Route 143 is a short

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in southern

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. The route starts at

Missouri Route 34 Route 34 is a highway in southeastern Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at the Illinois state line on the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau Cape Girardeau ( , french: Cap-Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Gir ...

near

Patterson Patterson may refer to: People * Patterson (surname) Places ;Canada * Pattersons Corners, Ontario *Patterson Township, Ontario *Patterson, Calgary a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta. ;United States of America * Patterson, Arkansas *Patterson, C ...

, and it travels north through Sam A. Baker State Park. North of the park, Route 143 turns westwards and ends at Route 49 at Des Arc. The road that became part of Route 143 was constructed around 1934, as a supplemental route traveling east from Des Arc. Four years later, a new state route, Route 101, was constructed from Route 34 to the state park, and it was renumbered to Route 143 in 1941. By 1964, a new supplemental route connected the two routes. The two supplemental routes were merged into Route 143 around six years later.

Route description

Route 143 is located in northern Wayne and southern

Iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

counties. In 2016, the

Missouri Department of Transportation The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT, ) is a state government organization in charge of maintaining public roadways of the U.S. state of Missouri under the guidance of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. MoDOT designs, ...

(MoDOT) calculated 672 vehicles, including 46 trucks, traveling on the route north of Route 34. The route starts at Route 34 east of Patterson, and it crosses Clark Creek at County Road 312 (CRD 312) as it travels north. Past Logan Creek, Route 143 turns northeastwards towards Sam A. Baker State Park. The road travels along Big Creek, intersecting entrances to the state park's campground and visitor center, and then it crosses the creek. Northeast of CRD 318, Route 143 turns northwestwards and westwards near CRD 319. The road crosses Crane Pond Creek west of CRD 321. The route enters Iron County past Brunot. Inside the county, Route 143 continues traveling through a forested rural area. The road briefly turns south between CRD 162 and CRD 163, before turning west and paralleling Big Creek. Route 143 crosses the creek again near CRD 160 and enters Des Arc at CRD 167. The route ends at a

T-intersection A three-way junction (or three-way intersection) is a type of road intersection with three arms. A Y junction (or Y intersection) generally has three arms of equal size coming at an acute or obtuse angle to each other; while a T junction (or T ...

with Route 49 on the northern side of the village.

History

Around 1934, a gravel road that extended several miles eastwards from Route 49 in Des Arc was designated as Route N. By 1937, another gravel road from Route 34 to Sam A. Baker State Park was constructed and designated as Route 101. Route N was extended to the Iron–Wayne county line by 1940. The road was renumbered to Route 143 by 1941, and the Route 101 designation was reused for another highway in

Ozark The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portio ...

and

Howell Howell may refer to: Places In the United Kingdom *Howell, Lincolnshire, England In the United States *Howell, Georgia * Howell, Evansville, a neighborhood of Evansville, Indiana *Howell, Michigan *Howell, Missouri *Howell, Utah *Howell Cou ...

counties. In late May of that year, a project to pave the entirety of Route 143 in oil aggregate treatment was announced. The work was completed by 1942. Route 143 was extended northwards further into the park by 1955, and Route N was paved in asphalt by 1958. A new gravel road, Route NN, connected Routes 143 and N by 1964, after it was proposed in 1961. Route NN was paved by 1968, and Route 143 replaced Routes N and NN by 1970, with its northern terminus at Route 49.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=title,inline 143 Transportation in Wayne County, Missouri Transportation in Iron County, Missouri