Historic west endpoints of US Route 36

That was looking west on Colfax; the signal ahead is at Colorado Blvd.  US 6 came in from the right and continued straight ahead, so US 36 ended there.  

​In the mid-1940s, US 6 was rerouted through the city, such that traffic was directed to stay with US 85 down Brighton Boulevard and then south on Broadway.  At Larmier Street, US 6 split off, heading southwest to Colfax*, and then west.  The 1947 CDoT map was the first to include a US 36 marker west of Colorado Blvd:

*(Note that it is not possible for drivers to make that movement anymore: in recent years, Auraria Parkway replaced the functionality of Larimer, which no longer goes all the way through the Auraria Campus.)  US 36 certainly could have ended at Broadway (US 85-87).  But again: what was it that prompted this extension?  Most likely it was the rerouting of US 6.  If so, then US 36 probably did not end at Broadway -- it likely continued west of there on Colfax, ending at Larimer.  That area has changed so much since the 1940s that today it is pretty much impossible to get a photo there.  But here is a historic photo that comes close to showing what that junction looked like at the time:

That was looking east along Colfax, with the southwest beginning of the Larimer viaduct angling to the left.  Westbound US 6-40 traffic came to this junction and diverged, with US 6 heading left on Larimer, and US 40 continuing straight ahead on Colfax.  Straight ahead was also probably the west beginning of US 36.  That was the case until about 1951, so this next image was taken about 12 years after US 36 no longer began here.  But it does at least suggest how this area looked around that time.  Like the photo above, this too was looking east on Colfax:

Estes Park

Eastbound US 34 continues to the left, via Big Thompson Avenue.  Straight ahead the roadname changes to St. Vrain Avenue, which serves as eastbound US 36 (and that was the beginning of US 36 from 1967-1977).  But today US 36 extends westbound to the right, via Elkhorn (along with westbound Business 34).  If only all the approaches to this intersection were as well-signed... here we are looking the opposite direction (westbound US 36 on St. Vrain):

That was formerly the west end of US 36.  Today's sign fails to indicate that the business route is also "Business 34" and is therefore an option for US 34 traffic as well.  And what about drivers who want eastbound US 34 (to the right)?  In the distance behind the bottom right corner of the "Big Thompson River" sign, an assembly is visible for traffic approaching from the right via westbound US 34:

It is unclear exactly when that last photo was taken (sometime in the 1970s or 80s), but that is likely how signage appeared when the west beginning of US 36 was to the right.  We will head that direction, back to Denver, in order to review the historic endpoints there from an eastbound perspective.  This is an overview shot, which was taken looking east on Colfax at Federal: