US 81

Valentine, Nebraska

November 14, 2022

U.S. Route 81 or U.S. Highway 81 (US 81) is a major north–south U.S. highway that extends for 1,220 miles in the central United States and is one of the original United States Numbered Highways established in 1926 by the American Association of State Highway Officioals.

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 1860s and 1870s.

As of 2004, the highway's northern terminus is just north of Pembina, North Dakota, at the Canadian border. At this point, it is routed along Interstate 29 (I-29) and continues northward into Manitoba on Highway 75, which leads to Winnipeg. Its southern terminus is in Fort Worth, Texas, at an intersection with I-35W and US 287.

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 1,234 miles in 1993, when the terminus was moved to Fort Worth. In both cases, the dropped portions of US 81 were replaced by I-35. Portions of former US 81 south of Fort Worth continue to exist as business loops of I-35; a section from Hillsboro to Fort Worth exists as State Highway 81.

The decommissioning of portions of US 81 that have been displaced by concurrent Interstate Highways means that US 81 no longer extends from the Canadian border to the Mexican border, while one of its children, US 281 does extend to both borders. As a result of decommissioning portions of US 81, the length of US 81 is actually 672 miles miles shorter than its child.

History

US 81 started out as the Meridian Highway, an auto trail organized in 1911 to connect Winnipeg, Manitoba, 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 did not 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 US 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. I-35 followed the corridor from Laredo north to Wichita, where I-35 turned northeast towards Kansas City, with a branch—I-35W—continuing parallel to US 81 to Salina, Kansas. Between Fort Worth, Texas, and South Haven, Kansas, I-35 did not directly replace US 81, instead following US 77 through Oklahoma City, but replaced it as a long-distance highway. From Salina north through Nebraska, the US 81 corridor was not part of the Interstate Highway System, but I-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 and was proposed as a potential Interstate in the 1960s, 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 was not part of I-35W was renamed SH 81.

Business US 81 in San Antonio was replaced by Loop 368 and Loop 353. The north side (Loop 368) traveled down Broadway and Austin Highway while the south side (Loop 353) was Nogalitos and 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 roads. The current US 81 in these areas is cosigned with I-29.

Completion of the four-lane section of US 81 between Salina and Minneapolis, Kansas, occurred in 1971.

Between Wichita and Salina, Kansas, old sections of US 81 are now county roads and short sections of state highways. The current US 81 in this area is cosigned with I-135. In McPherson County, the old alignment of US 81 is signed as Business US 81.