End of US highway 136

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info below is based on the research of Robert Droz; click here to view his site. Photo credits: David Greenberger; Don Hargraves, Jeff Morrison; me

US 136 is a relative late-comer to the map. It was commissioned in 1951 to begin at US 36 in downtown Indianapolis. The photo below is looking east on 16th Street:

Hargraves, 2003

The intersection ahead at MLK Drive (formerly Northwestern Avenue) was actually the east endpoint of US 36 in the late 1920s and early 1930s. But for 40 years this was the east end of US 136.

Originally its west end was in St. Joseph MO - US 136 came in with US 169, went south on Belt Highway, and ended at US 36 on this end as well. The photo below is looking north on Belt at Frederick Boulevard:

Morrison, Aug. 2006

US 136 began straight ahead - at the time, US 36 ran both ways on Frederick. Below we're looking east on Frederick:

Morrison, Aug. 2006

That was once eastbound US 36, and the south beginning of US 136 was to the left.

In 1960 the US 136 designation was truncated at Stanberry MO and instead extended west to its current terminus in Nebraska. US 6 and US 34 are co-signed through much of the southwestern part of the state. They join a ways west of McCook, and together serve the Republican River valley for about 50 miles, essentially due eastward. Near Arapahoe, the Republican begins its gradual curve to the southeast, but US 6/34 begins to leave the valley there - instead veering to the northeast, to Holdrege and Hastings. But, six miles east of Arapahoe, US 136 connects with 6/34, and begins its life by taking over where they left off: serving towns along the Republican for another 90-or-so miles to the east. The photo below is looking north; US 6/34 runs left-and-right just behind the camera:

me, Feb. 2000

Arapahoe is six miles to the left; two miles behind the camera is the town of Edison. From here, US 136 goes south to that point, and then heads eastward alongside the Republican.

In 1991, the east end of US 136 was truncated such that it now ends on the outskirts of Indianapolis rather than downtown (actually in Speedway city limits). Below is the exit signage from southbound I-465:

Google Maps Street View, 2008

The overpass is actually I-74, which continues maybe a quarter-mile east of this cloverleaf at I-465. This offramp loops around, uses that overpass, and then the freeway ends at the junction shown below - at the intersection with High School Road (to the north, or left) and Crawfordsville Road (both straight ahead and to the right):

Greenberger, Jan. 2001

The east beginning of US 136 is to the right on Crawfordsville, which continues curving back to the right, goes under I-465, and heads the opposite direction of this photo. The shot below is looking the other way (west on Crawfordsville):

Google Maps Street View, 2008

You have to turn left in order to continue following Crawfordsville westbound, and that's also the beginning of US 136. If you were to go that way, you'd see the first westbound marker:

Google Maps Street View, 2008

Now we'll turn around and head east on US 136. Approaching its terminus there is an "End" assembly posted...

Hargraves, July 2005

...and this photo shows the actual endpoint:

Google Maps Street View, 2008