Historic US highway endpoint in South Sioux City, NE
1927-1965
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Today, neither US 20 nor US 77 follow the original highway routes through South Sioux City. Originally westbound US 20 crossed the Missouri River from Sioux City IA and continued due south through South Sioux City on Dakota Avenue (today's Business 20). At 28th Street, US 20 turned west, eventually angling southwest and joining modern US 20 at a point southwest of town. But if a traveler were to continue south of 28th on Dakota, they would have been at the north beginning of US 77:
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c. 1927, Rand McNally
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That lasted only a few years, but not long after the US 77 designation had been extended further north to Minnesota, the north end of US 73 was extended up to South Sioux City:
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c. 1939, Rand McNally
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Looking at a modern map of the area, one could easily conclude that US 20, 73, and 77 must have converged at 29th and Dakota. And this early inset map suggests that too:
c. 1952, Iowa DOT
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But look closely: note how that map indicated that the railroad crossed Dakota just to the south of 29th, allowing US 20 to avoid a RR crossing. As it turns out, that map was a bit oversimplified: actually that RR crossing is just to the north of 29th. So in order for US 20 traffic to avoid a rail crossing, it would have had to use 28th Street, which is a diagonal running along the north side of the tracks. This 1959 map spelled that out more clearly:
c. 1959, Iowa DOT
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So US 73's endpoint was actually at 28th and Dakota, anc this was the case for over 30 years. Here we are looking south on Dakota at 28th. Westbound US 20 turned to the right here, and the north beginning of US 77 (and later US 73) was straight ahead:
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Hancock/Morrison, June 2005
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 This photo was taken from the opposite direction (north on Dakota), which was the original north end of US 77, and later the north end of US 73. Westbound US 20 was to the left, and eastbound was straight ahead:
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Hancock/Morrison, June 2005
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Next we are looking east on 28th. This was the perspective of eastbound US 20, which continued to the left on Dakota. US 77 and US 73 historically began to the right:
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Hancock/Morrison, June 2005
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It is possible that Nebraska stopped signing US 73 north of Winnebago as early as 1965, although that truncation was not approved by AASHO until 1971. However, Iowa DOT insets continued to show US 73 in South Sioux City for the next several years, including the years when the first segments of the west side bypass began to open to traffic:
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c. 1976, Iowa DOT
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So even though that map indicates that US 73 extended up to the new US 20, it appears that by the time that bypass had been built, the US 73 designation had actually already been truncated to Winnebago (more on the main US 73 page).
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Research and/or photo credits: Dan Drackley; Jason Hancock; Jeff Morrison; Dale Sanderson
Page originally created 2000;
last updated Mar. 10, 2019.
last updated Mar. 10, 2019.
