Illinois Route 143 is an east–west state

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

in southwestern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. Its western terminus is at

U.S. Route 67 U.S. Route 67 is a major north–south U.S. highway which extends for 1,560 miles (2,511 km) in the Central United States. The southern terminus of the route is at the United States-Mexico border in Presidio, Texas, where it continues ...

(very near, but not at the termini of

Illinois Route 100 Illinois Route 100 (IL-100) is a state highway in the southwest Illinois. It generally parallels the Illinois River. Starting in downtown Alton, it trends northward to Buckheart Township near Canton. It makes up much of the Illinois River R ...

and

Illinois Route 140 Illinois Route 140 (IL 140) is a east–west highway with its western terminus at Illinois Route 143 in Alton and its eastern terminus at U.S. Route 40 (US 40) near Mulberry Grove. It also overlaps IL 111 in Alton and IL 127 in Greenv ...

) in

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) * Alton (surname) Places Australia * Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario * Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zeala ...

. Its eastern terminus at

Illinois Route 127 Illinois Route 127 is a north–south highway in central and southern Illinois. Its southern terminus is at Illinois Route 3 near Olive Branch and its northern terminus at Interstate 55, along with the southern terminus of Illinois Route 4 ...

at a rural intersection west of Tamalco. This is a distance of .

Route description

Illinois 143

overlap Overlap may refer to: * In set theory, an overlap of elements shared between sets is called an intersection, as in a Venn diagram. * In music theory, overlap is a synonym for reinterpretation of a chord at the boundary of two musical phrases * Ove ...

Illinois Route 157 Illinois Route 157 (IL 157) is a north–south state highway in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. The southern terminus of the highway is at an intersection with IL 3 in Cahokia. The northern terminus of the h ...

and

Illinois Route 159 Illinois Route 159 is a north–south state route in southwestern Illinois. Its southern terminus is at Illinois Route 3 and Illinois Route 154 in Red Bud and its northern terminus at Illinois Route 16 in Royal Lakes. This is a distance of . ...

in Edwardsville, and

Illinois Route 160 Illinois Route 160 is a north–south highway in southwestern Illinois. Its southern terminus is at Illinois Route 15 south of Addieville, and its northern terminus is at Illinois Route 140 east of Alhambra. This is a distance of . Route ...

and

U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

. It has 4 lanes from IL 140 to just east of

Illinois Route 255 Illinois Route 255 (IL 255), also referred to as the Alton Bypass, is a northwesterly extension of Interstate 255 (I-255) in southwestern Illinois in the St. Louis metropolitan area. IL 255 starts at I-270 in Pontoon Beach an ...

, a portion from around

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois, United States. Located within the Metro East of Greater St. Louis, SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Ca ...

to Edwardsville, and briefly around

Interstate 55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The ...

in Edwardsville. The rest of the road is generally rural and has 2 lanes.

History

SBI Route 143 ran from Benton to

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

; this was replaced by

Illinois Route 34 Illinois Route 34 (IL 34) is a north–south state road in southern Illinois. It runs from a former ferry crossing to Kentucky Route 297 across the Ohio River in Rosiclare to Illinois Routes 14/ 37 in Benton. This is a distance of . R ...

when it was extended north in 1937. That same year, IL 143 was applied to a former lettered route, Illinois Route 127A from Highland to Illinois 127. In 1950, it was extended west to Edwardsville. In 1964, it was extended west again to Alton, replacing

. There have been no changes since. In 1987, the alignments of

Illinois Route 3 Illinois Route 3 (IL 3) is a major north–south arterial state highway in southwestern Illinois. It has its southern terminus at Cairo Junction (about north of Cairo, Illinois, Cairo) at the intersection of U.S. Route 51 in Illinois, U.S ...

, and Illinois Route 143 were switched to their current routes in the Alton area with the opening of the extension of the Homer M. Adams Parkway and the construction of Madison Avenue in Wood River. IL 143 was put on the new Madison Avenue alignment and routed on the Berm Highway, while IL 3 was put back on an older alignment through East Alton and the Homer Adams Parkway (later taking over the old IL 100 alignment north of Godfrey to Grafton), and IL 100 was put on then-unmarked River Road from Alton to Grafton. The old alignment of IL 143 (Alton-Edwardsville Road) became unmarked.

Major Intersections

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline 143 Transportation in Madison County, Illinois Transportation in Bond County, Illinois