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100 years of US routes: 1926-2026
East entrance to Yellowstone National Park
The east entrance of Yellowstone National Park has been served by a US route since 1926 (the year the US highway system was first commissioned). Then (as today), US 20 began in Boston and ended at Yellowstone. In 1940 the US 20 designation was extended to the west coast at Newport OR via an implied route through Yellowstone... but since there are no US routes within the Park boundaries, there are two separate segments of US 20: one on each side of Yellowstone. So in other words, the east entrance still marks the west end of the east leg of US 20. Meanwhile, in 1935, the US 14 designation was overlapped with US 20 west from Cody WY to Yellowstone's east entrance. And in 1964, the US 16 designation was extended too: co-signed with US 20 and US 14 west from Worland.
Ever since then, the three routes have shared a common terminus at the Park boundary. Here is the first trailblazer heading eastward from there:
Elbert, summer 2003
Heading the opposite direction, the park entrance marks the east end of US 14, US 16, and the east section of US 20. (The west section of US 20 reappears on the west side of the Park, at West Yellowstone.)
Elbert, summer 2003
Research and/or image credits: Chris Elbert; Dale Sanderson
Page originally created 2003;last updated May 13, 2025.
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