US 75 highlighted in red | ||||
Route information | ||||
Maintained by NDOT | ||||
Length | 187.54 mi[1] (301.82 km) | |||
Existed | 1926–present | |||
Tourist routes | ![]() | |||
Major junctions | ||||
South end | ![]() | |||
North end | ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
Location | ||||
Country | United States | |||
State | Nebraska | |||
Counties | Richardson, Nemaha, Otoe, Cass, Sarpy, Douglas, Washington, Burt, Thurston, Dakota | |||
Highway system | ||||
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U.S. Route 75 (US 75) was a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs for 1,239 miles (1,994 km) from Dallas, Texas to Kittson County, Minnesota where it ends just short of the Canada–United States border. Within the State of Nebraska it is a state highway that enters Nebraska on the Kansas state line about 9 miles (14 km) south of Dawson and travels north across the extreme eastern portion of the state, to the Nebraska–Iowa border in South Sioux City where it crosses the Missouri River along a concurrency with Interstate 129. The northern 210 miles (340 km) of the route generally travels parallel to the Missouri River. The 87.32-mile (140.53 km) section between the I-680 interchange in Omaha and the Interstate 129 interchange is designated the Lewis & Clark Scenic Byway, one of nine scenic byways in the state.[1][2]
The travel corridor along the Missouri River in Nebraska has always been an important thoroughfare. It was the primary exploration route taken by the Lewis and Clark Expedition as they traveled up the Missouri River in 1804. There are several locations along the US 75 corridor that feature former campsite locations of the expedition. Other cities and towns along the corridor were starting points for travelers and freight headed west on the Oregon Trail. US 75 was one of the original U.S. highways from the initial 1926 plan, however its route has gone through dramatic changes throughout its lifetime. Prior to 1984, the highway left the state in Omaha as it traveled east through the city along the present-day I-480/US 6 corridor across the Missouri River into Iowa. In 1984, with the completion of Interstate 29 in Iowa, a series of transfers between Iowa and Nebraska brought the US 75 designation from the I-29 corridor into Nebraska from Omaha north to replace the routing of US 73 which was truncated back to Dawson at the same time.[3]