South Dakota Highway 73

Infobox road
state=SD
marker_

highway_name=Highway 73
length_mi=250
established=1926
decommissioned=
direction_a=South
starting_terminus= Nebraska border
direction_b=North
ending_terminus= Thunder Hawk
cities=Martin, Philip, Faith, Lemmon
previous_type=SD
previous_route=71
next_type=SD
next_route=75

South Dakota Highway 73 is a state route that runs across western South Dakota. It begins at the Nebraska border north of Merriman, Nebraska, as a continuation of Nebraska Highway 61. It runs to the North Dakota border, where it continues as North Dakota Highway 49. It is 250 miles (402 kilometers) in length.

History

When designated in the 1920's, South Dakota 73 only consisted of the segment from Faith (U.S. Highway 212) to Lemmon (U.S. Highway 12). The remainder of the route was unnumbered.

Around 1935, SD 73 was extended south from Faith, absorbing what had been a portion of South Dakota Highway 24 to near Plainview, then southeast via a new route to Philip. From there, it was concurrent with U.S. Highway 16 to Kadoka then southward along what had been South Dakota Highway 63. It continued south to the Nebraska border south of Martin, after sharing an alignment with U.S. Highway 18. Except for minor route straightening and a new concurrency with Interstate 90, this route has not changed since.

Around 1979, the northern terminus was extended east along U.S. 12 to Thunder Hawk, where it met up with a new road to link with ND 49.

List of Counties

South Dakota 73 currently travels through 7 counties, from south to north:
* Bennett County
* Jackson County
* Haakon County
* Ziebach County
* Meade County
* Perkins County
* Corson County

Legal Definition

The route of SD 73 is defined in South Dakota Codified Laws § 31-4-176. [http://legis.state.sd.us/statutes/DisplayStatute.aspx?Type=Statute&Statute=31-4-176]

External resources

* [http://www.northernplainshighways.org/sdakota/sd61-100.html#SD-73 South Dakota Highways Page: Highways 61-100]