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| Roadside memorial on Highway 83, Seward County, Kansas |
It’s
not uncommon to be driving along Highway 83 and to spot a roadside memorial
with plastic flowers — and perhaps a wreath — marking where a deadly accident
took place.
Friends
and families place these memorials at the last place on Earth where their loved
ones were alive. In South Dakota, the state places permanent “Think” signs at
these spots when driving while under the influence, or without a seatbelt, are
involved.
On
my travels, I have sometimes pulled over to take pictures of these memorials,
shaken off the prairie dust, put that vases upright and wondered about what
happened there.
While
I love Highway 83, these roadside markers are a constant reminder that it is a
place of heartbreak for some.
I
have kicked around the idea for this column for eight years, but never gotten
around to writing it. I decided that it was time. That’s because Highway 83
made national news the other week, and for all the wrong reasons. Thirteen
people lost their lives when a truck slammed into a van driving home elderly
members of a church in Texas’ Hill Country. It is alleged that the driver of
the truck was texting at the time.
The
week before, some poor soul on the road between Anson, Texas, and Abilene
decided that life was no longer worth living. He got out of his car and walked
into a semi in an apparent suicide.
Since
I have the search terms “Highway 83” set on Google, I see all of these
tragedies on this road in my news feed. There are sadly, too many to mention in
this column.
As
someone who has kept tabs on this over the years, I urge everyone to be
especially careful on Highway 83 from Interstate 70 on south through Garden
City and Liberal. Locals have been asking lawmakers in Topeka for years to
improve this dangerous stretch of road. But their pleas have fallen on deaf
ears. The number of 18-wheelers and cars on this hazardous stretch is growing
and it’s a crying shame nothing has been done about it.
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| Hughes County, South Dakota |
Highway
83 from Laredo south to where the expressway begins near Mission was also once
notorious, but I was glad to see that improvements were being made to the road
the last time I passed through in December 2015.
Making
a road wider isn’t always a guarantee that it will be safer, though. I was in
the emergency room at a hospital in Bismarck (for a non-life threatening case
of poison ivy, not an accident). The ER nurse, after hearing about my project,
told me that they saw a lot of car-wreck survivors from the four-lane section
of Highway 83 that runs from Minot to Bismarck. That surprised me. The fact
that drivers are allowed make left turns onto side roads was the culprit, she
said. They go to make a turn and don’t see or misjudge oncoming traffic. They
lucky ones make it to her.
Tragedy
struck my extended family as well when a cousin driving under the influence of
prescription painkillers on Highway 83 north of North Platte wrecked the car,
killing her daughter and causing severe injury to her granddaughter.
Depressing.
But Highway 83 is no different in these regards than any other road. Last year
marked the highest death toll recorded on America’s roads in more than a decade
with about 40,000 losing their lives in accidents. Overlooked are those who
suffered serious injuries in car accidents: 4.6 million over the course of 12
months, according to the National Safety Council.
But
I see other stories in my newsfeed. Some are more heartening.
The
first was September 22, 2009, when Jennie Goodwin was rushing to the hospital
in Minot with her birth coach behind the wheel, according to the Minot Daily
News. Her daughter Mollie made her appearance on Highway 83. The official birth
took place in the hospital parking lot.
A
pregnant Sheila Nobles was traveling with family from Orange, Texas, to North
Platte. Nebraska on December 2, 2010, but had the OK from her doctor to make
the trip because her due date was still a ways off, according to the North
Platte Telegraph. She started having abdominal cramps when they crossed the
Nebraska border. By the time they reached Prairie Mart south of North Platte,
the pain became unbearable and her mother pulled over. While in the restroom,
Sheila became incapacitated. Her mother got the key from the store manager and entered
in time to catch the baby falling out. She named the girl Isabella.
Lynda
Oldenkamp approached me after I gave a presentation about Highway 83 in Sioux
Falls, South Dakota. She was born on Highway 83 in 1948.
She
later emailed me details of the story: “I was born in the
back seat of an uncle’s car on December 20, 1948 on the way from Murdo to the
Pierre hospital. My folks’ car was broken down so they had planned to use
my uncle’s car when it was time to get to the hospital in Pierre.
“It was Saturday night when I decided
to start the labor pains, and my dad had to go find my uncle who had gone out
for the night with his car so that delayed their start to Pierre. They/we
didn’t make it and had to stop about 18 miles south of Pierre on the
older/original road for the delivery.”
And that is life and death on Highway 83.
Stew Magnuson is the author of the Highway 83 Chronicles, a series of three books about history and life found along U.S. Route 83. The final book, The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas was released in March 2017 and follows The Last American Highway: The Dakotas, and The Last American Highway: Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma, edition.
All three are available ONLINE or in bookstores and gift shops along Highway 83.
For signed copies or retail opportunities contact him HERE.
