U.S. Route 54
U.S. Route 54 is an east-west United States highway that runs northeast-southwest for 1,197 miles (1,926 km) from western Illinois to El Paso, Texas. It enters and leaves Texas twice. Union Pacific's Tucumcari Line runs along US-54 from El Paso all the way to Wichita, Kansas which is about 2/3 of the whole route.
As of 2004, the highway's eastern terminus is Griggsville, Illinois, at Interstate 72 and Illinois Route 107. Its western terminus is El Paso, Texas, at the United States-Mexico border.
Route description
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New Mexico
US 54 enters New Mexico in Chaparral as part of the El Paso, Texas Metro area network. It also services as a military highway to connect Fort Bliss in El Paso to Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The highway runs north through the central portion of the state connecting to Interstate 40 in Santa Rosa, New Mexico following for 59 miles (95 km) to Tucumcari. The highway then exits the state back into Texas at Nara Visa. The highway runs for 354 miles (570 km) and through the major New Mexico cities of Alamogordo, Vaughn, Santa Rosa and Tucumcari.
Texas
US 54 begins in El Paso, Texas at Loop 375 downtown. The highway serves as a major freeway for the Metro area's network running North/South along the city's eastern slope of the Franklin Mountains range. The highway runs through the city for approximately 23 miles (37 km) before reaching the New Mexico State Line. Within the network it is a military connector for Fort Bliss and Holloman Air Force Base.
The highway re-enters the Texas Panhandle just beyond Nara Visa, New Mexico and continues northeast for 95 miles (153 km) to the Oklahoma border. Major Texas cities along US 54 are El Paso, North Hills, Dalhart and Stratford.
Oklahoma
US-54 runs through the Oklahoma Panhandle from southwest to northeast. It enters at Texhoma, then continues northeast through Goodwell before entering Guymon. In Guymon, it intersects US-412 and begins a concurrency with US-64. It goes northeast through Optima and Hooker, where US-64 turns east. After going northeast through Tyrone, it enters Kansas just before entering Liberal, Kansas.
Kansas
US-54 enters the state from Oklahoma in Seward County, and travels through the cities of Liberal and Plains, where it begins a concurrency with US-160 in Meade County. Just east of the city of Meade, US-54 splits from US-160 and continues in a northeasterly direction through Meade and Ford counties before beginning a long concurrency with US-400 in Mullinville in Kiowa County.
The highway then travels through the town of Greensburg and continues as a two-lane road through Pratt, Cunningham, and Kingman. The road becomes an at-grade expressway in eastern Kingman County in the outer suburbs of the Wichita area.
The expressway continues into Sedgwick County, entering the city limits of Wichita near Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. In Wichita, US-54/400 is known as the Kellogg Flyover, and has junctions with Interstate 235, Interstate 135 and Interstate 35, the Kansas Turnpike, before a junction with K-96. US-54/400/Kellogg Flyover is currently under construction in east Wichita where it is being expanded into a six lane freeway. Once completed, the Kellogg Flyover will be a 13-mile (21 km) long six lane freeway from 111th Street on the west side of Wichita to Cypress just before the I-35/Kansas Turnpike interchange on the east side.
The concurrency of US-54 and US-400 continues through Augusta in Butler County before US-400 heads east toward the Missouri state line, while US-54 forms a brief concurrency with US-77 through El Dorado. At El Dorado, US-54 continues its easterly course through rural areas in Greenwood and Woodson counties before passing through the cities of Iola and Fort Scott, with US-77 heading north to Junction City. US-54 exits Kansas in Bourbon County before reaching Nevada, Missouri.
Missouri
In Missouri US 54 angles from southwest portion of the state to the northeast portion of the state. It is a major conduit through the Ozarks and is the primary access road to Pomme de Terre Lake and Lake of the Ozarks. After entering the state it passes through Nevada, El Dorado Springs, Hermitage, crossing Lake of the Ozarks the first time just north of Ha Ha Tonka State Park. It passes through Camdenton and cross the lake a second time at the Grand Glaize Bridge at Osage Beach before bypassing Eldon and going through Jefferson City where it crosses the Missouri River at the Jefferson City Bridge where it briefly overlaps U.S. Route 63. Just north of the bridge it splits passing through Fulton, crossing Interstate 70 at Kingdom City, Missouri, passing through Mexico, passing just north of Vandalia, and ultimately crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois at Louisiana.
Illinois
In the state of Illinois, U.S. 54 runs from the Champ Clark Bridge over the Mississippi River to its terminus at Interstate 72 northeast near Griggsville. Before the eastern terminus was cut back to I-72, U.S. 54 continued northeast to downtown Chicago. It is a rural, two-lane surface street for its entire length in Illinois. In the state of Illinois, U.S. 54 is 23.96 miles (38.56 km) long.[1]
History
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Until the 1970s it reached Chicago before it was truncated in favor of U.S. Route 36, Illinois Route 54, and U.S. Route 45.
See also
Related U.S. Routes
References
- ^ Illinois Technology Transfer Center (2006). "T2 GIS Data". Retrieved 2007-11-08.
Routes in italics are no longer a part of the system. Highlighted routes are considered main routes of the system. |
| Browse numbered routes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
←  SH 53 | TX | →  SH 55 | ||
←  SH-53 | OK | →  SH-54 | ||
←  K-53 | KS | →  K-55 | ||
←  Route 53 | MO | → Error: Invalid type: Interstate | ||
←  IL 53 | IL | →  IL 54 | ||