End of US highway 38 |
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Summa
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1926-1931
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US 38 was among the original US routes commissioned in Nov. 1926. This description of the route is from AASHO's Apr. 1927 route log:
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US 38 was actually signposted in Nebraska before AASHO officially approved it:
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This map shows the easternmost mileage of the short-lived US 38:
c. 1927, Rand McNally
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This photo was taken looking to the north on 27th Street in Lincoln NE, approaching the intersection with "O" Street:
c. 1927, NDoR
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US 38 continued north and east of Lincoln; it ended in Omaha, as shown on these maps:
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c. 1927, National Map Co.
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c. 1931
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US 30 and US 75 came in together from Council Bluffs (east across the Missouri River). US 75 headed south on 24th Street, but US 30 continued west on Farnam Street. US 38 came in from the west on Center Street, then turned north on 36th Street. Depending whether either or both of those maps were correct, US 38 junctioned US 30 at Farnam or at Harney. This photo was looking east on Farnam. At the time it ran one-way westbound, but this segment is back to two-ways now... and at any rate, that is how it was back when US 38 existed here:
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Sanderson, June 2001
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36th goes off to the right, but was that where US 38 began... or simply where it separated from US 30? Given the timeframe, it would have been typical for the US 38 designation to extend ahead on Farnham, overlapped with US 30 perhaps to 18th Street, where the courthouse is located.
Today US 30 does not serve Omaha. US 6 does, but traffic is not routed along Farnam. Today Dodge Street is Omaha's east-west "Main Street" all the way through the city (the map above illustrates how US 30 jogged up to Dodge a little further west of 36th). US 38 apparently followed Center west to 132nd Street, then south to Millard. It probably used today's Millard Avenue to get to Q Street, which it then followed west -- probably to 204th, and then south to the town of Gretna.
From there, US 38 continued west essentially along what is now US 6: through Lincoln, Hastings, Holdredge, and McCook. Then into Colorado, serving Holyoke and Sterling (which explains the seemingly-misnumbered US 138). From Sterling, US 38 continued along the South Platte River, through Brush and Ft. Morgan. At Wiggins, instead of following the "Denver Cutoff", US 38 traffic was directed to continue alongside the Platte to Greeley, on the road that is now US 34.
Today US 30 does not serve Omaha. US 6 does, but traffic is not routed along Farnam. Today Dodge Street is Omaha's east-west "Main Street" all the way through the city (the map above illustrates how US 30 jogged up to Dodge a little further west of 36th). US 38 apparently followed Center west to 132nd Street, then south to Millard. It probably used today's Millard Avenue to get to Q Street, which it then followed west -- probably to 204th, and then south to the town of Gretna.
From there, US 38 continued west essentially along what is now US 6: through Lincoln, Hastings, Holdredge, and McCook. Then into Colorado, serving Holyoke and Sterling (which explains the seemingly-misnumbered US 138). From Sterling, US 38 continued along the South Platte River, through Brush and Ft. Morgan. At Wiggins, instead of following the "Denver Cutoff", US 38 traffic was directed to continue alongside the Platte to Greeley, on the road that is now US 34.
Research and/or photo credits: Dan Drackley; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa
Page originally created 2000;
last updated Dec. 20, 2021.
last updated Dec. 20, 2021.
