Colorado State Highway 2

State Highway 2
Route information
Maintained by CDOT
Length:	24.07 mi[1] (38.74 km)
Major junctions
South end:	US 285 in Denver
North end:	SH 7 in Brighton
Location
Counties:	Denver, Arapahoe, Adams, Weld
Highway system
Colorado State Highways Interstate U.S. State ← SH 1 SH 3 →

State Highway 2 (SH 2) is a state highway of the U.S. state of Colorado. It runs for approximately 24 miles (39 km) north–south entirely within the urbanized environment of the Denver Metropolitan Area. It is one of the major north–south thoroughfares of east Denver, where it is known as Colorado Boulevard.

Route description

On its southern end, it begins at U.S. Highway 285 in Cherry Hills Village in Arapahoe County just south of the Denver city limits. It goes north through Denver, intersecting Interstate 25 at exit 204 . It intersects State Highway 83 near Cherry Creek and U.S. Highway 40/287 (Colfax Avenue) east of downtown Denver. It passes along the east side of Denver City Park. It intersects Interstate 70 at exit 276, then merges with U.S. Highway 6/85 through Commerce City until it branches off to the northeast, passing along the northwest boundary of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. It terminates at its northern end at Interstate 76 at exit 15 on the south edge of Brighton.

History

State Highway 2 looking south from just north of Ellsworth Avenue in Denver

The route was established in the 1920s beginning at U.S. Highway 40 at the Utah border. It then followed US 40 all the way to Denver, where it followed Colfax Avenue through Denver. It then followed various streets northeast along U.S. Highway 85 north to Greeley, where it turned abruptly eastward along U.S. Highway 34 to U.S. Highway 6, where it continued to Sterling and finally along U.S. Highway 138 to the Nebraska border. By 1946, the route was rerouted in an Area northeast of Denver. It was then changed in 1950 so it followed Colfax Avenue east through Dever. The route was rerouted in 1968 from US 285 to I-80S (now deleted). The now-deleted portion along Quebec Street was changed in 1971, and the route was finally corrected to its current routing in 1998.^[2]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
City and County of Denver		0.000	0.000	US 285 (Hampden Avenue)	Southern terminus
		2.121	3.413	I‑25
		4.377	7.044	SH 83 (Leetsdale Drive)
		5.993	9.645	US 40 / US 287 (Colfax Avenue)
		8.725	14.042	I‑70
Adams	Commerce City	11.109	17.878	US 6 / US 85 (Vasquez Boulevard)	Southern end of US 6/85 concurrency
				I‑270 / US 36
				US 6 / US 85 (Vasquez Boulevard)	Northern end of US 6/85 concurrency
				SH 44 (104th Avenue)	Eastern end of CO-44
	Brighton			I‑76	Northern terminus as of 2010
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References