| Country: | USA |
| Type: | US |
| Route: | 63 |
| Map Custom: | yes |
| Map Notes: | US 63 highlighted in red |
| Length Mi: | 1286 |
| Established: | [1] |
| Direction A: | South |
| Direction B: | North |
| Terminus A: | at Ruston, LA |
| Junction: |
|
| Terminus B: | west of Ashland, WI |
| States: | Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin |
| Previous Type: | US |
| Previous Route: | 62 |
| Next Type: | US |
| Next Route: | 64 |
U.S. Route 63 (US 63) is a 1286miles, north–south United States Highway primarily in the Midwestern and Southern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at Interstate 20 (I-20) in Ruston, Louisiana; the northern terminus is at US 2 8miles west of Ashland, Wisconsin.
See main article: U.S. Route 63 in Louisiana. US 63 runs concurrently with US 167 for its entire route in Louisiana, from Ruston north, to Junction City, at the Arkansas state line, a distance of 35miles.
See main article: U.S. Route 63 in Arkansas. U.S. 63 enters into Arkansas from Louisiana concurrent with US 167 in Junction City. Just a few miles into the state, the two highways run on the eastern edge of El Dorado as an expressway. US 167 splits here, traveling towards Hampton. US 63 bypasses the town of Warren, crossing US 278. US 63 passes through the rural Cleveland County, then enters into Jefferson County.In Jefferson County, US 63 serves the city of Pine Bluff. US 63 bypasses the city, running on the last 3 miles of I-530. Also in Pine Bluff, the highway overlaps with US 65 and US 79. US 63 runs northeast with US 79 until Stuttgart, where the highway runs north to Hazen. Just north of Hazen, US 63 overlaps with I-40 to Brinkley. In Brinkley, US 63 begins an overlap with US 49 north to Jonesboro. US 63 leaves US 49 and follows I-555 until I-555 terminates, together serving as a bypass for southern Jonesboro. In Hoxie, US 63 intersects with US 67 (Future I-57). Northwest of here near Portia the highway overlaps with US 412.
In Imboden US 62 joins this overlap. In Hardy, US 63 leaves the two highways. In Mammoth Spring, US 63 crosses into Missouri, traveling to West Plains.
While historically there were many non-concurrencies on US 63, many of those have been resolved. In 2016, US 63 from Jonesboro (including its original US 49 concurrency from Red Wolf Blvd. to Southwest Drive) to Turrell was designated as I-555. As a result, US 63 was rerouted to run concurrently with US 49 from Brinkley to Jonesboro. US 63 then runs concurrently with I-555 until it ends west of Jonesboro, where it then continues northwest alone to its concurrency with US 412 at Portia, just northwest of Walnut Ridge.
See main article: U.S. Route 63 in Missouri. The highway passes south-to-north through Missouri, from Arkansas to Iowa, serving cities such as Rolla, Jefferson City, Columbia, Moberly, Macon, and Kirksville. Notable routes that are intersected include US 60 in Howell County, I-44 at Rolla, US 50 (with which it shares a concurrency into Jefferson City south of the Missouri River until it reaches the junction with US 54), US 54 (which it overlaps in Jefferson City from the junction with US 50 and crosses the Missouri River with on the Jefferson City Bridge), I-70 at Columbia, US 24 at Moberly, US 36 at Macon, and US 136 at Lancaster.
US 63 in Missouri was Route 7 from 1922 to 1926.
See main article: U.S. Route 63 in Iowa. US 63 passes south-to-north through Iowa. It enters the state from Missouri south of Bloomfield. Between Ottumwa and Oskaloosa, the highway overlaps Iowa Highway 163. This segment is an expressway which connects Des Moines with Burlington, with freeway bypasses of Ottumwa and Eddyville. Near Malcom, US 63 meets I-80. Only a few miles later, it joins US 6 westbound for several miles near Grinnell, then goes north again. At Toledo, it intersects US 30 and at Waterloo, US 63 meets US 20. An expressway section opened in October 2012, completing the four-lane link between Waterloo and New Hampton.[2] The highway enters Minnesota just north of Chester.
See main article: U.S. Route 63 in Minnesota. US 63 enters Minnesota from Iowa south of Spring Valley. After meeting I-90, US 63 serves the local airport and then intersects with US 52. In this area, US 63 is an expressway, but plans are to upgrade the highway to a freeway between Stewartville and the US 52 interchange. North of Rochester, the highway meets US 61 at Lake City. From there, the two routes run concurrently to Red Wing, where US 63 turns north and crosses the Mississippi River to enter Wisconsin over the Eisenhower Bridge.
The Minnesota section of US 63 is defined as Routes 59 and 161 in Minnesota Statutes §§ 161.114(2) and 161.115(92).[3] [4]
US 63 enters Wisconsin south of Hager City. Near Baldwin, US 63 intersects I-94. The highway briefly overlaps near Spooner with US 53. At Trego, they separate and US 63 runs southwest to northeast, passing through Hayward and Cable most notably, and ending near Ashland at US 2. According to a 2013 law, the road is referred to as the "Gaylord Nelson Highway" throughout Wisconsin.[5]
Though US 63 as a stand-alone highway had always ended at Turrell, Arkansas, before the 1999 extension, in the past it was concurrent with US 61/US 64/US 70/US 79 (and later I-55) on into Memphis, Tennessee, over the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge. Unlike the 1999 extension, this concurrency to Memphis was generally in line with the rest of US 63. Though some maps continued to show this concurrency until 1999, Arkansas had not recognized US 63 south of Turrell for many years, since at least the 1960s.
See main article: Special routes of U.S. Route 63.
