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100 years of US routes: 1926-2026
US route endpoint at
1934-1938
The stretch of highway between Dove Creek CO and Monticello UT has seen an inordinate amount of numbering changes.
1926-1934: The original US route crossing the stateline here was US 450, which ran between Walsenburg CO and Crescent Jct UT.
1934-1938: Without AASHO approval, Colorado replaced US 450 with an extension of US 160, but Utah kept the 450 designation in their state for a few more years (this map captured that brief moment in time):
c. 1934, Gousha, for Utah DOT
1938-1970: US 160 replaced the remainder of US 450 through Utah.
1970-2003: the US 160 designation was rerouted to go southwest out of Cortez CO (instead of northwest), so this route was renumbered as an extension of US 666.
2003-present: the entirety of US 666 was replaced with US 491.
This photo shows where Colorado signposted as the east end of US 450 and the west beginning of US 160 from about 1934-1938:
Sanderson, Jul. 2004
Note the "South" directional tab, and compare to this photo, which showed the sign directly across the road, heading the opposite direction:
Sanderson, Jul. 2004
Until sometime after 2012, Utah signed US 491 as an east-west route, which was appropriate in that state. But as of 2018 UDoT's directional tabs had been changed to north-south. At any rate, that location was once the defacto west end of US 160, and the east beginning of US 450.
Research and/or image credits: Steve Lockwood; Dale Sanderson; Thomas Silas
Page originally created 2004;last updated Aug. 09, 2025.
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