End of US highway 550

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: James Allen; me
Additional research: Francis Stanton

Approx. time period North terminus South terminus
1926-1934 Montrose, CO Durango, CO
1934-1989 Montrose, CO Shiprock, NM
1989-1999 Montrose, CO Farmington, NM
1999-present Montrose, CO Bernalillo, NM

The north end of US 550 has been in Montrose CO since the US highway system was implemented in 1926. The map below illustrates the highway configuration there:

I'm told that until about 1936, US 550 traffic was not directed south on Townsend Avenue - rather, it began by heading west on Main Street (along today's CO hwy. 90), and then south on Chipeta Road, which joins modern US 550 after about three miles. The Colorado DoT does not have an "End US 550" sign posted at its terminus on northbound Townsend, but the photos below show the signage that does appear there:

me, Sep. 1999

Shortly after that photo was taken, Black Canyon became a National Park; the signage has been changed accordingly:

me, Aug. 2003

US 50 makes a right angle at the intersection - today US 550 ends here, but originally it began to the west (left on Main). The photo below shows the signage as one approaches the intersection from the west on CO 90 (Main):

me, Sep. 1999

(If you're curious how "Ouray" is pronounced, click here). That's the perspective from a driver at the original north end of US 550, but now it begins to the right. The photos below show yet another view of approach signage for the intersection where US 550 begins: this is coming from the east on Main (US 50):

me, Aug. 2003

The Uncompahgre Plateau is visible on the horizon; the signage on the stoplight at the intersection itself (visible one block ahead) is shown below:

me, Sep. 1999

Until 1936, US 550 began straight ahead, but now it begins to the left.

US 550 runs north/south in Colorado, and as you can see in the photos above, it's signed that way too (despite its east/west number). US 550 has always been essentially a north/south route: it branches off US 50, and its original south terminus was at US 450 in Durango CO. Those were the only two US routes with which it connected, so there was no logical north/south (odd) number that could've been assigned to US 550. In 1934 the designation was extended through Aztec and Farmington NM, and it ended at Shiprock for the next 50-plus years. However, this change still didn't provide an opportunity to renumber US 550 as a north/south branch, because the north/south route at which it ended (US 666) was also misnumbered as an east/west route! In 1989 the US 550 designation was cut back to Farmington (when its former route to Shiprock became an extension of US 64). You can click any of the links in this paragraph to get more info and to view photos from these historic endpoints.

Until recently, US 550 went southwest out of Aztec, ending in Farmington. But in 1998 or 1999, New Mexico removed the US 550 designation from the highway between Farmington and Aztec - that road is now NM 516. Today US 550 goes south from Aztec to Bloomfield, and then along former NM 44 through Cuba, all the way down to I-25's exit 242 at Bernalillo NM (just north of Albuquerque). Presumably NM 44 was signed as an east/west route (at least around Bernalillo), and that's probably why US 550 is signed east/west in that area too (but I don't know whether it changes to north/south elsewhere in New Mexico).

To my knowledge, there's never been an "End" sign in Bernalillo. But if you continue east of the I-25 interchange, all you'll see are signs for NM 165 - implying, one must assume, that US 550 has ended. The photo below was taken from northbound I-25:

me, June 2006

If you take that exit, you'll see the sign shown below, mounted on the stop light:

me, June 2006

Obviously US 550 begins to the left. Heading the opposite direction (south on I-25), exit signage looks like this:

me, June 2006

There you can see how the old NM 44 marker was greened out and replaced with a US 550 shield. If you exit there and turn right, you'll soon see a confirming assembly:

me, June 2006

That's different than what was there in 2000, shortly after US 550 was extended... the route used to be co-signed with NM 44, as you can see below:

Allen, 2000

Also, at the intersection with Camino del Pueblo (old US 85), there is no longer any mention of NM 313. The photo below (taken from northbound Camino del Pueblo), shows more signage that was gone by 2006:

Allen, 2000

Since NM DoT has decommissioned US 85 in their state, US 550 still doesn't connect with any north/south US routes. It's destined to remain one of the surprisingly few US routes that defy the concept of number-direction parity.