U.S. Route 45

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U.S. Route 45

Length:

1,297^[1] mi (2,087 km)

Formed:

1926^[1]

South end:

US 98 at Mobile, AL

Major
junctions:

I-20 at Meridian, MS

I-40 at Jackson, TN
I-57 I-70 at Effingham, IL
I-74 at Urbana, IL
I-80 near Tinley Park, IL
I-55 near Hodgkins, IL
I-43/I-94 at Milwaukee, WI

North end:

M-64 at Ontonagon, MI^[2]

United States Numbered Highways

U.S. Route 45 is a north-south United States highway. US 45 is a border-to-border route, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. A sign at the highway's northern terminus notes the total distance as 1,300 miles (2,092 km).

As of 2004, the highway's northern terminus is in Ontonagon, Michigan at an intersection with M-64 ^[2], a few blocks from Lake Superior. Its southern terminus is in Mobile, Alabama at an intersection with U.S. Highway 98.

1 States traversed
2 History
- 2.1 Historic termini
3 Related US routes
4 Images (south to north)
5 Sources and external links
6 References

[edit] States traversed

Major cities
Mobile, Alabama Meridian, Mississippi Columbus, Mississippi Tupelo, Mississippi Selmer, Tennessee Jackson, Tennessee Mayfield, Kentucky Paducah, Kentucky Cairo, Illinois Harrisburg, Illinois Effingham, Illinois Champaign, Illinois Urbana, Illinois Chicago, Illinois Milwaukee, Wisconsin West Bend, Wisconsin Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Oshkosh, Wisconsin

The highway passes through the following states:

[edit] Alabama

U.S. 45 is co-routed with unsigned State Route 17 between Mobile and Vinegar Bend in Washington County. From Vinegar Bend until the Mississippi state line, U.S. 45 is paired with unsigned State Route 57.

[edit] Mississippi

[edit] Tennessee

U.S. 45 and 45W is co-routed with unsigned State Route 5 from the Mississippi state line to Union City and then with U.S. 51 (unsigned S.R. 3) to the Kentucky state line. U.S. 45E is co-routed with unsigned State Route 43 for its entire length, except for short segments at Martin and South Fulton.

[edit] Kentucky

[edit] Illinois

See also: U.S. Route 45 in Illinois

In the state of Illinois, U.S. 45 runs from the bridge across the Ohio River east of Paducah, Kentucky north to the Wisconsin border east of Antioch, Illinois. With a length of over 400 miles (647 km) in Illinois, U.S. 45 is the longest numbered route in Illinois.

[edit] Wisconsin

U.S. 45 enters the state in southeast Wisconsin. It runs concurrent with Interstate 894 and U.S. Route 41 through the west side of metro Milwaukee to form a major artery through the metropolitan area. It runs north to Fond du Lac. The highway routes near the west coast of Lake Winnebago through Oshkosh, Wisconsin. U.S. 45 then travels north through the state and national forests until it exits the state at Land O'Lakes, Wisconsin.

[edit] Michigan

[edit] History

Except for short sections near cities, Highway 45 was still almost entirely a two-lane roadway though Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee well into the 1980s. In Mississippi, the highway is entirely divided and four-laned except for a 20 mile stretch on US 45A between Artesia and Brooksville and from south of Waynesboro to the Alabama State Line. The Artesia-Brooksville section is under design by the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the end of divided highway south of Waynesboro is be continued as a new routing for Mississippi Highway 63 to Lucedale, Mississippi and Pascagoula, Mississippi on the Gulf Coast. US 45 bypasses around Cornith, Tupelo, and Meridian are limited-access highways. Except for two stretches of US 45W, which are currently in a survey-and-design stage, all of US 45 in Tennessee has been converted to or replaced by four-lane, often divided, expressways, most of which since the administration of Governor Ned McWherter, a native of West Tennessee who also launched numerous other highway projects, stiffened penalties for drunk driving, and raised the state speed limit to 65 mph (100 km/h). From Fulton to Mayfield, Kentucky, US 45 is paralleled by the Julian M. Carroll Purchase Parkway, built in the late 1960s. From Mayfield to Paducah, Kentucky and between Harrisburg and Eldorado, Illinois it is a four-lane divided expressway.

[edit] Historic termini

Until 1934, US 45's northern terminus was in the Chicago, Illinois area.

Prior to the construction of the Interstate Highway system, US 45 was the one of the main routes south out of Chicago toward New Orleans. Much of the traffic left US 45 at Effingham, Illinois, continuing on the Cairo, Illinois along Illinois Route 37.

[edit] Related US routes

US 45 has no child routes.

[edit] Alternate routes

As of 2004, US 45 has two alternate routings.

US 45 splits into US 45E and US 45W in South Fulton, Tennessee, just across the state line from Fulton, Kentucky. The two routes follow parallel paths about 10 miles (16 km) apart, then rejoin just north of Interstate 40 at Three Way, Tennessee, a town so named because of this junction.

The route splits again south of Tupelo, Mississippi. Alternate US 45 takes a direct route to the south through West Point, while the main line of US 45 bears east through Aberdeen and Columbus. The routes rejoin in Brooksville, in rural Noxubee County.

[edit] Business routes

Wittenburg, WI
New London, WI
Paducah, KY
Trenton, TN (US 45W) decommissioned
Humboldt, TN (US 45W)
Martin, TN (US 45E)
Tupelo, MS decommissioned
Meridian, MS decommissioned

[edit] Bypass routes

Jackson, TN

[edit] Images (south to north)

U.S. 45 signage in Jackson, Tennessee	Exit ramp on U.S. Route 151 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin	Downtown Oshkosh, Wisconsin	Exit ramp on U.S. Route 41 in Oshkosh
Junction with U.S. Route 10

[edit] Sources and external links

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Droz, Robert V. U.S. Highways : From US 1 to (US 830). URL accessed 02:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC).
^ ^a ^b Michigan Highways: Highways 40 through 49 Christopher J. Bessert. URL accessed 15 Oct 2006.

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Lists		U.S. Routes - Bannered - Divided - Replaced