Historic US highway endpoints in and near Crescent Jct. UT
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1927-1983
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First of all, it is necessary to understand that US 50 did not originally follow the same route as I-70 through Crescent Junction:
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c. 1927, Clasons
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c. 1927, Rand McNally
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Notice how there was a fairly pronounced jog in US 50 west of "Thompsons" (now known as Thompson Springs), going through Valley City, the site of a land development project named for its promoters (the Valley City Company in Indianapolis). At the time, Valley City was situated at a pretty important location, marking the junction of east-west US 50 and north-south US 450. The site is about 5 miles south of Crescent Jct (I-70 exit 180); this interactive image is looking north on US 191:
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Off to the left was the original route of US 50, heading west towards Green River. Eastbound US 50 was ahead along 191 for about a half-mile, but then it veered to the right along another gravel road that leads directly to Thompson. So US 450 followed today's US 191 up to that point, ending there at its junction with US 50.
It was probably about 1930 when US 50 was realigned along a more direct route between Thompson and Green River (essentially the same route used by I-70 today), which bypasses Valley City about 5 miles to the north. US 450 was then extended north to the new US 50: |
c. 1934, Gousha/Conoco
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US 50 was shown along the new route (although the old route through Valley City was still shown as well), and the junction with US 450 had been relocated to Crescent Jct. That realignment in itself probably would have been enough to eventually wipe Valley City off the map... but things got even worse. Some maps still show a "Valley City Reservoir" nearby, but actually that has not existed for decades -- repeated flooding caused the dam to fail, and the entire settlement was abandoned in the late 1930s (by then, the US 450 designation had been replaced by an extension of US 160):
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c. 1939, Rand McNally
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Not that Valley City's future was ever very promising: Crescent Jct (the modern functional equivalent of Valley City) appears to consist of only two structures. Basically the entire settlement is visible on the left side of this photo, which was taken from eastbound I-70:
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Shafer, Nov. 2003
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Beyond the town, the setting sun is illuminating the Book Cliffs, which run from Helper UT to Palisade CO, marking the abrupt southern edge of the Tavaputs Plateau. Here are some views taken from the opposite direction:
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Sanderson, July 2004
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Summa
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Incidentally, those photos also illustrate how UDoT renumbered their interchanges at some point. That last shot was back when this highway was signposted as US 163 (US 191 signs replaced the US 163 signs a few years after that photo was taken):
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c. 1977, Rand McNally
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Here is modern signage on northbound US 191 approaching Crescent Jct:
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Shafer, Nov. 2003
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Note that although US 6 and US 50 are routed along I-70 both directions from there, neither route is mentioned on that signage. But since old highway 6-50 ran along what is now the frontage road on the opposite (north) side of I-70, we will continue ahead, to just beyond the freeway overpass:
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Summa
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Sanderson, July 2004
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In the foreground is the offramp from westbound. US 191 continues north from here by turning left to join westbound I-70, but the spot where this road actually ends (at the yellow signs just beyond the access ramps) is historic US 6-50. So that intersection marks the historic west terminus of US 450 and US 160, as well as the original north end of US 163. To the west (left), the alignment of old US 6-50 is now vacated; this photo was looking that direction:
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Sanderson, July 2004
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Originally US 50 (and later US 6) continued straight ahead, and at various times three US routes began to the left (south). Today, west from there, the old route becomes impassable where the interstate assumes its right-of-way (the white semi is on the onramp to westbound I-70). But to the east from Crescent, US 6-50 ran along what is now a frontage road for I-70 (CR 175) through Thompson Springs (off exit 185) to exit 202. East of there the old highway is on the south side of I-70, going through Cisco to exit 212. There it effectively disappears underneath I-70 again until around exit 225, where it re-emerges on the north side again and crosses into Colorado. Much of the old road is still drivable, but as one might expect it is in increasingly rough shape. In 1983, the US 191 designation was extended through this area. Signage for US 163 was removed, although UDoT has never officially changed the north endpoint of that route. So one could argue that US 163 still ends in Crescent, although according to posted signage, no routes currently terminate there.
Research and/or photo credits: Robert Droz; Steve Lockwood; Dale Sanderson; David Shafer; Thomas Silas; Michael Summa
Page originally created 2003;
last updated Dec. 2, 2018.
last updated Dec. 2, 2018.
