End of US highway 34

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: me
Additional research: Jeff Morrison

Approx. time period East terminus West terminus
1926-1934 Sheffield, IL Council Bluffs, IA
1934-1935 Chicago, IL Council Bluffs, IA
1935-1939 Chicago, IL Grand Island, NE
1939-1960s (?) Chicago, IL Granby, CO
1960s (?)-present Berwyn, IL Granby, CO

US 34 was an original 1926 route, but it ran only from historic US 32 in Sheffield IL to Council Bluffs IA. The photo below is looking north at the intersection where US 34 joins US 6; Sheffield is about a half-mile to the right:

me, June 2001

Back in the early 1930s, it was US 32 running across this photo instead of US 6, and US 34 ended here. The shot below is looking west on US 6/US 34 at the same intersection. This used to be US 32, and the east beginning of US 34 was to the left.

me, June 2001

At the time, US 34's west end was in Council Bluffs IA; you can view photos from there on this page.

I have a 1933 map that shows the east end of US 32 in Chicago. It's shown on Ogden Avenue: past Harlem Avenue, past Jackson Blvd, going all the way up to Lake Shore Drive (US 12/US 41) at Diversey Parkway. It was the very next year (1934) that US 34 was extended east to Chicago, eliminating that portion of US 32. So it's possible that the original east end of US 34 in Chicago was at Lincoln Park area (see my US 32 page page for photos). Otherwise, it could be that the northeastern part of Ogden was removed from the US highway system in 1934. If so, then US 34 would've stayed with US 66 (off Ogden at the Jackson/Adams pair, ending at Michigan Avenue downtown). Regardless, that's the way it was for most of its existence in Chicago; you can view photos of that location (as well as the map mentioned above) on my US 66 page.

In 1936 the west end of US 34 was extended to Grand Island NE. It's possible that the photo below shows the former west end of US 34. We're looking west on US 34/NE hwy. 2 (Husker Highway) at the Locust Street intersection:

me, June 2001

Today US 281 is routed on a newer bypass about 2 miles ahead - but before that was built, US 281 was on Locust. So US 34 could've ended here - but I think it's more likely that it turned right with 281 for about 2 miles, ending downtown at its junction with US 30. The photo below, then, is looking east on First Street downtown (US 30). The next intersection is Walnut Street, and I'm guessing the west beginning of US 34 was to the right:

me, June 2001

Below is an enlargement of the signage:

me, June 2001

Walnut curves into Locust a few blocks to the right. Anyway, it doesn't matter much, because the west end of US 34 was extended again three years later...

...in 1939, the west end of US 34 was extended to its current terminus: at its junction with US 40, on the outskirts of Granby CO. You can view photos from there on this page.

Sometime between 1967-1974, the US 34 designation was removed from downtown Chicago and truncated back to the intersection where it split from US 66. You can view photos from Berwyn on this page.