U.S. Route 63

U.S. Route 63
Route information
Length	1,286 mi (2,070 km)
Existed	1926–present
Major junctions
South end	I-20 at Ruston, LA
Major intersections	I-55 at Turrell, AR US 60 at Willow Springs, MO I-44 at Rolla, MO US 50 / US 54 at Jefferson City, MO I-70 / US 40 at Columbia, MO I-80 at Malcom, IA US 30 near Toledo, IA US 20 at Waterloo, IA US 52 at Rochester, MN I-90 at Rochester, MN I-94 at Baldwin, WI
North end	US 2 at Moquah, WI
Location
Country	United States
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Special Divided

U.S. Route 63 (US 63) is a 1,286-mile (2,070 km) north–south United States highway primarily in the Midwestern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at Interstate 20 in Ruston, Louisiana. The northern terminus is at U.S. Route 2 in Benoit, Wisconsin, about 60 miles (97 km) east of Duluth, Minnesota.

Route description

Louisiana

U.S. 63 overlaps US 167 for its entire route in Louisiana, from Ruston north, to Junction City, at the Arkansas state line, a distance of 35 miles (56 km).

Arkansas

U.S. 63 overlaps numerous other Interstate and U.S. highways on its way from Junction City, at the Louisiana line, north to Mammoth Spring, at the Missouri line; along the way it crosses one U.S. highway twice, and just misses crossing three others twice:

• Continuing from Ruston, Louisiana, U.S. 167 from Junction City to El Dorado
• I-530 and U.S. 65, along with U.S. 79, in Pine Bluff
• U.S. 79 again from Pine Bluff to Stuttgart
• U.S. 165 in Stuttgart
• U.S. 70 in Hazen
• I-40 from Hazen to West Memphis. A concurrent segment of U.S. 70 and U.S. 79 (again) serves as its service road just west of West Memphis, though they never cross; it also crosses U.S. 49 at Brinkley.
• I-55 from West Memphis to Turrell, silently picking up U.S. 61 at Turrell and U.S. 64 at Marion
• U.S. 49 again in Jonesboro
• U.S. 67 in the cities of Hoxie and Walnut Ridge, but only temporarily until the U.S. 67 freeway is extended from Newport to the Walnut Ridge-Hoxie area
• U.S. 412 alone from Portia to Imboden
• U.S. 62 and U.S. 412 from Imboden to Hardy; it just misses meeting U.S. 167 again at its northern terminus at Ash Flat, near Hardy

Many of these concurrencies and multiple crossings occurred when the south end of U.S. 63 was extended from Turrell to Ruston in 1999, in a very different direction from the Mammoth Spring-to-Turrell segment; the only non-concurrent parts of the extension are from Hazen to Stuttgart (formerly Arkansas Highway 11) and Pine Bluff to El Dorado (formerly Arkansas Highway 15). In addition, U.S. 63 from Jonesboro (including the U.S. 49 concurrency) to Turrell is designated as future Interstate 555, and will be yet another concurrency once that becomes final.

U.S. 63 from Jonesboro to Turrell is now bannered as "Future I-555" which is to be switched as soon as service roads are completed on either side of the 4-lane divided highway. It has been questioned on whether or not U.S. 63 will be rerouted to eliminate the dogleg from Jonesboro to West Memphis to Hazen. Possible reroutings could be U.S 63/49 from Jonesboro to Brinkley and U.S 63/70 from Brinkley to Hazen or U.S. 63/AR 1 from Jonesboro to Forrest City and U.S. 63/70 from Forrest City to Hazen.

Missouri

Jefferson City Bridge

The highway passes South-to-North through Missouri, from Arkansas to Iowa, serving cities such as Rolla, Jefferson City, Columbia, Moberly and Kirksville. Notable routes that are intersected include U.S. Route 60 in Howell County, Interstate 44 at Rolla, U.S. Route 50 (which it shares a concurrency with into Jefferson City south of the Missouri River until it reaches the junction with U.S. Route 54), U.S. Route 54 (which it overlaps in Jefferson City from the junction with U.S. Route 50 and crosses the Missouri River with on the Jefferson City Bridge), Interstate 70 at Columbia, U.S. Route 24 at Moberly, U.S. Route 36 at Macon, and U.S. Route 136 at Lancaster. The road enters the state (passing the Howell County line) at Thayer and has alternating passing lanes from here to West Plains. From West Plains through Cabool, the road (concurrent with U.S. 60 from Willow Springs to Cabool) is four lanes. North of Cabool the highway returns to alternating passing lanes until it reaches Rolla. As the road enters Rolla, it becomes Bishop Avenue, although it is four lanes that change to two lanes at the Stonehenge curve at the university. It shares a second concurrency—one with Business 44 from Kingshighway to I-44. As it leaves Rolla, it is still a two lanes as it intersects with Highway 42 at Vienna and Highway 133 at Westphalia. Then finally it has its concurrency with US 50. Through Jefferson City up until Kirksville (excepting downtown Macon, where it returns to two-lane pavement), this highway remains on four-lane divided highway with some freeway sections in Jefferson City and Columbia. In Columbia, the highway has a short business loop. However, there is no access to Interstate 70 from the actual highway, but with the business route, there is. At the short route's southern terminus, there is a northbound exit and a southbound entrance and at the northern one is southbound exit and a northbound entrance. Along the road, there's two traffic light junctions (at I-70 Drive SW, I-70, and Clark Lane). The highway leaves Boone County and has another business route for Moberly (which passes right through Renick and intersecting at the traffic light with US 24). Just south of Kirksville after passing through Macon, the highway splits into U.S. 63 and Business 63. U.S. 63 narrows to two lanes as it bypasses central Kirksville near the city's eastern boundary. Northbound Business 63 narrows to a one lane "flyover" ramp as it crosses over northeast bound U.S 63. Then Business 63 returns to four-lane divided highway for about a mile before it narrows into Baltimore Street and passes through Kirksville before rejoining U.S. 63 at an interchange near the city's northern limits. From there, U.S. 63 continues north on two lanes to the Iowa border.

US 63 in Missouri was Route 7 from 1922 to 1926.

Iowa

U.S. 63 passes South-to-North through Iowa. It enters the state from Missouri south of Bloomfield. Between Ottumwa and Oskaloosa, the highway overlaps Iowa Highway 163. This segment is an expressway which connects Des Moines with Burlington, with freeway bypasses of Ottumwa and Eddyville. Near Malcom, U.S. 63 meets Interstate 80. Only a few miles later, it joins U.S. 6 westbound for several miles near Grinnell, then goes north again. At Toledo, it intersects U.S. 30 and at Waterloo, U.S. 63 meets U.S. 20. An expressway section opened in October 2012, completing the four-lane link between Waterloo and New Hampton. The highway enters Minnesota just north of Chester.

Minnesota

Main article: U.S. Route 63 in Minnesota

U.S. 63 enters Minnesota from Iowa south of Spring Valley. After meeting Interstate 90, U.S. 63 serves the local airport and then intersects with U.S. Route 52. In this area, U.S. 63 is an expressway, but plans are to upgrade the highway to a freeway. U.S. 63 then passes through downtown Rochester and passes to within a block of Mayo Clinic. North of Rochester, the highway meets U.S. Route 61 at Lake City. From there, the two routes run concurrent to Red Wing, where U.S. 63 turns north and crosses the Mississippi River to enter Wisconsin over the Eisenhower Bridge.

The Minnesota section of U.S. 63 is defined as Routes 59 and 161 in Minnesota Statutes §§ 161.114(2) and 161.115(92).,

Wisconsin

U.S. 63 enters Wisconsin south of Hager City. Near Baldwin, U.S. 63 intersects Interstate 94. The highway briefly overlaps near Spooner with U.S. Route 53. At Trego, they separate and U.S. 63 runs southwest to northeast, ending near Benoit at U.S. Route 2.

History

Though U.S. 63 as a stand-alone highway had always ended at Turrell, Arkansas before the 1999 extension, in the past it was concurrent with U.S. 61, 64, 70, and 79 (and later I-55) on into Memphis, Tennessee, over the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge. Unlike the 1999 extension, this concurrency to Memphis was generally in line with the rest of U.S. 63. Though some maps continued to show this concurrency until 1999, Arkansas had not recognized U.S. 63 south of Turrell for many years, since at least the 1960s.

See also

Related routes

• Iowa Highway 163 - Formerly a spur of US 63 numbered US 163
• U.S. Route 163 - Despite the numbering convention of US Highways, this highway has never connected to US 63

Bannered routes

See also: Bannered routes of U.S. Route 63

• U.S. Route 63 Business in Warren, Arkansas
• U.S. Route 63 Business in Pine Bluff, Arkansas
• U.S. Route 63 Business in Marked Tree, Arkansas
• U.S. Route 63 Business in Bono, Arkansas
• U.S. Route 63 Business in Hoxie, Arkansas
• U.S. Route 63 Business in Hardy, Arkansas
• U.S. Route 63 Business in West Plains, Missouri
• U.S. Route 63 Business in Willow Springs, Missouri
• U.S. Route 63 Business in Moberly, Missouri
• U.S. Route 63 Business in Ottumwa, Iowa
• U.S. Route 63 Business in New Hampton, Iowa

References

Browse numbered routes
← LA 62	LA	→ LA 63
← US 62	AR	→ US 64
← US 62	MO	→
← Iowa 62	IA	→ Iowa 64
← MN 62	MN	→ MN 64
← US 61	WI	→ WIS 63