U.S. Route 81 or U.S. Highway 81 (US 81) is a major north–south U.S. highway that extends for 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 Officials.
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 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 miles shorter than its child.
Route description
Texas
US 81 at its inception in 1926 followed the route of State Highway 2, which began in Laredo and passed through San Antonio, Austin, Waco, and Fort Worth before passing over the Red River into Oklahoma north of Ringgold. The 1936 Official Map of the Highway System of Texas clearly shows the route labeled both as US 81 and SH 2. It was cosigned with US 83 for from Laredo to south of Webb, with US 79 for from Austin north to Round Rock, and with US 77 for from Waco to Hillsboro. In 1940 US 287 was extended south into Texas, and a stretch from Fort Worth northwest to Bowie was cosigned with US 81. The summer 1941 Texas Highway Map shows this pairing, and the current southern terminus of US 81 is still cosigned with US 287.
The spring and summer 1949 Texas Highway Department Official Map designates the length of US 81 from Laredo to Fort Worth as part of the National System of Interstate Highways, but no numeric designation was given.
It was not until 1959 that parts of US 81 in Texas appeared on the Texas Official Highway Travel Map cosigned with I-35 shields. Succeeding maps reflect the slow completion of I-35 and I-35W over the stretch of US 81 between Laredo and Fort Worth, with the 1978-79 Texas Official Highway Travel Map showing only a section from Encinal north to south of Artesia Wells as incomplete, and the 1980 Texas Official Highway Travel Map showing that section completed. In 1980, US 81 was cosigned with I-35 and I-35W except where the Interstate bypassed towns, with US 81 providing the main route through town and then reconnecting with I-35 on the other side. The longest section of US 81 in 1980 not cosigned with the Interstate ran from I-35 in Hillsboro north to I-35W, just north of Grandview.
Oklahoma
Enid, El Reno, Chickasha, and Duncan are major Oklahoma towns on the highway; historically, the small town of Hennessey is notable. Among the elders throughout the small towns that are dotted along US 81 in Oklahoma, the sixth meridian is commonly known among the locals as the "Indian Meridian" but US 81 is not known as the "Indian Meridian Highway". The El Reno tornado in May 2013, the largest tornado ever at 2.6 mi wide, also crossed US 81. The Indian Meridan is located some east and parallel of US 81. By pure coincidence, the Chisholm Trail of the post-Civil-War decades roughly followed along the corridor of present-day US 81; the region was not opened for settlement until several years after the cattle drives were discontinued; cultural memory harkened exclusively for many years to Indian Meridian Highway until recognition of the old cattle trail grew in the late 1900s.