End of US highway 371 [II]

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info below is based on the research of Robert Droz; click here to view his site. Photo credits: James Allen; David Backlin; Andy Field; Alan Hamilton; Alex Nitzman

From 1932 to 1971, there was a US 371 connecting Bemidji and Little Falls MN (today's MN hwy. 371 preserves its memory; you can read about it on this page). In 1994, the 371 designation was resurrected and applied to a completely different road. As of 2001, many maps indicated that the south end of US 371 [II] was at US 71 or US 84 in or near Coushatta LA... and as of late 2003, Mapquest and Expedia were still showing it that way. However, on his trip through the area in 2001, James observed that US 371 is actually co-signed with LA hwy. 177 all the way to I-49's interchange 162, near Evelyn. The signage below is at the offramp from southbound I-49:

Allen, May 2001

US 371 begins to the left, along LA 177 (you can see its marker in the distance). The photo below shows the exit sign from northbound I-49:

Field/Nitzman, Oct. 2003

At the end of that offramp, the road forks, and US 371 traffic is directed north, towards Evelyn:

Field/Nitzman, Oct. 2003

Taking that right turn, we find separate posts are used for the LA 177 and US 371 reassurance markers:

Field/Nitzman, Oct. 2003

The 371 marker is shown close-up below:

Field/Nitzman, Oct. 2003

Evelyn is about a mile that direction. Heading the opposite way, there was no "End" sign; only your options at I-49:

Field/Nitzman, Oct. 2003

The north end of US 371 is in DeQueen AR. It joins with US 59/US 71 in Lockesburg, and then heads north with them for about five miles to a junction with US 70. From there, all four highways are routed west on the same road to DeQueen. US 70 and US 59/71 continue out of DeQueen, but the US 371 designation ends there:

Hamilton, 2000

That's heading west on Colin Raye Drive. David reports that sign was down at the time of his visit in late 2007 (hopefully just temporarily, due to a construction project). The sign assembly up ahead, at the actual intersection with Lakeside Drive, is more informative in terms of what other routes are at this junction:

Backlin, Nov. 2007

The photo below was taken from northbound AR hwy. 41:

Backlin, Nov. 2007

There's a sign error there: it's US 59 that runs through this junction (AR 59 is a different highway, up in the northwest corner of the state). The photo below is from the opposite direction (south on Lakeside):

Backlin, Nov. 2007

US 371 begins to the left on Colin Raye, with southbound US 59/71 and eastbound US 70. The shot below was taken from eastbound Colin Raye (eastbound US 70):

Backlin, Nov. 2007

The "TO" tab there is extraneous, because US 371 begins at the light; on the far side of the intersection is the first southbound marker:

Backlin, Nov. 2007

I think that assembly must've been jostled around a bit during construction; here's how it used to look:

Hamilton, 2000