The highway that splits a cemetery and spans two nations
In short: U.S. Route 287 is one of the nation's longest three-digit highways, stretching nearly 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. It carries travelers through diverse landscapes—from the Texas Panhandle to the rugged mountains of Wyoming—and holds a unique architectural distinction in Loveland.
Spanning 1,791 miles (2,882 km), U.S. Route 287 is the second-longest three-digit U.S. Route, surpassed only by US 281. Its journey begins in Port Arthur, Texas, just five miles up the Sabine River from the Gulf of Mexico, and terminates in Choteau, Montana, about 100 miles south of the Canadian border. Yellowstone National Park divides this path into two parts, using unnamed park tracks to link the primary highway portions.
The road serves as a complex artery for regional commerce and tourism, overlapping with numerous major routes including US 87, I-45, and I-70. It has been shaped by significant legislative actions: in 2021, a section in Oklahoma was renamed to honor President Donald Trump, while a 2017 Texas bill sought to upgrade the entire route into an Interstate highway (I-47) to save $5 billion in travel costs. The road also serves as a memorial site, with sections dedicated to fallen SEAL Chris Kyle and student Gabriel David Conde.
One of its most distinct geographical features occurs in Loveland, Colorado. To bypass Loveland cemetery, US 287 branches onto Cleveland Avenue for southbound traffic and Lincoln Avenue for northbound travel. This makes it the only cemetery in the United States with a U.S. Highway physically dividing it. Despite its status as a major corridor, specific segments remain hazardous; for instance, a 30-mile stretch between Fort Collins and the Wyoming line has recorded over 570 crashes since 2019.
theme human-achievement
mood reflective difficulty ,2
topics [ transportation geography united-states
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: U.S. Route 287
- Also: Wikidata — U.S. Route 287 · CC0
- Also: Wikidata — U.S. Route 287 in Oklahoma · CC0
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