Category: Colorado

Why and how the Four Corners area US routes should be renumbered (again)

2/22/2017

It is always instructive to begin by looking at the history of highways in the area, in order to understand how and why the current situation came to be.

The early years
To this day, vast tracts of land in northern Arizona and southern Utah are miles away from any kind of paved road. But the remoteness of this area was even more pronounced back in the late 1920s, when the US routes were first commissioned. At the time, there was no road worth showing on maps between Green River and Salina UT (along today's I-70 corridor). Nor between Cortez CO and Tuba City AZ (the path of modern US 160). Nor to the south from Monticello UT (along today's US 191):

c. 1927, Rand McNally

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Historically, US 6 went through Leadville, Colorado

2/15/2017

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(updated Jan. 2020)
In 1937, when the US 6 designation was extended west from Greeley (through the rest of Colorado and all the way to Long Beach, California), Vail Pass had not yet been built. Shrine Pass existed, but there was no town of Vail, nor was there any type of road running directly between Minturn and "Wheeler" (today's Copper Mountain):

c. 1937, CDoT

Shrine Pass was not considered to be a good candidate for development into a primary state highway, so US 6 traffic was directed further south from Copper Mountain, along today's SH 91. Drivers had to go over Fremont Pass and all the way down to Leadville. There, traffic was directed north (overlapped with westbound US 24) over Tennessee Pass and up to Minturn.

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Old Colorado & Southern Railway Bridge in Denver

1/11/2017

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In 2001 construction began on Denver's "T-Rex" project (TRansportation EXpansion). This involved widening I-25 and adding light-rail service along the corridor through the south metro area. It was a great investment benefitting Denver commuters, but one unfortunate casualty was the old Colorado and Southern Railway bridge over I-25 (and unmarked US 87), just north of Evans Avenue. The rail line had not been used for years, but its bridge was a cool landmark that provided a little extra character in south Denver.

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US Highways Blog

Why and how the Four Corners area US routes should be renumbered (again)

Historically, US 6 went through Leadville, Colorado

Old Colorado & Southern Railway Bridge in Denver

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