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
|
(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.
|