Max. Leaving Underwood, U.S. 83 encounters a large strip-mining coal (lignite) operation which can not only be seen from the roadway in the vicinity of Falkirk, but a small viaduct carries coal over the highway. North of Coleharbor, U.S. 83 briefly merges both roadways and shares land with an adjacent railroad line in order to cross a viaduct that separates Lake Sakakawea from Lake Audubon. North of the lakes, the surroundings return to cropland and grazing land, though a wind farm is located south of Minot.
U.S. 83 passes directly through Minot, where it is known as Broadway, although the Minot Bypass to the west is an alternate route. From Minot, the northbound route passes Minot Air Force Base where it returns to a two-lane highway, and shares a roadway with eastbound North Dakota Highway 5 about 30 miles (48 km) north of the base for about 10 miles. The highway then diverges from N.D. 5 to head north to the Canada–US border.
Major intersections
- Texas
US 77 at the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates at the Mexico–United States border in Brownsville. US 77/US 83 travels concurrently to Harlingen.
I-69E in Brownsville. The highways travel concurrently to Harlingen.
I-169 in Brownsville
I-2 / US 77 in Harlingen. I-2/US 83 travels concurrently to north of Abram-Perezville.
I-69C / US 281 in Pharr
I-35 in Laredo. The highways travel concurrently to Botines.
I-69W / US 59 in Laredo
US 277 in Carrizo Springs
US 57 in La Pryor
US 90 in Uvalde
I-10 northwest of Segovia. The highways travel concurrently to Junction.
I-10 / US 377 in Junction. US 83/US 377 travels concurrently to north of Junction.
US 190 in Menard. The highways travel concurrently to north of Menard.
US 87 in Eden
US 67 in Ballinger. The highways travel concurrently through Ballinger.
US 84 east-northeast of Tuscola. The highways travel concurrently to Abilene.- US 277 in Abilene. The highways travel concurrently to north of Anson.
I-20 in Abilene
US 180 in Anson
US 380 in Aspermont. The highways travel concurrently to north-northwest of Aspermont.
US 82 south of Guthrie
US 62 / US 70 in Paducah. US 62/US 83 travels concurrently to north of Childress.
US 287 in Childress
I-40 in Shamrock
US 60 south-southwest of Canadian. The highways travel concurrently to north-northeast of Canadian.- Oklahoma
US 412 in Bryan's Corner
US 64 south-southeast of Turpin. The highways travel concurrently to north of Turpin.
US 64 / US 270 north of Turpin. US 83/US 270 travels concurrently to Liberal, Kansas.- Kansas
US 54 / US 270 in Liberal
US 160 northwest of Kismet. The highways travel concurrently to north-northwest of Sublette.
US 56 southwest of Sublette
US 50 / US 400 in Garden City. The highways travel concurrently to north-northwest of Garden City.
US 40 in Oakley. The highways travel concurrently through Oakley.
I-70 north-northwest of Oakley
US 24 south-southeast of Gem
US 36 in Oberlin- Nebraska
US 6 / US 34 in McCook. The highways travel concurrently through McCook.
I-80 in North Platte
US 30 in North Platte
US 20 south-southeast of Valentine. The highways travel concurrently to Valentine.- South Dakota
US 18 in Mission. The highways travel concurrently to west-southwest of Mission.
I-90 southeast of Murdo. The highways travel concurrently to southwest of Vivian.
US 14 in Fort Pierre. The highways travel concurrently to west-southwest of Blunt
US 212 west of Gettysburg. The highways travel concurrently for approximately 0.9 miles (1.4 km).
US 12 south of Selby. The highways travel concurrently to north-northwest of Selby.- North Dakota
I-94 in Sterling. The highways travel concurrently to Bismarck.
US 2 / US 52 in Minot
PTH 83 at the Canada–United States border north of Westhope
See also
Related U.S. Routes
References
- ^ https://www.google.com/maps/dir/48.9995988,-101.0179383/25.8876379,-97.4763877/@32.338987,-102.6322717,5.92z/data=!4m35!4m34!1m30!3m4!1m2!1d-101.2906201!2d48.0008548!3s0x52d8da00b2ea68e1:0x2299ff9182354abe!3m4!1m2!1d-100.772669!2d46.8540373!3s0x52d7822f9ec25525:0xa1cd7b02ef78b49c!3m4!1m2!1d-100.7163911!2d43.3773871!3s0x877f51482bbe3e0d:0x7018b4ba50eff56e!3m4!1m2!1d-100.8697907!2d39.4233328!3s0x870ab39f09422bdf:0x55b34db69221352d!3m4!1m2!1d-99.7825481!2d28.4552571!3s0x865e2ef68334a8c5:0x67ad77c186f849a5!3m4!1m2!1d-99.0903304!2d26.5878236!3s0x86640ea7eb645b43:0x12c3d6fdf95daaf!1m0!3e0!4e1
- ^ http://usroute83.com/
- ^ "South Dakota Codified Laws". Legis.state.sd.us. Retrieved 2013-01-26.
Further reading
- Reynolds, David. Slow Road to Brownsville: A Journey Through the Heart of the Old West. New York: Greystone Books, 2014. Narrative of a journey along U.S. Route 83 from Swan River, Manitoba to Brownsville, Texas
- Magnuson, Stew. The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83: The Dakotas: Volume 1 . Court Bridge Publishing, 2014.
- Magnuson, Stew. The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S Route 83 Nebraska Kansas Oklahoma: Volume 2. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015.
- Magnuson, Stew. The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas: Volume 3. Court Bridge Publishing, 2017.
External links
Media related to U.S. Route 83 at Wikimedia Commons- Endpoints of U.S. Highway 83
| Browse numbered routes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
←  SH-82 | OK | →  SH-83 | ||
←  K-82 | KS | →  K-84 | ||
←  US 81 | NE | →  N-84 | ||
←  SD 83 | SD | →  SD 85 | ||
| ← US 81 | ND | →  US 85 | ||
Routes in italics are no longer a part of the system. Highlighted routes are considered main routes of the system. |
