End of historic US highway 650

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

US 650 was one of the original US routes, but it was decommissioned after only about 10 years, in about 1936. Until that time, US highway routes in Colorado were numbered a lot differently than they are now. US 285 went north from Denver, to Laramie WY, along what is now US 287. Present-day 285 from Denver southwest to Antero Junction was not on the US highway system (I believe it was CO hwy. 8). There was no US 24. Instead, it was US 40S that was signed along 24's present route from Limon through Colorado Springs, over Ute and Wilkerson passes to Antero Jct, then over Trout Creek Pass to Johnson Village, and north through Buena Vista to points beyond. Just shy of Buena Vista, near present-day Johnson Village, US 650 headed south from US 40S along the Arkansas River to its junction with US 50 in Salida. The photo below is looking north on US 285, approaching Buena Vista:

me, Feb. 2008

Today's US 24 runs along the corridor of historic US 40S, so this junction is the modern functional equivalent of the historic north end of US 650. However, I'm pretty sure the road alignments were a bit different back when US 650 ended here. For one thing, the current bridge over the Arkansas wasn't built until 1937. So where was the bridge before then? Historic CDoT maps offer a clue. The image below should be switching back and forth between the 1932 and 1934 maps. Notice the railroad just south of Buena Vista changed from west of the highway (1932) to east of the highway (1934):

If that map is accurate, then my conclusion is that US 650 originally used what is now Chaffee County Road 301 to cross the river and the railroad before reaching its junction with US 40S.

The photo below was taken from US 24/285, just east of Johnson Village, from approximately the point where the historic alignment of US 40S crosses the modern highway. I think westbound US 40S continued ahead towards Buena Vista (visible in the background) and crossed the Arkansas somewhere in that direction, over a bridge that no longer exists, and the location for which I haven't been able to find. US 650 came in from the lower left via today's CR 301, ending at its junction with US 40S, which would've been near the haybales in the middleground:

me, May 2008

In the photo below we're on CR 301, near those haybales, looking back the opposite direction:

me, May 2008

The paved road on the left is modern US 24/285. The gravel road on the right is historic US 40S (further off in the distance, it has a couple concrete bridges dated 1922). I suspect that road came right toward the camera on its way to Buena Vista. To the right on 301 is what I believe was the north beginning of US 650; the photo below is looking that direction:

me, May 2008

A few miles ahead, near Nathrop, that road has a bridge across the Arkansas. The current bridge was built in 1990, but I'm quite certain it replaced an older bridge in the same location. That bridge is what US 650 may have used to cross the river before joining the current alignment southward into Salida.

Today, southbound US 285 leaves the Arkansas River about 8 miles northwest of Salida, and instead travels through Poncha Springs before climbing over Poncha Pass. The road that continues along the river to US 50 in Salida is CO hwy. 291. Old US 650 followed what is now CO 291 into Salida.

The map below shows the current highway configuration in Salida. Note that I've also called attention to "F" Street and to County Road 105. That's because, although I haven't been able to pin down precise information, apparently US 50 and/or US 650 were routed along these roads for at least some stretch of time during their existence. Until I know more specifics, I won't know exactly where the south end of US 650 was:

If 650 followed modern 291 all the way through town, then its south end used to be where the photo below was taken:

me, Apr. 2000

That's on southbound Oak Street, at the junction with US 50. (Incidentally, that's part of the Sangre de Cristo Range in the background.) The photo below is at the same junction, looking west on US 50 at what may have been the south beginning of US 650 (that's part of the Sawatch Range in the background):

me, Apr. 2000

Now, according to Alvin Edlund, Jr: beginning in 1934, the Salida Chamber talked the DoT into routing US 50 traffic through downtown: along modern 291 (north on Oak and First), and then down "F", back to Rainbow Boulevard. If so, then US 650 had a different south end during its latter years: First at "F". The photo below shows that spot:

me, Apr. 2000

That's looking southeast on First; the signal is at "F". The white pickup has just reached what would've been the south end of US 650. Eastbound US 50 was straight ahead, and westbound would've been to the right. This last photo shows the same intersection from the opposite direction:

me, Apr. 2000

This is looking northwest on First: north on today's CO 291, and west on yesterday's US 50. Westbound US 50 would've taken a left at the light ("F" Street), and straight ahead would be the south beginning of US 650.