U.S. Route 36

U.S. Route 36 (US 36) is an east–west United States highway that travels approximately 1,414 miles (2,276 km) from Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado to Uhrichsville, Ohio. The highway's western terminus is at Deer Ridge Junction, an intersection in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, where it meets US 34. Its eastern terminus is at US 250 in Uhrichsville, Ohio.

Route description

Colorado

US Route 36 begins at US 34 at Deer Ridge Junction in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, just west of Estes Park. It then passes through Boulder and Denver on its way to Kansas. Between Boulder and Denver, the road that is now US 36 was originally built as the Denver-Boulder Turnpike. It serves today as a major arterial freeway in the Front Range Urban Corridor. Between Denver and Byers, US 36 exists in unsigned overlaps with I-270 and I-70, while some parts of its original route are signed separately as Colorado State Highway 36. After it diverges from I-70 in Byers, US 36 is a relatively lightly-traveled two-lane rural highway to the Kansas state line.

U.S. Route 36 in Colorado

U.S. Route 36 is a major east–west route in the U.S. state of Colorado, extending from Rocky Mountain National Park to the Kansas state line.

Route description

Rocky Mountain National Park to Boulder

U.S. Highway 36 begins at Deer Ridge Junction in Rocky Mountain National Park, where it intersects U.S. Highway 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 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.

U.S. Route 36 in Missouri

In the U.S. state of Missouri, U.S. Route 36 is an expressway with many freeway sections, connecting Kansas to Illinois. From Cameron to the Illinois state line, it forms part of the principal route between Kansas City and Chicago, known as the Chicago–Kansas City Expressway.

All of US 36 in Missouri is named the V.F.W. Memorial Highway.

Route description

U.S. Route 36 in Missouri runs from the Pony Express Bridge over the Missouri River in St. Joseph to the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge over the Mississippi River in Hannibal. After leaving the Missouri River valley, U.S. 36 then links major cities in Northern Missouri with Kansas City and cities in the east. From Cameron to the Illinois state line, it is overlapped with Missouri Route 110, also known as the Chicago–Kansas City Expressway. Starting in St. Joseph, it passes through the cities of Cameron, Hamilton, Chillicothe, Macon, Shelbina, Monroe City, and Brookfield. The final 2 miles (3.2 km) of US 36 in Missouri is concurrent with Interstate 72. The route passes through mostly flat, fertile, productive farmland. Even though there are some surface intersections, U.S. 36 has many grade-separated interchanges and town bypasses that suggest a future extension of I-72 west from Hannibal.