U.S. Route 50

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U.S. Route 50
Length: 3011 mi[1] (4846 km)
(measured in 1989)
Formed: 1926[2]
West end: I-80 in West Sacramento, CA
Major
junctions:		 US 395 in Carson City, NV
I-25 in Pueblo, CO
US 71 in Kansas City, MO
I-55 near St. Louis, MO
US 41 in Vincennes, IN
I-75 in Cincinnati, OH
I-77 near Parkersburg, WV
US 1 in Washington, DC
East end: MD 528 in Ocean City, MD
United States Numbered Highways
List - Bannered - Divided - Replaced

U.S. Route 50 is a major east-west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching just over 3000 miles (4800 km) from West Sacramento, California east to Ocean City, Maryland on the Atlantic Ocean. Until it was replaced by Interstate Highways west of Sacramento, it extended to San Francisco, near the Pacific Ocean. The route mostly remains separate from Interstates, and generally serves a corridor south of Interstates 70 and 80 and north of Interstate 64.

Signs at each end give the length as 3073 miles (4946 km), but the actual distance is slightly less,[1] due to realignments since the former figure was measured.

Contents

[edit] Route description

Mileage sign at the western terminus
Mileage sign at the western terminus
Major cities

[edit] Western U.S.

Main articles: U.S. Route 50 in California, U.S. Route 50 in Nevada, U.S. Route 50 in Utah, and U.S. Route 50 in Colorado

US 50 begins at a junction with Interstate 80 in West Sacramento, California, and overlaps Interstate 80 Business along a freeway, across Interstate 5 and into downtown Sacramento. On the southeast corner of downtown, I-80 Business splits to the north, and State Route 99 heads south. The freeway continues straight with US 50, becoming a surface road in Placerville. The road continues east, gradually narrowing and rising, to the Nevada state line at South Lake Tahoe.[3]

US 50 in the Nevada desert
US 50 in the Nevada desert

After entering Nevada, US 50 passes through Carson City, and soon enters an area of desert and mountains. This part of the road, with minimal services, has earned the name "Loneliest Road in America"; the few communities along the route include Fallon, Eureka, Ely and Austin. At Ely, U.S. Route 6 enters from the southwest, and the two routes overlap east into Utah. The route of US 50 through that state is also sparsely populated, with Delta, Salina, and Green River breaking up the wilderness. US 50 and US 6 split at Delta, with US 50 continuing east to a short overlap with Interstate 15 and a much longer one with Interstate 70 beginning at Salina. US 6 enters the I-70/US 50 overlap at Green River, and the three routes continue into Colorado.[3]

US 50 leaves I-70 soon after entering Colorado, heading southeast through Grand Junction and into the southern part of the state, where it passes through Montrose and Gunnison. US 50 crosses the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass, elevation 11,312 feet (3448 m), and the highest point on the road. After coming down from the pass into Salida, US 50 follows the Arkansas River past Canon City, Pueblo, La Junta, and Lamar into Kansas; U.S. Route 400 begins, overlapping US 50, at Granada, halfway from Lamar to the border.[3]

[edit] Midwestern U.S.

Main articles: U.S. Route 50 in Kansas, U.S. Route 50 in Missouri, U.S. Route 50 in Illinois, U.S. Route 50 in Indiana, and U.S. Route 50 in Ohio

US 50 runs through southwestern, central, and eastern Kansas, serving Garden City, Dodge City, Hutchinson, Emporia, and Olathe. US 400, which began in Colorado, splits at Dodge City to run across the state at a more southerly latitude. At Emporia, US 50 crosses the Kansas Turnpike and joins Interstate 35, splitting onto Interstate 435 to bypass the center of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area.[3]

The Jefferson Barracks Bridge over the Mississippi River
The Jefferson Barracks Bridge over the Mississippi River

After entering Missouri, US 50 leaves I-435 for Interstate 470, splitting at Lee's Summit. US 50 is a four-lane divided highway until Sedalia, where it narrows to two lanes for most of the route through Jefferson City to Interstate 44 east of Union. It overlaps I-44 to Sunset Hills, where it follows Lindbergh Boulevard - an early bypass around St. Louis - and Interstate 255 across the Mississippi River on the Jefferson Barracks Bridge into Illinois.[3]

In that state, US 50 switches to Interstate 64 before splitting onto its own alignment in eastern O'Fallon. It heads east through Salem, Flora and Lawrenceville to the Wabash River along a corridor between Interstates 64 and 70. US 50 enters Indiana at the Wabash River, bypassing Vincennes and Washington and passing through Bedford, Seymour, and Versailles. It meets the Ohio River at Aurora, and soon crosses into Ohio, running through downtown Cincinnati via Fort Washington Way. The route crosses southern Ohio via Hillsboro, Chillicothe, and Athens, joining the four-lane divided Corridor D (State Route 32) west of Athens. It meets the Ohio River, from which it split at Cincinnati, at Belpre, and crosses the Parkersburg-Belpre Bridge (to be replaced by the Blennerhassett Island Bridge in late 2007) into Parkersburg, West Virginia.[3]

[edit] Mid-Atlantic States

U.S. 50 shield on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C.
U.S. 50 shield on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C.
Main articles: U.S. Route 50 in West Virginia, U.S. Route 50 in Virginia, U.S. Route 50 in the District of Columbia, and U.S. Route 50 in Maryland

The portion of US 50 from Parkersburg, West Virginia to Winchester, Virginia follows the historic Northwestern Turnpike, which crosses the southern tip of Garrett County, Maryland. From Parkersburg to Interstate 79 east of Clarksburg, US 50 has been upgraded as part of the four-lane divided Corridor D. East of Clarksburg through Grafton, a bit of Maryland, and Romney to Winchester, US 50 is a curving two-lane mountain road. The land flattens out after it crosses the Shenandoah Mountains east of Winchester, and it follows the old Little River Turnpike from Aldie to Fairfax and the newer Arlington Boulevard to Rosslyn, where it crosses the District of Columbia line - on the west shore of the Potomac River - and joins Interstate 66 on the Roosevelt Bridge.[3]

Mileage sign at the eastern terminus
Mileage sign at the eastern terminus

Within the District, US 50 immediately exits the freeway onto Constitution Avenue along the north side of the National Mall. After turning north, it exits the city to the northeast on New York Avenue. Upon crossing into Maryland, it passes the south end of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and becomes the John Hanson Highway, a freeway to Annapolis. The portion of this highway east of the Capital Beltway (I-95/I-495) is also designated, but not signed as, Interstate 595, and U.S. Route 301 joins at Bowie. The freeway continues beyond Annapolis as the Blue Star Memorial Highway, passing over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and ending at Queenstown. There the Blue Star Highway continues northeast with US 301, while US 50 turns south past Easton to Cambridge and east around Salisbury to Ocean City on the four-lane divided Ocean Gateway. US 50 ends at Baltimore Avenue (Maryland Route 528 northbound); its westbound beginning is one block to the west, at Philadelphia Avenue (MD 528 southbound).[3]

[edit] History

For more details, see the state-specific articles linked in the route description above.

US 50, part of the original U.S. Highway system, was a major east-west route because 50 ends in 0. In the preliminary report, approved by the Joint Board on Interstate Highways in late 1925, US 50 ran from Wadsworth, Nevada to Annapolis, Maryland, passing through Pueblo, Colorado, Kansas City, Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Washington, D.C.[4] The route did not directly replace any auto trail, instead combining portions of many into one continuous route. Major auto trails followed included the Lincoln Highway in Nevada, the Midland Trail in parts of Utah and Colorado and again in Missouri, Illinois, and part of Indiana, and the National Old Trails Road (Old Santa Fe Trail) in eastern Colorado and Kansas. It also followed the historic Northwestern Turnpike across West Virginia.[5] In most states that had numbered their state highways, US 50 followed only one or two numbers across the state.[6]

One major controversy erupted in relation to the preliminary route of US 50. The through route had been assigned to the Old Sante Fe Trail, while the spur U.S. Route 250 followed the competing New Santa Fe Trail to the south. As a compromise, the Joint Board on Interstate Highways approved a split configuration - U.S. Route 50N and U.S. Route 50S - in January.[7] Another problem was in western Utah, where no improved road existed for US 50 to use. The final numbering plan, approved in November 1926, left a gap in US 50 between Ely, Nevada and Thistle, Utah. Finally, rather than ending US 50 at Wadsworth, where the Lincoln and Victory Highways merged, it was sent over the Lincoln Highway's Pioneer Branch, past the south side of Lake Tahoe, to Sacramento, California.[2][8]

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge

The gap in Utah was soon bypassed by taking US 50 to the north, crossing the Great Salt Lake Desert with U.S. Route 40 to Salt Lake City, and using long portions of U.S. Route 93 in Nevada and U.S. Route 89 in Utah.[9] U.S. Route 6 was marked along the direct, but still partially unimproved, route in 1937; it was finally paved in 1952,[10] and US 50 was moved to it within a few years.[11] Another straightening was made in 1976, when US 50 in central Utah was moved south onto the new extension of Interstate 70 at the request of the National Highway 50 Federation,[12][13] a group dedicated to promoting US 50.[14] Among other things, the group has unsuccessfully pushed for an extension of Interstate 70 west along US 50 to California.[15]

The north-south split in Kansas was eliminated in the late 1950s, with the south route - which was to be US 250 - becoming part of US 50, and most of US 50N becoming part of a new U.S. Route 56.[16] Another split was located between Athens, Ohio and Ellenboro, West Virginia from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s, when US 50 went back to its original south route; that U.S. Route 50N is now Ohio State Route 550 and part of West Virginia Route 16.[17]

At its west end, US 50 was extended south from Sacramento along U.S. Route 99 to Stockton and west to the San Francisco Bay Area, replacing U.S. Route 48, by the early 1930s.[18] US 50 was officially cut back to Sacramento in the 1964 renumbering, replaced by Interstate 580,[19] but remained on maps and signs for several more years.[20][21] US 50 was extended east from Annapolis to Ocean City, Maryland several years prior to the opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in 1952;[22] this extension replaced much of U.S. Route 213.

[edit] See also

[edit] Related U.S. Routes

[edit] Bannered routes

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, United States Numbered Highways, 1989 Edition
  2. ^ a b United States System of Highways, November 11, 1926
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Google Maps street maps, accessed July 2007
  4. ^ Report of Joint Board on Interstate Highways, October 30, 1925, Approved by the Secretary of Agriculture, November 18, 1925
  5. ^ Rand McNally Auto Road Atlas, 1926, accessed via the Broer Map Library
  6. ^ The following routes were used, mostly shown on the 1926 Rand McNally:
  7. ^ Richard F. Weingroff, From Names to Numbers: The Origins of the U.S. Numbered Highway System
  8. ^ United States Numbered Highways, American Highways (AASHO), April 1927
  9. ^ Nevada Department of Highways, Road Map, 1932
  10. ^ Richard F. Weingroff, U.S. 6: The Grand Army of the Republic Highway
  11. ^ Nevada Department of Highways, 1954 Official Highway Map of Nevada, Prepared by Rand McNally & Company
  12. ^ Senate Committee on Public Works, Designating Highway US 50 as Part of the Interstate System, Nevada, 1970, p. 68: recommends that the road between Delta and Salina receive a single number
  13. ^ Utah Department of Transportation, Route 50 history, updated February 2006: includes correspondence between UDOT and AASHTO about the relocation
  14. ^ Rocky Mountain News, Highway to Heaven, November 1, 1992
  15. ^ Federal Highway Administration, Ask the Rambler: Why Does I-70 End in Cove Fort, Utah?
  16. ^ KDOT Historic State Maps, 1956 and 1957-1958
  17. ^ Ohio Transportation Maps, 1928 to 1935
  18. ^ Rand McNally & Company, 1933 maps of California
  19. ^ California Streets and Highways Code, 1963: "Route 50 is from Route 80 in Sacramento to the Nevada state line near Lake Tahoe via Placerville. (Repealed and added by Stats. 1963, Ch. 385.)"
  20. ^ Thomas Guide, San Francisco, 1967
  21. ^ Modesto Bee and News-Herald, Highway Projects Speed Along, July 19, 1967: "Route 205, which will be the north Tracy Bypass linking Route 580 (the present Route 50) to Interstate 5."
  22. ^ Denton Journal, Shore Roads Up for Bids, June 17, 1949


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