End of US highway 26 |
1926-1948
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1948-1952
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1952-2003
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2003-present
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The east end of US 26 has always been in Ogallala... not many US highways have eastern ends that far west. The "North Platte" and "South Platte" rivers join to form simply the "Platte" River near the city of "North Platte". By the time the two rivers reach that point, they have been flowing parallel to each other for a remarkable distance... and all the while averaging maybe only five miles apart. Not until the vicinity of Ogallala -- about 50 miles upstream (west) from North Platte -- do the two rivers finally diverge:
To the left is a newer viaduct connecting to the I-80 interchange. Until recently, westbound US 26 continued to the right on one-way "A" Street (it was about 2000 when US 26/NE 61 traffic was co-signed with US 30 ahead to a new bypass west of town). Eastbound US 26 came from the right on the next block ahead (Spruce Street), turned this direction, and continued off to the left. But before I-80 was here, the west beginning of US 26 was to the right on Spruce (which formerly ran both directions). To the left (south of US 30) was designated NE 61, and Spruce crossed the railroad at-grade. It still does, but originally it continued further south via its own bridge across the South Platte, and it connected with today's NE 61 alignment south of I-80. This shot was looking south on Spruce:
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For the most part, US 185 followed what is now WY hwy. 320 north from Wheatland. However, just shy of the junction with US 26, today's WY 320 veers to the northeast (along what was the southeast segment of the "Y" junction shown on the 1940 map above). US 185 continued on a northwesterly angle, aligning with Pepper Road, which is still drivable north of US 26. This photo was looking north on historic US 185:
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Behind the camera, this road now dead-ends (but historically it connected with WY 320). The view ahead shows how it aligns with (but no longer directly connects with) Pepper Rd. That was formerly US 185, and later US 87 (notice the raised roadbed). The suv has just reached the historic west end of US 26, and is turning north on old US 185-87. (Today Pepper Rd. connects with I-25 at exit 94.) Here we are looking west on US 26 at the junction with WY 320:
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That is where Pepper Rd. cuts across, so US 26 ended at that junction. After I-25 was built, US 26 was extended straight ahead to that interchange (those are the Laramie Mountains prominent on the horizon). But before that happened, the US 26 designation had already been extended to Alpine WY in 1948. This extension added over 400 miles to the length of US 26, but only 58 of those miles were along highways that were not already part of other US routes (illustrating Wyoming's penchant for overlapping US routes for unusually long distances). A few years later US 26 was extended west again, this time to Idaho Falls. And the following year (1952) the west end of US 26 was extended again, this time to Astoria. In 2003 Oregon eliminated US 26's multiplex with US 101, such that its west end is now at a place some maps label "Cannon Beach Jct" (which is a few miles south of Seaside). These photos were looking west on US 26 at what is now its west terminus:
Research and/or photo credits: Chris Elbert; Tom Grier; Mark Long; Gail Marion; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa
Page originally created 2000;
last updated Oct. 7, 2020.
last updated Oct. 7, 2020.