Montana Highway 200 (MT 200) in the U.S. state of

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

is a route running east–west covering the entire state of Montana. From the starting point at ID 200, near Heron, the highway runs east to

ND 200 North Dakota Highway 200 (ND 200) is a major east–west state highway in North Dakota, United States. It runs from Minnesota State Highway 200 at the Minnesota border near Halstad, Minnesota to Montana Highway 200 near Fairview, Montana. At ...

near Fairview. It is part of a chain of state highways numbered 200 that extend from

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

across Montana,

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

, and

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, totaling approximately long. At , Montana Highway 200 is also the longest route signed as a state highway in the United States. Highway 200 helps to connect many small towns located in central Montana and the vast plains area of eastern Montana, to larger

western Montana Western Montana is the western region of the U.S. state of Montana. The most restrictive definition limits western Montana only to the parts of the state west of the Continental Divide. Other common definitions add in the mountainous areas east ...

cities such as Great Falls and

Missoula Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...

Route description

At its western end at the

state line, MT 200 follows the Clark Fork River at the feet of the

Cabinet Mountains The Cabinet Mountains are part of the Rocky Mountains, located in northwest Montana and the Idaho panhandle, in the United States. The mountains cover an area of 2,134 square miles (5,527 km2). The Cabinet Mountains lie south of the Purcell M ...

eastward for until it meets the

Flathead River The Flathead River ( fla, label= Salish, člq̓etkʷ ntx̣ʷetkʷ, , kut, kananmituk), in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Montana, originates in the Canadian Rockies to the north of Glacier National Park and flows southwest into Fla ...

at MT 135. It then follows the Flathead River east for to Dixon where the Flathead River turns north. MT 200 continues east following the Jocko River for and borders the

Bison Range The Bison Range (BR) is a nature reserve on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana established for the conservation of American bison. Formerly called the National Bison Range, the size of the bison herd at the BR is 350 adult bison ...

until it intersects with US 93 at Ravalli. The two highways share a concurrency and travel south I-90, where they head east into

. MT 200 follows I-90 through Missoula for , with US 93 departing and US 12 joining the route along the way, leaving the interstate near Milltown. The highway runs parallel to the Blackfoot River and is subject to hazardous driving conditions in the winter, particularly due to

black ice Black ice, sometimes called clear ice, is a thin coating of glaze ice on a surface, especially on streets. The ice itself is not black, but visually transparent, allowing the often black road below to be seen through it. The typically low level ...

. From I-90, the road travels east to

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

, and another where it crosses Rogers Pass on the Continental Divide. It continues east for to Bowman's Corner where it intersects US 287, and then another to Sun River where it merges with US 89. The two highways travel for east to I-15 near Vaughn, where they join the interstate and travel south for to Great Falls. In Great Falls, MT 200 and US 89 leave I-15, where they become concurrent with MT 3, share a brief concurrency with I-315 (I-15 Business), and merge with US 87, following 10th Avenue South eastward through the city. The four routes of US 87, US 89, MT 3, and MT 200 share a concurrency from Great Falls to Armington Junction (near

Belt Belt may refer to: Apparel * Belt (clothing), a leather or fabric band worn around the waist * Championship belt, a type of trophy used primarily in combat sports * Colored belts, such as a black belt or red belt, worn by martial arts practit ...

), where US 89 heads south and the three remaining routes continue east for . At Eddie's Corner (near Moore), the routes meet US 191 where MT 3 and US 191 share a common alignment to

Harlowton Harlowton is a city in and the county seat of Wheatland County, Montana, United States. The population was 955 at the 2020 census. Description The city was once the eastern terminus of electric operations (1914–74) for the "Pacific Extension ...

. US 87, US 191, and MT 200 share a concurrency to Lewistown, where US 191 heads north, and US 87/MT 200 continue another to Grass Range. At Grass Range, MT 200 and US 87 end their concurrency and MT 200 continues east for to MT 59 in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. MT 200 continues east to

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...

where it intersects MT 13 and MT 200S (an auxiliary route that connects MT 200 with Glendive). It continues east until it intersects MT 16 and MT 23, where MT 16 and MT 200 head north into Sydney and share a concurrency. MT 200 leaves Sydney and travels northeast for to Fairview, where it turns east and crosses into

. MT 200 follows the following MDT corridors:

History

Today's Highway 200 is part of a four-state chain of such routes, but it did not begin that way. It was assembled from other state and federal routes over the years. The status of the routes and route segments that became Highway 200 in 1937. * The section from the Idaho line to Ravalli was the original MT 3. * No concurrency from Ravalli to Missoula on US 93 or US 10. * The section from Bonner to Sun River was then MT 20, and much was yet to be constructed. The route even followed segments of today's MT 21 to Augusta and future US 287 (then MT 33). * No concurrency from Sun River to Grass Range along US 87. * The section from Grass Range to Circle was part of the original MT 18. * The remainder of MT 18 ran from Circle to Glendive, today's MT 200S. * The section from Circle to Sidney was Montana 23, ending at then MT 14. * MT 14 ran the rest of the way to Fairview. By 1941, US 10 Alternate (US 10A) had replaced MT 3 as part of an alternate route from Wye to

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

via Sandpoint and was now concurrent with US 93 to US 10. Between 1948 and 1959, many construction projects and route redesignations with concurrencies made MT 20 from Bonner to Sidney the baseline for today's MT 200. MT 23N replaced MT 14 from Sidney to Fairview and MT 20S replaced MT 18 from Circle to Glendive. In 1960, MT 20 picked up the Sidney to Fairview segment. By 1969, the entire MT 20 had become MT 200 and included the former US 10A from Idaho to Wye, and following US 10/93 through Missoula. MT 20S became 200S.

Major junctions

Related route

Montana Highway 200S (MT 200S) is a spur route of MT 200 that branches off the main route near

and ends at the I-94 business loop in Glendive. MT 200S was originally part of MT 18, renamed MT 20S when MT 23 from Circle to Sidney was renamed MT 20 and received its current name when MT 20 was renamed MT 200. In the state road log, MT 200S picks up the mileposts from route N-57 (C000057) from mileposts 279.109 to 323.472, for a total of . Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
Historical Highway Maps from MDT