Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox road U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south U.S. highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. Highway System, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA Corridor Highway System. It parallels US 75 for nearly its entire route, never much more than Template:Convert away, until it veers southwest in Houston, Texas. Its number is out of place since US 59 is either concurrent with or entirely west of US 71. US 59 also goes into St Joseph seeing I-229 and I-29. The highway's northern terminus is Template:Convert north of Lancaster, Minnesota, at the Lancaster–Tolstoi Border Crossing on the Canadian border, where it continues as Manitoba Highway 59. Its southern terminus is at the Mexican border in Laredo, Texas, where it continues as Mexican Federal Highway 85D.
Route descriptionEdit
TexasEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} US 59 in the state of Texas is named the Lloyd Bentsen Highway, after Lloyd Bentsen, former U.S. senator from Texas. In northern Houston, US 59, co-signed with I-69, is the Eastex Freeway (from Downtown Houston to the Liberty–Montgomery county line). To the south, which is also co-signed with I-69, it is the Southwest Freeway (from Rosenberg to Downtown Houston), which is one of the busiest sections of freeway in the United States with a vehicle count, as of 2006, over 330,000 vehicles per day just outside the Loop.<ref>Template:Cite map</ref>
US 59 (overlaped by US 71) actually straddles the border between Texas and Arkansas north of I-30 near Texarkana, with the east side of the highway on the Arkansas side and the west side of the highway on the Texas side. In the past, both highways remained on the border past I-30 as State Line Avenue to Downtown Texarkana; today, only US 71 does so. Nearly 90% of this route is designated to become part of I-69 in the future. Currently, Template:Convert speed limits are allowed on US 59 in Duval County and portions of northern Polk County.
From the southwestern suburbs of Houston to Downtown Houston, US 59 is commonly referred to as the "Southwest Freeway", sometimes derisively as the "Southwest's Best Freeway." Supporting 371,000 vehicles per day,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> it is one of the busiest freeways in the United States. US 59 is known as the "Eastex Freeway" in the north/northeast part of the Houston region. At the Mexican border, it ends at the World Trade International Bridge in Laredo, Texas. In Laredo, US 59 is co-signed with both I-69W and Loop 20, and has an intersection of I-35 which ends at the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge. After crossing the bridge into Mexico, I-35 continues as Mexican Federal Highway 85 in Nuevo Laredo, which then runs through Mexico and Central America and ends in Panama at the Panama Canal.
ArkansasEdit
In Arkansas, US 59 is concurrent with US 71 from I-30 at Texarkana to Acorn, and with US 270 from Acorn to the Oklahoma state line. The Third Loop was to be extended on I-49 from its original northern end to US 71 at the Texas state line opened on May 15, 2013, and was extended to State Line Road, where it intersects with US 59 and US 71 in Texas.
OklahomaEdit
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US 59 and US 412 are co-signed for Template:Convert in Delaware County, Oklahoma.
US 59 is co-signed with US 270 from the Arkansas state line to Heavener and US 271 from Poteau to west of Spiro. It is also co-signed with US 64 in Sallisaw.
KansasEdit
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US 59 enters the state just south of Chetopa and runs nearly directly north across the state. It runs concurrently with US 169 starting about Template:Convert south of Garnett and diverges north again immediately south of Garnett. The intersection immediately south of Garnett used to be a braided intersection with stop and yield signs. It was identified as a high-crash location in 2001, and was rebuilt as a roundabout that opened in April 2006.<ref>Template:Cite conference</ref> The Kansas Department of Transportation is rebuilding or planning to rebuild several other rural intersections as roundabouts for increased safety.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite conference</ref> Until 2012, US 59 passed through Ottawa, Kansas, and had to be shut down or detoured every time the Marais Des Cygnes floodwall gates were closed across the highway. The highway now bypasses around Ottawa, running concurrently with I-35 for Template:Convert and using that highway's bridges over the Marias Des Cygnes. US 59 passes through Lawrence. The street name of US 59 in Lawrence is Iowa Street, then 6th Street as it joins US 40 and jogs east to cross the Kansas River near downtown. North of the U.S. 40 and 59 Bridges, it splits with US 40 as it joins US 24 briefly and jogs back west before resuming a northerly course. It continues north to Nortonville, then northeast to Atchison, where it crosses the Missouri River over the Amelia Earhart Bridge.
US 59 has been rebuilt and rerouted just to the east between Lawrence and Ottawa as a divided highway, as the former road was one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the state. The project began in mid-2007, and was completed and opened to the public on October 17, 2012.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
MissouriEdit
In Missouri, US 59 roughly follows the Missouri River in the northwest corner of the state, from its entrance at Winthrop. In St. Joseph, the highway is paired with I-229 through downtown. US 59 departs from I-229 as Saint Joseph Avenue, joining with US 71 at I-29. The two highways then separate in Savannah. US 59 then follows I-29 very closely until turning northward at Craig. It exits the state Template:Convert north of Tarkio. This section of US 59 is immortalized in the Brewer and Shipley song "Tarkio Road".
IowaEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In Iowa, US 59 is a main north–south artery in the western part of the state. It enters Iowa south of Shenandoah and joins I-80 at Avoca. It passes through the county seats of Harlan, Denison, Cherokee, and Primghar. Except for small stretches of expressway near Avoca, Denison, and Holstein, the entire length of US 59 in Iowa is an undivided two-lane road. US 59 exits the state near Hawkeye Point, the highest point in the state of Iowa.
MinnesotaEdit
US 59 enters Minnesota south of Worthington, just Template:Convert east of Bigelow. It passes through rural western Minnesota for its entire length in the state. Some cities along the way include Slayton, Marshall, Clarkfield, Montevideo, and Morris. US 59 overlaps I-94/US 52 in the Fergus Falls area. North of Fergus Falls, US 59 passes through Pelican Rapids, Detroit Lakes, and Thief River Falls before ending at the Lancaster–Tolstoi border crossing on the Canadian border. US 59 runs for about Template:Convert through Minnesota.
The Minnesota section of US 59 is legally defined as all or part of Routes 265, 16, 17, 88, 66, 144, 3, 30, and 174 in Minnesota Statutes §§ 161.115(19), (75), and (196) and 161.114(2).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
HistoryEdit
In 1934, a coalition of government officials from Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota agreed to sign the current US 59 as Highway 73 in an attempt to extend US 73 north from Atchison, Kansas. However, the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) approved the route as US 59, instead.Template:Citation needed
The part in Missouri was defined in 1922 as Route 52 from Kansas to St. Joseph, Route 1 from St. Joseph to Tarkio, and Route 61 from Tarkio to Iowa. Route 61 became Route 9 in 1926, and Route 52 became part of Route 4 in 1927, and this portion became Route 18 in 1932, before being removed in favor of US 59 in the 1930s.
Historic terminiEdit
Before the 1950s, US 59 headed northwest to US 75 at Noyes, crossed the Red River of the North at St. Vincent, and terminated at US 81 in Pembina, North Dakota. A new highway and border crossing were built north of Lancaster on the present alignment in 1950. The former segment of US 59 between Lancaster and US 75 became CR 6, and the extremely short segment between US 75 and US 81 became MN 171 and ND 59. ND 59 still exists in Pembina from the state line to I-29.
From 1934 to 1935, the US 59 designation referred to a Template:Convert route across southeastern Minnesota, from Lake City, Minnesota, to the Iowa state line just short of Chester, Iowa. That entire route is now part of US 63, and nowhere close to the present US 59, established in 1935.Template:Citation needed
In 1933, much of the present US 59 and the entirety of US 96 in Texas were originally proposed to be part of US 71. 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 rerouted from the Texarkana area southward through East Texas.<ref name="US 71 Proposal">Template:Cite news</ref>
FutureEdit
A large portion of US 59 is proposed to become part of the future extension of I-69, I-69W and I-369 through Texas, allowing the current alignment and right-of-way to be upgraded without the need for government environmental studies or extensive eminent domain proceedings.<ref>I69Info.com: "New" and "Old" Terrain</ref>
Major intersectionsEdit
- Texas
- World Trade International Bridge at the Mexican border
- Template:Jct in Laredo. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
- Template:Jct in Laredo
- Template:Jct in George West
- Template:Jct east of George West
- Template:Jct in Beeville
- Template:Jct in Goliad
- Template:Jct southwest of Victoria. I-69/US 59 will travel concurrently to Houston. US 59/US 77 travels concurrently to south-southwest of Victoria.
- Template:Jct in Victoria
- Template:Jct in Houston
- Template:Jct in Houston
- Template:Jct in Houston
- Template:Jct in Houston. I-69/US 59 will travel concurrently to Tenaha.
- Template:Jct in Livingston
- Template:Jct in Corrigan
- Template:Jct in Lufkin. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
- Template:Jct in Redfield
- Template:Jct in Timpson. The highways travel concurrently to Tenaha.
- Template:Jct in Tenaha. I-369/US 59 will travel concurrently to Texarkana.
- Template:Jct in Carthage. The highways travel concurrently to north of Carthage.
- Template:Jct in Marshall
- Template:Jct in Marshall
- Template:Jct in Texarkana. I-369/US 59 travels concurrently to I-30.
- Template:Jct in Texarkana
- Template:Jct in Texarkana
- Template:Jct in Texarkana. I-30/US 59 travels concurrently to the Arkansas state line.
- Arkansas
- Template:Jct in Texarkana. US 59/US 71 travels concurrently to Acorn.
- Texas
- Template:Jct north of Texarkana
- Arkansas
- Template:Jct in Lockesburg. The highways travel concurrently to De Queen.
- Template:Jct in Saline Township. The highways travel concurrently to De Queen.
- Template:Jct in Wickes
- Template:Jct in Acorn. US 59/US 270 travels concurrently to Heavener, Oklahoma.
- Oklahoma
- Template:Jct west-northwest of Page
- Template:Jct in Poteau. The highways travel concurrently to west of Spiro.
- Template:Jct in Sallisaw
- Template:Jct in Sallisaw. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
- Template:Jct in Westville
- Template:Jct in West Siloam Springs. The highways travel concurrently to Kansas.
- Template:Jct east-northeast of Afton. US 59/US 60 travels concurrently for approximately Template:Convert. US 59/US 69 travels concurrently to north of Dotyville.
- Template:Jct east-northeast of Afton
- Kansas
- Template:Jct in Chetopa. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
- Template:Jct in Oswego. The highways travel concurrently to the Mount Pleasant–Fairview township line.
- Template:Jct in Parsons
- Template:Jct in Moran
- Template:Jct in Welda Township. The highways travel concurrently to Washington Township.
- Template:Jct in Ottawa. The highways travel concurrently to Ottawa Township.
- Template:Jct in Willow Springs Township
- Template:Jct in Lawrence. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
- Template:Jct in Lawrence
- Template:Jct in Lawrence. US 24/US 59 travels concurrently to Williamstown.
- Template:Jct in Shannon Township. The highways travel concurrently to Atchison.
- Missouri
- Template:Jct in St. Joseph. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
- Template:Jct in St. Joseph
- Template:Jct in Jefferson Township
- Template:Jct in Nodaway Township
- Template:Jct in Jackson Township. The highways travel concurrently to Nodaway Township.
- Template:Jct in Hickory Township
- Template:Jct in Hickory Township
- Template:Jct in Union Township
- Template:Jct in Tarkio Township. The highways travel concurrently to Tarkio.
- Iowa
- Template:Jct in Indian Creek Township
- Template:Jct in Belknap Township. The highways travel concurrently to Oakland.
- Template:Jct in Avoca
- Template:Jct in Denison. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
- Template:Jct on the Logan–Griggs township line. The highways travel concurrently to Holstein.
- Template:Jct on the Franklin–Lincoln township line. The highways travel concurrently to Sanborn.
- Minnesota
- Template:Jct in Worthington
- Template:Jct in Custer Township
- Template:Jct in Camp Release Township. The highways travel concurrently to Montevideo.
- Template:Jct in Moyer Township
- Template:Jct on the Buse–Dane Prairie township line. The highways travel concurrently to Fergus Falls Township.
- Template:Jct in Detroit Lakes
- Template:Jct in Knute Township
- Template:Jct at the Canadian border on the Richardville–St. Joseph township line
<ref name=randmcnally>Template:Cite book</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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