Historic west end of US highway 14 at Philip Jct. SD
View a map showing this route.
Photo credits: me
Originally US 14 ended at a lonely junction with historic US 16 outside Philip SD. The photos below show that spot as of March 2004; this first one is looking south on today's SD hwy. 73:
That's about 5 miles south of Philip, at an intersection which on some maps is marked as "Philip Junction". That was the original west end of US 14 - straight ahead was eastbound US 16, and westbound US 16 was to the right. Below we're looking the opposite direction:
You can just make out a "North SD 73" marker on the right edge. Westbound US 16 continued to the left here, while US 14 began straight ahead. My DeLorme atlas makes it look like old US 16 west from here is a good quality road, but that's not what I observed on location:
That's looking west; the yellow center stripe in the foreground is on SD 73 (US 16 was to the left and straight ahead; US 14 was to the right). You can see the raised roadbed - evidence that the road once served as a highway. But you can also see that it's in pretty lousy condition now - I wouldn't have attempted it in anything less than a sturdy 4WD. I almost wonder if the county intentionally roughed up this segment just to discourage travel - the road sign was decaying in the borrow ditch along the right side:
Here's what old US 16 looked like heading the opposite direction (east):
Eastbound US 16 continued to the right, and US 14 began to the left.
For the full history of US 14's endpoints, please view this page.