U.S. Route 36 in Colorado

US Route 36 begins at Deer Ridge Junction in Rocky Mountain National Park, where it intersects US Route 34 (Trail Ridge Road) on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. It exits the park at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and enters the town of Estes Park, where it is briefly overlapped with Business US 34 until it meets (but does not cross) the main US 34 again at an intersection shaped like the letter K. On its way out of Estes Park it intersects SH 7 at South St. Vrain Avenue, for the first of three times.

It then descends southeast through North St. Vrain Canyon to the town of Lyons, which it enters on Main Street. At 5th Avenue in Lyons, it intersects SH 7 again, beginning an overlap to Boulder which is signed only as US 36. At 5th Avenue and Main Street in Lyons, it divides into a pair of one way streets with the eastbound direction traveling one block south on 5th Avenue and turning east onto Broadway Street, and the westbound direction using Main Street. The two directions reunite in two blocks and leave Lyons southeastward as four-lane Ute Highway. Just outside of Lyons, US 36 turns south at a signalized intersection onto two-lane North Foothills Highway, while SH 66 continues east to Longmont. From Lyons to Boulder, US 36 pretty much traces the edge of the foothills.

US 36 enters Boulder on four-lane-wide 28th Street, where it serves the city's main shopping area. On the north side of Boulder, it intersects SH 119 at Diagonal Highway, beginning a 1.4 mile overlap that extends until SH 119 turns west onto Canyon Boulevard towards Nederland. One block farther south, SH 7 diverges from its overlap with US 36 by turning east onto Arapahoe Avenue. Leaving the Boulder shopping district, US 36 passes through the University of Colorado campus area as an expressway, and at a diamond interchange with Baseline Road, it meets Spur US 36, a two-block long connector to SH 93, signed only as "To SH 93" and "To US 36".

Just after the Baseline Road interchange, US 36 curves to the southeast and becomes the Denver-Boulder Turnpike, intersecting SH 157 Foothills Parkway on its way out of town. Northwestbound traffic approaching Boulder on the turnpike can stop at a scenic overlook on a high hill, providing a panoramic view of the Front Range mountains and the City of Boulder; a monument to the Denver-Boulder Turnpike's original builders is also located here. Continuing southeast, the road enters the fast growing Denver suburbs of Westminster and Broomfield, which have become popular locations for High-Tech businesses, which can be seen lining the turnpike. An interchange at 96th Street provides access to the Northwest Parkway and E 470 outer beltway around Denver. At an interchange with SH 121 and SH 128 in Broomfield, it meets (but does not cross) US Route 287. It then intersects US 287 again at Federal Boulevard.

At the very complicated junction of US-36, I-25, I-76, and I-270, the Turnpike ends and US-36 emerges overlapped and unsigned with I-270, and continues overlapped and unsigned with I-70 when I-270 ends near the former Stapleton Airport site. At Colfax Avenue, this I-70/US 36 overlap is also joined by US-287 (again) and US-40.

From Watkins to Byers, US-36 continues unsigned in its four-way multiplex with I-70, US-40, and US-287, while its former route through Bennett, Strasburg, and Byers is signed separately as Colorado State Highway 36.

At Byers, US 36 heads eastward on its own as a separate rural highway, while the I-70/US-40/US-287 multiplex curves to the southeast. It passes through several small towns such as Last Chance, Lindon, Anton, and Cope in Washington County and Joes and Idalia in Yuma County. Many of the towns on this desolate 105-mile (169 km) section of highway are so small they do not provide basic traveler services such as gasoline, and winter drivers are cautioned by signs that there is no snowplowing at night. At Cope, it is joined by SH 59 for about 6 miles (9.7 km). In Yuma County, near Idalia, it jogs north, becoming concurrent with US 385 for about 3 miles (4.8 km) before turning east again and continuing about 10 miles (16 km) to the Kansas border.^[2]

Toll Road

The portion of US Route 36 within Rocky Mountain National Park is a toll road, requiring a park entrance fee.

Freeway

US Route 36 is a freeway from Boulder to Byers, portions overlapped with I-270 and I-70.

History

US 36 was extended westward in stages into Colorado beginning in 1930. By 1946, it had reached downtown Denver. It was fully paved by 1950.^[3]

The Denver-Boulder Turnpike was championed by business interests in Boulder due to there being no direct route between Denver and Boulder. It opened in 1952 with the toll being $0.25. Its southeastern end was originally at US 287 Federal Boulevard, but when Denver's new Valley Highway (now I-25) was built, the two roads were connected in 1956 by 2-mile (3.2 km) long SH-382, which has always been commonly referred to as a portion of the Turnpike. When the bonds for the Turnpike were paid off ahead of time in 1967, US 36 was extended from Colfax Avenue in Denver along I-25, SH-382, the newly-free turnpike, and portions of SH-7 and SH-66, to end at US 34 in Estes Park.^[4] Eventually these portions that overlapped previous state highways became signed only as US 36.

In 1976, US 36 through Denver was straightened to use I-70, I-270, I-76, and I-25. By 1978, US 36 had been further extended west from Estes Park along SH-66 to end inside Rocky Mountain National Park at a second intersection with US 34. In 2003, the overlap with I-76 and I-25 was eliminated when I-270 was connected directly by new ramps to I-25 and the Turnpike.^[3]

Junction List

County	Location	#	Mile^[1]	Destinations	Notes
Larimer			0.000	US 34 west (Trail Ridge Road)	Western terminus of US 36
	Estes Park		6.5	US 34 east – Loveland
	Estes Park		7.5	SH 66	West end of SH 66 overlap
			8	SH 7
Boulder	Lyons		28	SH 7	West end of SH 7 overlap
			29.5	SH 66	East end of SH 66 overlap
	Boulder		40.5	SH 7 – Lafayette	East end of SH 7 overlap
			42	26th Street
			43	SH 119 (Diagonal Highway) – Longmont
		Begin Denver–Boulder Turnpike(Freeway)
			46.5	To SH 93 / Baseline Road
			48	Table Mesa Drive
			48.5	SH 157 – Downtown Boulder
			48.5	Boulder Road
	Louisville, Superior		52	To SH 170 / McCaslin Boulevard
	Louisville, Superior		54	West Flatiron Circle	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
Broomfield			54.5	To Northwest Parkway / South 96th Street
			55	East Flatiron Circle	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
			57	US 287 / SH 121 – Broomfield, Arvada
			58.5	Wadsworth Boulevard
Adams	Westminster		59	104th Avenue, Church Ranch Boulevard
			61	SH 95 (Sheridan Boulevard) / 92nd Avenue
			63.5	US 287 (Federal Boulevard)
			65	Pecos Street
			65.5	Broadway	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
	Welby		66	I-270 east – Limon	Western end of I-270 overlap
	Welby	0	66	I-25 – Fort Collins, Denver
		1A	67	I-76 – Grand Junction, Fort Morgan	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		1B	67.5	York Street	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
	Commerce City	2	69.5	US 85 / SH 2 (Vasquez Boulevard, US 6)	Signed as exits 2A (north) and 2B (south)
Denver		4	71.5	Quebec Street (SH 35)	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
			72.5	I-70 – Limon, Denver	Eastern end of I-270 overlap, Western end of I-70 overlap
		280	74	Havana Street
		281	74.5	Peoria Street
		282	75.5	I-225 south – Aurora, Colorado Springs
Adams	Aurora	283	76.5	Chambers Road
		284	77.5	Peña Boulevard – Denver International Airport	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		285	78	Airport Boulevard
		286	79	Tower Road
		288	81	I-70 Bus. west / US 40 west / US 287 north / Colfax Avenue	West end of US 40/US 287 overlap No westbound entrance
		289	82	E-470 – Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Denver International Airport
		292	85	SH 36 east (Airpark Road)
	Watkins	295	88	I-70 Bus. north – Watkins
		299	92.5	Manila Road
		304	97	SH 79 north – Bennett
		305	98	Kiowa	Eastbound exit only
Arapahoe		306	98.5	Kiowa, Bennett
		310	103	I-70 Bus. north – Strasburg
			109	I-70 east – Limon	East end of I-70 overlap
Washington	Last Chance		143	SH 71 – Fort Morgan, Limon
	Anton		163	SH 63 – Akron
	Cope		181	SH 59 – Seibert	West end of SH 59 overlap
Yuma			188	SH 59 – Yuma, Haxtun, Sedgwick	East end of SH 59 overlap
	Idalia		201	US 385 – Burlington	West end of US 385 overlap
			205	US 385 – Wray	East end of US 385 overlap
			214	US-36 – Kansas	Kansas State Line; Eastern end of US 36 in Colorado
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus • Closed/Former • Incomplete access • Unopened

References

^ ^a ^b Colorado Department of Transportation, Highway Data, accessed July 2007
^ "Segment Descriptions for Highway 36". Colorado Department of Transportation. http://www.dot.state.co.us/app_DTD_DataAccess/Highways/index.cfm?fuseaction=Description&route=036&begRefPt=0&endRefPt=500&Printable=true. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
^ ^a ^b US 36 in Colorado [1]
^ Colorado Highways: The Denver-Boulder Turnpike [2]

Freeways in the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area

Radial	I-25 (Valley Highway) I-70 I-76 US 6 (Sixth Avenue Freeway) US 36 (Denver-Boulder Turnpike) US 285 (Hampden Avenue)

Circumferential	I-225 State Highway 470 E-470 Northwest Parkway

Connecting	I-270 Peña Boulevard

Proposed	W-470

U.S. Route 36
Previous state: Terminus	Colorado	Next state: Kansas

U.S. Route 36 in Colorado

Contents

Route description

Toll Road

Freeway

History

Junction List

See also

References