U.S. Route 75 Totally Explained

Everything about Us 75 totally explained

U.S. Route 75 is a north-south U.S. Highway. The highway's northern terminus is in Kittson County, Minnesota, at the Canadian border, where it continues as Highway 75. However, it isn't possible to cross the border at this location. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 30 and Interstate 45 in Dallas, Texas, (where it's known as North Central Expressway).
U.S. 75 was a border-to-border route, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico at Galveston, Texas. However, the entire segment south of Dallas, Texas has been decommissioned in favor of Interstate 45, a cutoff section of town-to-town surface road having become State Highway 75.

Route description

Major cities
Dallas, Texas Richardson, Texas Plano, Texas McKinney, Texas Sherman, Texas Denison, Texas Durant, Oklahoma McAlester, Oklahoma Tulsa, Oklahoma Bartlesville, Oklahoma Independence, Kansas Topeka, Kansas Nebraska City, Nebraska Bellevue, Nebraska Omaha, Nebraska Blair, Nebraska South Sioux City, Nebraska Sioux City, Iowa Le Mars, Iowa Pipestone, Minnesota Luverne, Minnesota Moorhead, Minnesota Crookston, Minnesota

Texas

The first freeway in Texas was a several-mile stretch of US 75 (now I-45)--The Gulf Freeway, opened to Houston traffic on October 1, 1948. The stretch of US 75 between Interstate 30 and the Oklahoma state line has exits numbered consecutively from 1 to 73 (with occasional A and B designations), excluding 9-19. All other Texas freeways that have exit numbers are coordinated with mile markers. From Denison north to the Oklahoma border, US 75 is concurrent to U.S. Route 69.

Oklahoma

US 75 remains concurrent to US 69 from the Texas border north to Atoka. While US 69 continues to the northeast as a multilane highway, US 75 turns north to serve several small communities between Atoka and Henryetta. Through travellers bypass this segment of US 75 via US 69 and the Indian Nation Turnpike, where the speed limit is .
From Henryetta through Tulsa and on through Bartlesville to the Kansas State Line, US 75 is once again a multilane highway.
In the early 1990s, some portions of US 75 in Oklahoma were slated to become part of the Interstate Highway System. The 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) states that "upon the request of the Oklahoma State highway agency, the Secretary shall designate the portion of United States Route 69 from the Oklahoma-Texas State line to Checotah in the State of Oklahoma as a part of the Interstate System." This would have created an Interstate route from Interstate 40 south to the Texas line, including the portion of US 75 co-signed with US 69 south of Atoka. The legislation was unclear whether the route would enter Texas to connect with or become an extension of Interstate 45. A current plan is to construct a new segment of the Oklahoma Turnpike along the U.S. 69 corridor to bring it to corridor standards.

Kansas

A major north-south artery in Kansas, U.S. 75 enters the state at Caney. It passes through Independence and crosses Interstate 35 south of Olivet at BETO Junction. At U.S. Route 56 near Scranton U.S. 75 becomes a freeway. There is no direct access to the Kansas Turnpike from U.S. 75, but the highway joins with Interstate 470 less than from 470's interchange with the turnpike. U.S. 75 and Interstate 470 run together along the west side of Topeka to Interstate 70. U.S. 75 turns east along Interstate 70 for about before exiting northbound as a freeway. This freeway segment runs to Elmont, then becomes an expressway to Holton. The remainder of U.S. 75 in Kansas is two lanes. The highway exits the state north of Sabetha.
There was a US 75 Alternate in Topeka, Kansas. It was on Topeka Boulevard and was the route US 75 originally took through Topeka.

Nebraska

U.S. 75 enters Nebraska south of Dawson. From Nebraska City northward, it closely parallels the Missouri River. A brief section which serves as a bypass for Nebraska City is an expressway called the J. Sterling Morton Beltway. Nebraska City itself is served with Business Route U.S. 75. U.S. 75 and U.S. Route 34 overlap from Union to Plattsmouth. North of Plattsmouth, U.S. 75 becomes the Kennedy Freeway, serving as an arterial highway through Bellevue and the South Omaha neighborhood of Omaha. It follows Interstate 480 briefly through central Omaha before branching off as the North Omaha Freeway. From Interstate 680 northward to Fort Calhoun U.S. 75 is an expressway. North of Fort Calhoun it becomes a two-lane road again. It is briefly concurrent with U.S. Route 30 in Blair. It joins with U.S. Route 77 at Winnebago. The two highways run together until their junction with Interstate 129 and U.S. Route 20 at South Sioux City. U.S. 75 follows I-129 and U.S. 20 towards the Missouri River and Iowa.

Iowa

U.S. 75 is a major north-south artery in the northwestern corner of Iowa. It enters the state by a Missouri River crossing at Sioux City concurrent with Interstate 129 and U.S. Route 20. U.S. 75 and U.S. 20 run together on a freeway bypass around the southeast side of Sioux City before U.S. 20 turns east at Gordon Drive. U.S. 75 continues as a freeway to the Woodbury County/Plymouth County line, where it becomes an expressway. This expressway becomes a freeway bypass of Le Mars. North of Le Mars, U.S. 75 exits off the freeway bypass, which continues on as Iowa Highway 60, and turns north. U.S. 75 continues as a two-lane, undivided highway passing through Sioux Center and Rock Rapids before leaving the state north of Iowa Highway 9.
The segment from the Missouri River to LeMars is part of a larger expressway project which will eventually provide a direct connection between Sioux City and the Twin Cities region in Minnesota.

Minnesota

In Minnesota, U.S. 75 stays very close to the state's western border. It passes through few large towns. U.S. 75 enters Minnesota south of Luverne and passes though Pipestone, Canby, and Breckenridge. It is the main north-south route through Moorhead. North of Moorhead, the route turns northeast to pass through Crookston, then turns northwest towards the Red River of the North. U.S. 75 doesn't cross the Red River, ending instead at the Canadian border north of the unincorporated community of Noyes. It isn't possible to cross the border at this point, however; the port of entry closed in July 2006. Border traffic is instead directed to the nearby crossing in Pembina, North Dakota (via Minnesota State Highway 171, North Dakota Highway 59 and Interstate 29).
All of U.S. 75 in Minnesota is officially designated the Historic King of Trails, sponsored by the towns along the route. The King of Trails was in fact the historic Auto Trail name for this road before the trunk highway system was commissioned in 1920.
Legally, the Minnesota section of U.S. 75 is defined as Routes 6 and 175 in Minnesota Statutes §§ 161.114(2) and 161.115(106).

History

Texas

In the initial assignment of state highways in 1917, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston were connected by a branch of State Highway 2 (the Meridian Highway), which ran via Waco and Bryan and continued on to Galveston. The more direct route followed by US 75 wasn't initially part of the system between Richland (connected to Dallas by SH 14) and Huntsville (connected to Houston by SH 19). This Richland-Huntsville cutoff was added by 1919 as State Highway 32, and US 75 was assigned to the alignment, as well as SH 6 north of Dallas, in 1926. The branch of SH 2, which US 75 followed between Houston and Galveston, eventually became part of SH 6, and these numbers were dropped in the 1939 renumbering.
   Prior to the coming of the Interstate Highway System in the late 1950s, the only improvements to US 75 in Texas beyond building a two-lane paved roadway were in the Houston and Dallas areas. However, the highways in and near these cities included some of the first freeways in the state: the Gulf Freeway (Houston) and the Central Expressway (Dallas). When Interstate 45 was built in the 1960s, its alignment bypassed many of the towns and built-up areas between downtown Dallas and Houston. The bypassed routes retained the US 75 designation until the designation was truncated to downtown Dallas in 1987. Many of the original alignments continue to exist under other designations.
   In Dallas, the route followed what is now the Good Latimer Expressway (formerly Spur 559) southeast, out of downtown, along US 175 and south along State Highway 310.
   Near Ferris, Trumbull, Palmer, Ennis, and Corsicana Interstate 45 veers east to avoid the more populated areas. The old US 75 alignments through these towns, decommissioned in 1987, now carry the following designations:

Business Interstate Highway 45 (originally Loop 560) through Ferris

Loop 561 through Trumbull

Business Interstate Highway 45 through Palmer (originally Loop 562)

Spur 469, Business Interstate Highway 45 (originally U.S. Highway 287 and Spur 563) through Ennis

Business Interstate Highway 45 (originally Loop 564) through Corsicana Through Streetman, Fairfield, Buffalo, Centerville, Madisonville, Huntsville, New Waverly, Willis, and Conroe, US 75 followed what is now State Highway 75.
In Galveston, the alignment of State Highway 87 from 20th Street to the southern terminus Interstate 45 was also part of US 75 until its 1987 truncation.
In other cases alignments were bypassed while US 75 remained in existence; they now carry the following designations:

State Highway 3 through La Marque, Dickinson, League City, South Houston and Houston, bypassed 1952

State Highway 5 from north of Dallas via Plano, McKinney, Anna and Van Alstyne to Howe, bypassed 1959-1967

State Highway 91 from Sherman to Denison, bypassed 1984

Spur 503 and U.S. Highway 69 around downtown Denison to near Oklahoma

State Highway 91 through downtown Denison, bypassed 1957

Oklahoma

The main line of US 75 from Beggs to Tulsa, known locally as the "Okmulgee Beeline", is a modern four-lane highway. Its original route between the two locations, to the west through Kiefer, was designated as Alternate US 75. Historically, US 75 met Route 66 (now State Highway 66) in Sapulpa, and the routes were co-signed into Tulsa.

Nebraska

Development of U.S. 75 in North Omaha, Nebraska was the source of much contention in when it was constructed. One state agency reports, "Construction of the North Omaha Freeway, coupled with social unrest in the 1970s, greatly impacted the North Omaha area. One neighborhood experienced a 30 percent housing loss and major increase in crime." Further, the City of Omaha refused to complete upgrades to the freeway, eliminating the possibility of achieving the Interstate 580 designation planned for it.

Nebraska-Iowa

From when the route was created in 1926 until 1984, U.S. Route 75 left Nebraska in Omaha, crossing over the Missouri River into Council Bluffs, Iowa over the Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge before 1966, and the I-480 Bridge from 1966 until 1984. U.S. 75 then followed an alignment that went through western Iowa between Council Bluffs and Sioux City. After Interstate 29 was built, U.S. 75 was eventually moved onto I-29. In 1984, U.S. 75 was rerouted into Nebraska to replace most of U.S. 73. Previously, U.S. 73 was concurrent with U.S. 75 between Dawson, Nebraska and Omaha, and occupied the current segment of U.S. 75 between Omaha and Winnebago.

Major intersections

Interstate 635 in Dallas, Texas (the High Five Interchange)

Interstate 80 in Omaha, Nebraska

U.S. Route 77 in Sioux City, Iowa

Interstate 29 in Sioux City, Iowa

U.S. Route 20 in Sioux City, Iowa

U.S. Route 18 near Hull, Iowa

Interstate 70 in Topeka, Kansas

Interstate 90 in Luverne, Minnesota

U.S. Route 14 in Lake Benton, Minnesota

U.S. Route 12 in Ortonville, Minnesota

Interstate 94 in Moorhead, Minnesota

U.S. Route 10/U.S. Route 52 in Moorhead, Minnesota

U.S. Route 2 in Crookston, Minnesota

Interstate 35 in BETO Junction, KansasFurther Information

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