Route 171 is a short highway in southwestern

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') 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 border ...

. It runs from

Interstate 49 Interstate 49 (I-49) is a north–south Interstate Highway with multiple segments. The original portion is entirely within Louisiana with an additional signed portion extending from Interstate 220 (Louisiana), I-220 in Shreveport, Louisian ...

(I-49) in

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

northwest to the

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

state line. The first ten miles are concurrent with I-49 BL.

Route description

Some (about half) of those last to Carthage, from its junction with I-49 Business at Madison Ave. in Webb City, are routed in a northeasterly direction. This results in going northeast on southbound Route 171 and vice versa along this stretch. However, I-49 Business is going more or less in its designated direction, north, in a

wrong-way concurrency Wrong way may refer to: * a traffic sign to warn of wrong-way driving * nickname of Douglas Corrigan (1907–1995), an American aviator who flew east from New York to Ireland instead of west to California in 1938 * nickname of Roy Riegels (1908–1 ...

at the same time. Also, because of this curve back to the northeast, Route 171 and Route 96 intersect each other on opposite sides of the Joplin/Webb City area. Going "southbound," Route 96 and Route 171 meet each other about two miles (3 km) north of Carl Junction and then again about two miles (3 km) west of Carthage. Route 96 maintains a straight east–west routing between these two points except at the very east end before the intersection with Route 171 and I-49 Business. At Carthage, Route 171 meets its "parent" route, US 71, along with I-49. Route 171's "southern" terminus and I-49 Business' northern terminus are here while the northern terminus of Route 571 approaches from the east. Route 96 continues through this interchange. This results in three x71's meeting in the same location.

History

Route 171 was once Route 57. That was changed when I-57 was established on the eastern side of the state. Kansas did not change K-57's number to match until 2004, when it became K-171 after it was decided to shorten K-57 because it had numerous concurrencies along its routing.

Major intersections

References

{{reflist 171 Transportation in Jasper County, Missouri U.S. Route 71