U.S. Route 81 in South Dakota
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| Route information | |
| Length: | 1,220 mi (1,963 km) |
| Existed: | 1926, truncated northward in the 1990s – present |
| Major junctions | |
| South end: |
  I-35W / US 287 at Fort Worth, TX
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 I‑44 at Chickasha, OK I‑40 at El Reno, OK I-135 from Wichita, KS to Salina, KS I-70 near Salina, KS I-80 at York NE I-90 at Salem, SD I-29 from Watertown, SD to Manvel, ND I-94 at Fargo, ND US 2 at Grand Forks, NDI-29 from Joliette, ND to Pembina, ND
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| North end: |
I-29 /  PTH 75 at Pembina–Emerson Border Crossing near Pembina, ND
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| Location | |
| States: | Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota |
| Highway system | |
U.S. Route 81 is one of the many United States Numbered Highways established in 1926 by the US Department of Agriculture Bureau of Public Roads.
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 Canada–US border. At this point, it is routed along Interstate 29 and continues northward into Manitoba on Highway 75 that leads to Winnipeg.
Its southern terminus is in Fort Worth, Texas, at an intersection with Interstate 35W. 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 (1,986 km) in 1993, when the terminus was moved to Fort Worth. In both cases, the dropped portions of US 81 were replaced by Interstate 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.
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Wikipedia