Colorado State Highway 257

Colorado State Highway 257 is a 18.478-mile long highway in Colorado's Front Range. It is located entirely in Weld County. Its western end is at SH 60 and its eastern end is at SH 14.

Route description

The route begins at SH 60 in the western part of Milliken, a town in central Weld County. It then heads northward, crosses the Big Thompson River, a tributary of the South Platte River then enters Greeley.

At Greeley, SH 257 has two interchanges with US 34^[2] and US 34 Business. Because the intersection is so close to the terminus of Business Route 34, the two interchanges are just 0.3 miles apart.^[3] Both are diamond interchanges, but at US 34 there are only entrance ramps from the east side.^[3]

It then heads northward, and begins to curve northwest^[4] over the Cache la Poudre River and into Windsor. It intersects Colorado State Highway 392 and abruptly turns west, beginning a concurrency at Main Street; about a mile later SH 257 abruptly turns back northward at 7th Street, ending the concurrency. It then heads all the way north to Colorado State Highway 14, where it terminates. No towns exist on the route from Windsor to SH 14.

History

The route was established in 1939 with several differences. The route went north to Windsor from Milliken, then turning west to SH 185. SH 185 was then deleted and replaced with Interstate 25, and SH 257 was readjusted so that it went north to SH 14. The route was paved by 1954. A spur south of Johnstown was eliminated a year later. The interchanges at US 34 and BR 34 were built in 1998.^[5]

In November 2009, a new traffic signal was installed at the intersection with Garden Drive in Windsor. The construction cost about $350,000.^[6]

Future

Because of congestion around the US 34 and BR 34 interchanges, a bus rapid transit system has been planned to be built in Greeley.^[3]

Major intersections

The entire route is located in Weld County, Colorado.

References