Missouri Route 5 is the longest state highway in Missouri and the only Missouri state highway to traverse the entire state. To the north, it continues into Iowa as Iowa Highway 5 and to the south it enters Arkansas as Arkansas Highway 5 as part of a three state 650 mile highway 5. With only a few exceptions, it is mostly a two-lane for its entire length.[2]
Route 5 begins at the Arkansas state line in Ozark County as a continuation of Arkansas Highway 5. Approximately 8.5 miles (13.7km) to the north of the state line, Route 5 meets U.S. 160 after which it forms a 6.2mi (10.0km) east-west concurrency to the east where it enters Gainesville. After leaving its U.S. 160 concurrency to the north, Route 5 continues northwest for approximately 13.2mi (21.2km) before forming a 3.3mi (5.3km) north-south wrong-way concurrency with Route 95 into Wasola. Route 5 enters Douglas County0.6mi (0.97km) north of Wasola.[3]
Thirteen miles into Douglas County, Route 5 forms a four-mile north–south concurrency with Route 76 past Ava, and serves the town itself with a business route. Within the northwest part of Ava, the concurrent routes intersect Route 14. After Route 76 leaves the concurrency to the east, Route 5 continues for 10 miles before entering Wright County.
Shortly after entering Wright County, Route 5 forms a one-mile east–west concurrency with U.S. 60 (as a limited-access highway) in Mansfield. After leaving its U.S. 60 concurrency to the north, the route intersects with Route 38 in Hartville 11 miles later, and then continues for 24 miles into Laclede County.
Route 5 southbound turns left onto Route 64 (Jefferson Ave) in Lebanon.
Between Lebanon and Camdenton, the road has been realigned and straightened, and several older alignments are visible. Just south of Camdenton, Route 5 forms an 11-mile north–south concurrency with Route 7 which continues through the town and intersects U.S. Route 54. After Route 7 leaves the concurrency to the west, Route 5 leaves the Ozark Mountains and crosses the Lake of the Ozarks at the Hurricane Deck Bridge, passing through Sunrise Beach shortly before entering Morgan County.
Twenty miles north into Morgan County, Route 5 forms a short east–west concurrency with Route 52 in Versailles. After leaving its Route 52 concurrency to the north, it continues north for 14 miles and enters Tipton, in which the route forms a four-mile east–west concurrency with U.S. 50. Soon after leaving its U.S. 50 concurrency to the north, Route 5 enters Cooper County.
In Cooper County, Route 5 continues north for 20 miles before intersecting I-70 just south of Boonville. Three miles north of I-70, the route enters Boonville and forms a triple concurrency with U.S. 40 and Route 87. All three routes together cross the Missouri River into Howard County.
Immediately after entering Howard County, Route 87 leaves the concurrency to the west, and less than a mile thereafter, U.S. 40 leaves the concurrency to the east. From there, Route 5 continues north to Fayette, in which it forms a nine-mile concurrency with Route 240 that starts with a north–south alignment, but becomes an east–west alignment after intersecting Route 3. Shortly thereafter, Route 240 leaves the concurrency to the south (ultimately heading west), and Route 5 enters Glasgow, after which it returns to a north–south alignment and enters Chariton County.
Thirteen miles to the north of the Chariton County line, Route 5 forms a five-mile east–west concurrency with U.S. 24 and enters Keytesville, where it leaves the concurrency to the north and enters Linn County 21 miles later.
After entering Linn County, Route 5 immediately passes through Marceline and forms a 12-mile east–west concurrency with U.S. 36 (proposed future Interstate 72) past Brookfield, where they intersect Route 11 together. In Laclede, the route leaves the concurrency to the north at its intersection with Route 139, and passes through Linneus before entering Sullivan County.
In Sullivan County, Route 5 forms an eight-mile concurrency with Route 6 as they bypass Milan to the south and east. Business Route 5 serves Milan directly, using an older alignment of the route, and ends north of the town where Route 6 leaves the concurrent bypass to the east. From there, Route 5 enters Putnam County 15 miles later.
Route 5 from I-44 in Lebanon to U.S. 50 in Tipton is a part of the National Highway System, a system of highways important to the nation's defense, economy, and mobility.[5]
History
As built in the original 1922 road system, the route is largely unchanged from its first path. Most of the paths bypassed are now business routes through cities.[6]
In the 1950s a section of the route in Wright, Douglas and Ozark counties between Mansfield and Gainesville was straightened and widened. At this time the city of Ava was bypassed and the old route through the center of the town became business Route 5.[7]
In 2009, a section of the route in Camdenton was rerouted onto a new four-lane highway. The old section became business Route 5.[8]
Improvements between Lebanon and Camdenton
Beginning in the summer of 2008, MoDOT began a project to convert Route 5 into a "shared four-lane" highway, with continuous passing lanes based on the European 2+1 road model,[9] between Lebanon and Camdenton. A shared four-lane road can be constructed largely within the same footprint as a two-lane road, but allows for alternating passing lanes in each direction. A number of roadways in Europe are built in this way, but Missouri is among the first to do so in the U.S., having first used the method on separate segments of US 63 and Route 37. The project was completed in 2010.[10]
U.S. Route 160 (US 160) is a 1,465-mile-long (2,358 km) east–west United States Numbered Highway in the Midwestern and Western United States. The western terminus of the route is at US 89 five miles (8.0 km) west of Tuba City, Arizona. The eastern terminus is at US 67 and Missouri 158 southwest of Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Its route, if not its number, was made famous in song in 1975, as the road from Wolf Creek Pass to Pagosa Springs, Colorado in C.W. McCall's country music song "Wolf Creek Pass".
U.S. Route 65 is a north–south United States highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 425 in Clayton, Louisiana. The northern terminus is at Interstate 35 just south of Interstate 90 in Albert Lea, Minnesota. Parts of its modern route in Iowa and historic route in Minnesota follow the old Jefferson Highway.
U.S. Route 54 is an east–west United States Highway that runs northeast–southwest for 1,197 miles (1,926 km) from El Paso, Texas, to Griggsville, Illinois. The Union Pacific Railroad's Tucumcari Line runs parallel to US 54 from El Paso to Pratt, Kansas, which comprises about two-thirds of the route.
Route 14 is a state highway traveling through the southern part of the U.S. state of Missouri. Its western terminus is at U.S. Route 60 (US 60) in Marionville, and its eastern terminus is at US 63 on the northern edge of West Plains. Route 14 is a two-lane highway for its entire length, however, there are plans to widen Route 14 in some spots.
Route 13 is a highway in Missouri which runs almost the entire north–south length of the state. Its northern terminus is at U.S. Route 69/136 in Bethany. Its southern terminus is at the Arkansas state line in downtown Blue Eye, Missouri–Arkansas where it continues as Highway 21. It is one of the original state highways of Missouri.
Route 76 is a highway in the west half of southern Missouri running between U.S. Route 60 and U.S. Route 63 at Willow Springs and the Oklahoma state line near Tiff City where it continues as a county road. It bypasses Branson on the Ozark Mountain High Road and is the namesake of the Branson strip, 76 Country Blvd. The road runs for its entirety through the Missouri Ozarks, and is at times very hilly and curvy.
Route 7 is a state highway with its northern terminus at U.S. Route 24 in northeast Independence and its southern terminus at Interstate 44 southeast of Richland. The section between Harrisonville and Clinton provides an important link for traffic between Springfield and Kansas City.
Route 95 is a highway in southern Missouri. Its northern terminus is at Route 32 at Lynchburg in Laclede County. Its southern terminus is at U.S. Route 160 at Lutie about 2.5 miles west of the Theodosia arm of Bull Shoals Lake in Ozark County.
Route 181 is a highway in southern Missouri. Its southern terminus is at US 160 in Gainesville in Ozark County. It passes through eastern Douglas County and reaches its northern terminus at Business U.S. Route 60 in Cabool in Texas County.
Route 32 is a highway in Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at the Mississippi River near Ste. Genevieve; its western terminus is at U.S. Route 54 in El Dorado Springs. It is currently one of the longest highways in the state. Most of the highway east of Lebanon is hilly and curvy, passing through a large part of the Missouri Ozarks.
Route 248 is a highway in southwestern Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at U.S. Route 65 in Branson. Its western terminus is at Route 76/Route 86/Route 112 in Cassville.
Isabella is an unincorporated community in Ozark County, Missouri, United States. It is located approximately thirteen miles west of Gainesville and two miles east of Theodosia and Bull Shoals Lake along U.S. Highway 160. Isabella has a post office with the ZIP code 65676.
Thornfield is an unincorporated community in Ozark County, Missouri, United States. It is located 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Gainesville, on Route 95 at the Little North Fork of the White River on the edge of the Mark Twain National Forest between Wasola to the northeast and Longrun to the southwest. Hammond, the site of the historic Hammond Mill, lies on the Little North Fork 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southeast of Thornfield. Thornfield has a post office with ZIP code 65762.
A total of eight special routes of U.S. Route 65 exist, divided between the U.S. states of Arkansas and Missouri. Currently, they are all business loops, although a spur route in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and bypass routes in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Springfield, Missouri both existed in the past.
Louisiana Highway 103 is a state highway in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States, that spans 39.5 miles (63.6 km) in a wide semi-circle around the north side of Opelousas. The route is not bannered but runs in an overall west–east direction from U.S. Highway 190 near Lawtell to LA 31 in Leonville. Along the way, it passes through the towns of Washington and Port Barre.
U.S. Highway 71 is a U.S. highway that runs from Krotz Springs, LA to the Fort Frances–International Falls International Bridge at the Canadian border. In Arkansas, the highway runs from the Louisiana state line near Doddridge to the Missouri state line near Bella Vista. In Texarkana, the highway runs along State Line Avenue with US 59 and partially runs in Texas. Other areas served by the highway include Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas.
Dogwood is an unincorporated community in northwestern Douglas County, Missouri, United States. It is located on Missouri Route 14, approximately 15.5 miles (24.9 km) northwest of Ava and 8.5 miles (13.7 km) southwest of Seymour. The old store building sits at the intersection of Route 14 with route BB and the Dogwood cemetery is 1,300 feet (400 m) to the west at the intersection of routes 14 and Z.
U.S. Route 54 in Missouri is a west-east highway that runs between the Kansas state line in Nevada, Missouri and the Illinois state line in Louisiana, Missouri.
U.S. Route 63 is the portion of a north-south highway that runs through the U.S. state of Missouri from the Arkansas state line near Thayer to the Iowa state line near Lancaster.
U.S. Route 60 (US 60) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs from Brenda, Arizona, east to Virginia Beach, Virginia. In the state of Missouri, US 60 is a main east–west highway that runs through the southern part of the state, from the Oklahoma border to the Illinois border.
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AR 5 at the Arkansas state line
Iowa 5 at the Iowa state line
