End of historic US highway 450

Approx. time period

East Terminus

West Terminus

1926-1930 (?)

Walsenburg, CO

Valley City, UT

1930 (?)-1934

Walsenburg, CO

Crescent Jct. UT

1934-1939

(near Ucolo, UT)

Crescent Jct. UT


Click to view map
(about 144 k)

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


Except for Walsenburg, the placenames listed above are rather obscure, and they don't even show up on some maps. So I'll start with some descriptions: Ucolo is a few miles off US 491, on the stateline between Monticello UT and Dove Creek CO (you can view photos from there on this page). Crescent Jct is a tiny settlement at I-70's interchange 180 (some maps label the site "Brendel", probably after a nearby railroad siding). Valley City is about 5 miles south of Crescent on US 191. There's nothing there today, but the site used to mark the original end of US 450 at US 50. You can read more and view maps and photos on this page.


US 450 was among the original 1926 routes. Its east end was in Walsenburg CO. From 1926 until about 1934, the west end of US 160 was at US 85 in Trinidad. At that time, the designation didn't continue north with US 85 to Walsenburg, and then west again, as it does now. Instead, the road heading west from US 85 in Walsenburg was designated US 450 (it met up with US 50 in Crescent Jct. UT) Below are some photos of the intersection in Walsenburg that once marked the east end of US 450. But first, how about a map?

me

Since the completion of I-25, US 85 is no longer routed through the city. The old route, along Walsen Avenue and Main Street, is now Business Loop I-25. Also, when US 160 was extended through Walsenburg, it was routed along the southern half of that loop. The intersection where 160 heads off to the west by itself (on 7th Street) marks the beginning of what used to be US 450 (which I've highlighted in yellow). The photo below shows the view as one heads out that direction:

me, April 2000

That's heading towards North La Veta Pass and Alamosa; a long time ago that's right about where the first westbound US 450 sign would've been. The photo below is in the opposite direction (eastbound at what used to be the end of US 450):

me, April 2000

That sign was still there in 2004. The traffic signals ahead are at Main, or old US 85. Today, US 160 traffic is routed south to an interchange with I-25, with which it is co-signed down to Trinidad. The signage at the intersection itself looks like this:

me, July 2004

The photo below shows the view from northbound Main, at the intersection with 7th, where US 450 once began:

me, April 2000

To the left was once the east beginning of US 450; signage at the intersection itself is shown close-up below:

me, July 2004

This next photo shows the view at southbound Main (coming from the lower right) and westbound 7th (disappearing off to the right). The signage for straight ahead was incorrect: that's actually Business Loop I-25 (or else it should say "To" I-25)...

me, April 2000

...but it had been changed by the next time I was there:

me, July 2004


In about 1934 the US 160 designation was extended north with US 85 from Trinidad CO to Walsenburg. From there the designation replaced US 450 all the way west to the Utah line (from Cortez, US 160 originally went northwest through Dove Creek, instead of southwest through Four Corners as it does today). Apparently at the Utah line US 160 ended, and it was US 450 that continued up to Crescent for the next 5 years or so, until US 160 replaced US 450 in Utah as well. So until about 1939, the "east" end of US 450 (even though it was now almost entirely a north/south route) was at the state line near Ucolo. You can view photos from there on this page.






Page created 12 May 2000; last updated 09 February 2006.
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