End of US highway 350

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: me

US 350 was an original 1926 route. Its west end has always been at or near Trinidad CO; you can view maps and photos from there on this page.

I find it a bit remarkable that US 350 has survived all this time, considering that it's only about 80 miles long, and it's always been an intra-state highway. That's not to imply it's an unimportant route, though: its entire length essentially mirrors a segment of the Mountain Branch of the historic Santa Fe Trail. The town of La Junta is located on a southernmost bend of the Arkansas River, so it marked the spot where southeastbound travellers left the river and began following Timpas Creek upstream towards Trinidad, Raton Pass, and ultimately Santa Fe. It was for the same reason later on, when the rail lines were built, that La Junta was the site of a split in branches of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. And still later, when many of the highways across the Plains were built along the same corridors as the railroads, La Junta became the highway hub of southeastern Colorado. This is where US 350 splits off from its parent route, US 50.

Modern highway routes are shown in black. I've also highlighted the 1931 routes of US 50 (yellow) and US 350 (pink). I was interested to find that, from 1926-1931, US 50 traffic was apparently routed on what is now CO hwy. 194 along the north bank of the Arkansas between La Junta and Las Animas (it was the next year, 1932, that US 50 was changed to its modern corridor along the south bank).

The maps that follow are close-ups of the west side of La Junta. The street base is modern, but the historic information is according to the La Junta detail insets on Colorado Dept. of Transportation maps from the corresponding years. As on the map above, modern highways are shown in black; historic US 50 is highlighted in yellow; and historic US 350 is pink. The original east end was at 3rd Street and Santa Fe Avenue:

c. 1931

The shot below is looking north on Santa Fe at 3rd:

me, Mar. 2005

That was the east end of US 350 - westbound US 50 was to the left, and eastbound went straight ahead for two blocks before continuing to the right. Below is another perspective:

me, Mar. 2005

That's looking east on 3rd. Originally eastbound US 50 turned left at the light, while to the right was the east beginning of US 350. The next year, US 50 was rerouted such that it went straight ahead on 3rd, and US 350's terminus was changed to 3rd and Grant Avenue:

c. 1932

Below is a view of that terminus:

me, Mar. 2005

The pickup, heading north on Grant, is at an historic north end of US 350. Within two years, US 350's route had been changed again:

c. 1934

US 350 now stayed next to the railroad, skirting the west side of Potter Park. It now formed a "Y" junction with US 50, and its terminus moved still further west. Below is a photo:

me, Mar. 2005

That's looking northeast on US 350; today traffic has to curve to the east (right) on 5th Street. But in the mid-1930's, US 350 continued straight ahead (along what is now called Potter Road), through where the old locomotive and the building are now, to a junction with US 50.

CDoT stopped printing La Junta detail maps shortly after 1934. I've read that US 50 traffic was rerouted onto 1st Street in 1963, but I don't know when US 350 was changed to its modern alignment, or whether there were any other alignments in between. Anyway, the map below shows the situation as of 2002:

The shot below is looking east on US 50 at 3rd:

me, Mar. 2005

As you can see on the maps above, US 50 traffic for many years was directed straight ahead down 3rd... so it kind of surprises me that today, travellers on eastbound US 50 who want US 350 aren't directed to just continue straight on 3rd: Barnes is only two blocks ahead. Or better yet, you could just turn south on Grant and save yourself about six blocks. But instead, unsuspecting drivers follow the curve to the left, where they soon see the sign shown below:

me, Mar. 2005

That's where Barnes intersects modern US 50 - the pickup is at the east end of US 350. (The "Truck Route" banner - which you'll also see in more photos below - seems kind of strange: to me, "Truck Route" implies this is something other than mainline 350. However, that's not the case - this is the one and only US 350. My guess is it has something to do with the shortcuts I described above - they don't want trucks using 3rd or Grant.) Anyway, if you turn there, you'll soon come to the intersection of 3rd and Barnes...

me, Nov. 2001

...but you'll have driven four blocks to get there. As I've said, it's only two blocks to this intersection if you just go straight on 3rd. If you were to have done that, you'd see the signage shown below at that intersection:

me, Nov. 2001

That's eastbound on 3rd at Barnes; perhaps the reason why there's no sign pointing to the left is that most traffic heading this direction has just exited US 50 anyway. Signage looking the opposite direction (west on 3rd) is kind of interesting: the sign makes it look like US 50 is on Barnes, and like US 350 only goes left:

me, Nov. 2001

The reason for this is: while eastbound US 50 can exit onto eastbound 3rd (coming towards the camera), westbound 3rd has no access to westbound US 50 (if one were to continue straight from here, they'd intersect US 50 two blocks ahead). So the intent of this sign is to let people know that, if they want US 50, they need to take a right here. It would be more accurate if it said "TO US 50"; if you do turn right from there (north onto Barnes), you get a sign indicating that you are actually on US 350:

me, Nov. 2001

You can see the modern east end of US 350 at US 50 in the distance; the green sign that used to be there is shown close-up below:

me, Nov. 2001

By 2005, that sign had been replaced:

me, Mar. 2005

To wrap it up, here's the beginning of US 350 as seen from westbound US 50:

me, Mar. 2005

The signs on the upright indicate that US 350 serves as a segment of a national auto tour route (historic Santa Fe Trail), as well as a Colorado state scenic byway.