 U.S. Highway 36 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 US 36 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byCDOT | ||||
| Length | 232.406 mi[1] (374.021 km) SH 36: 24.60 miles (39.59 km) | |||
| Existed | 1926–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  US 34 nearEstes Park | |||
| Major intersections | ||||
| East end |  US-36 atKansas state line | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Colorado | |||
| Counties | Larimer,Boulder,Broomfield,Jefferson,Denver,Adams,Arapahoe,Washington,Yuma | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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U.S. Route 36 (US 36) is aUnited States highway that travels fromRocky Mountain National Park,Colorado toKansas. In Colorado, the highway traverses an east–west route mostly in the northern portion of theGreat Plains. At its west end, the road connects several small mountain towns such asEstes Park andLyons to the larger metropolitan areas ofBoulder andDenver. As it continues eastward, it connects to several other small towns and rural highways on the plains before crossing the state line intoKansas.
US 36 begins at Deer Ridge Junction inRocky Mountain National Park, where it intersectsUS 34 (Trail Ridge Road) on the eastern slope of theRocky Mountains. It exits the park at theBeaver Meadows Visitor Center and enters the town ofEstes Park, where it is briefly overlapped withUS 34 Business 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 intersectsSH 7 at South St. Vrain Avenue, for the first of three times.
It then descends southeast through North St. Vrain Canyon to the town ofLyons, which it enters on Main Street. At 5th Avenue in Lyons, it intersects SH 7 again, beginning anoverlap toBoulder which is signed only as US 36. At 5th Avenue and Main Street in Lyons, it divides into a pair ofone-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, whileSH 66 continues east toLongmont. From Lyons toBoulder, US 36 pretty much traces the edge of thefoothills.
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 intersectsSH 119 at Diagonal Highway, beginning a 1.4-mile (2.3 km) overlap that extends until SH 119 turns west onto Canyon Boulevard towardsNederland. 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 crossesBoulder Creek and passes through theUniversity of Colorado campus area as anexpressway to the interchange withBaseline Road, where it meetsSpur US 36, a two-block long connector along 27th Way toSH 93, signed only as "To SH 93" and "To US 36".
Just after the Baseline Road interchange, US 36 changes to a southeasterly direction, using the route of the original Denver-Boulder Turnpike, a toll road from its opening in 1952 until 1967.[2][3] The road intersectsSH 157 (Foothills Parkway) on its way out of Boulder. Northwestbound traffic approaching Boulder on the turnpike can stop at the Davidson Mesa Overlook, ascenic overlook providing a panoramic view of theFront Range mountains, the City of Boulder, and its famousFlatirons rock formation; a monument to the Denver-Boulder Turnpike's original builders is also located here.[4] Continuing southeast, the road enters the fast-growingDenver suburbs ofBroomfield andWestminster, which have become popular locations forHigh-Tech businesses, which can be seen lining the turnpike. An interchange at 96th Street provides access to theNorthwest Parkway and thereby to theE-470 outer beltway around Denver. At an interchange withSH 121 andSH 128 in Broomfield, it meets (but does not cross)US 287. It then has another interchange with US 287 again at Federal Boulevard near 76th Avenue in Westminster. The interchange at 76th and Federal was the terminus of the original Denver-Boulder Turnpike when it was still a toll road, but in common parlance the Denver-Boulder Turnpike now extends all the way east to I-25.
The US 36 bikeway, part of the multi-modalFastracks US 36 Express Lanes Project, mostly parallels the road between Table Mesa Drive in Boulder and 80th Avenue in Westminster, the first 11-mile stretch between Westminster and Louisville/Superior opening on Bike-to-Work Day in June 2015,[5] the full route to Table Mesa in Boulder in March 2016.[6][7]
At the very complicated junction of US 36,I-25,I-76, andI-270, US 36 emerges overlapped andunsigned with I-270, and continues overlapped and unsigned withI-70 when I-270 ends near the formerStapleton Airport site. AtColfax Avenue, this I-70/US 36 overlap is also joined by US 287 (the third time the two highways come into proximity) andUS 40. From the interchange with Colfax Avenue, the road continues toWatkins and then toByers, unsigned in its four-way overlap with I-70, US 40, and US 287.
At Byers, US 36 heads eastward on its own as a separate rural highway, while the I-70/US 40/US 287 overlap curves to the southeast. US 36 passes through several very small settlements includingLast Chance,Lindon,Anton, andCope inWashington County andJoes andIdalia inYuma County. Many of the towns on this desolate 105-mile (169 km) section of highway are so small that they do not provide basic traveler services such as gasoline, and signs caution winter drivers that there is no snowplowing at night. At Cope, it is joined bySH 59 for about 6 miles (9.7 km). In Yuma County, near Idalia, it jogs north, becoming concurrent withUS 385 for about 3 miles (4.8 km) before turning east again and continuing about 10 miles (16 km) to theKansas border.[1]
TheDenver-Boulder Turnpike was championed by business and university interests in Boulder due to there being no direct route between Denver andBoulder.[8] The 17.3-mile (27.8 km)toll road stretched from Federal Boulevard (US 287) inWestminster toBaseline Road in Boulder, and opened on January 19, 1952, with a toll of $0.25. TheValley Highway from downtown Denver opened in 1952–1954, feeding directly into the Turnpike. Most of the new highway carriedSH 185 (US 87), but traffic continuing north on that route initially had to exit at 70th Avenue, nowSH 224, with the remainder of the route to Federal Boulevard becoming a realignment ofSH 382. When the bonds for the Turnpike were paid off ahead of time in 1967, tolls were removed.[9]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2019) |
Beginning in July 2012, theColorado Department of Transportation built ahigh-occupancy toll lane (HOT lane) in each direction betweenFederal Boulevard and 88th Street inLouisville, Colorado.[10] Phase 1 of the project, costing $497 million, opened in summer 2015.High-occupancy vehicles and buses likeRTD'sFlatiron Flyer travel free in the HOT lanes, whilesingle-occupancy vehicles must pay between $1.25 to $7.60, depending on time of day, or up to $13.68 without anelectronic toll collection pass.[11] To accommodate the lanes, several bridges were replaced and shoulders were widened along the highway. Phase 2 of the project, anticipated to be complete by early 2016, will extend the HOT lanes from 88th Street to Table Mesa Drive inBoulder, Colorado, through apublic–private partnership.[12]
The road fromStrasburg east to the Kansas state line was added to the state highway system in 1922 as the Colorado part of a proposed "Kansas City-Denver Airline Highway" that would have cut 72 miles (116 km) from the existing highways betweenDenver andKansas City. The planned route followed presentU.S. Route 36 in Kansas toMankato, but then turned southeasterly viaConcordia andClay Center toManhattan, where it met theVictory Highway (nowUS 24 andUS 40).[13] The new state highway was assigned the Primary Road No. 102 designation, and kept its number when many others were changed in 1923.[14][15]
The west end ofState Highway 102 was initially at Strasburg,[16] but by 1924 it had been shifted toByers, using the present County Roads 10 and 197 to return to current US 36. In 1927–1929 the entire SH 102 became part of US 36, which was realigned to go west rather than southwest fromNorton, Kansas. The west end was moved back to Strasburg in 1932–1934, and a number of right-angle turns were eliminated by constructing diagonal cutoffs west ofCope and at the state line in 1934–1935. US 36 was extended west in 1936–1937 as anoverlap with US 40 onColfax Avenue to downtown Denver, where it would end for the next 30 years. Paving began in 1937–1939 and was completed in 1947–1949, including a realignment off County Roads DD and 12 north of Idalia. The junction with US 40 near Strasburg-Byers was changed again in 1954–1955, now following County Road 181 east of Byers.[17] Finally in 1958–1959 a realignment west of Idalia eliminated four more 90-degree turns.[15]
When the tolls were removed from the Denver-Boulder Turnpike, the road becameState Highway 49, which also replaced all of SH 382. US 36 was also extended at this time, following the Valley Highway (by then part ofI-25) from Colfax Avenue north to SH 49, and then overlapping SH 49 to the end at Baseline Road,SH 119 on 28th Street,SH 7 toLyons, andSH 66 to end atUS 34 inEstes Park. Late in 1968 these redundant state highway designations were dropped,[14] resulting in the elimination of SH 49 and SH 102, realignment of SH 119 to go more directly in Boulder, and creation of gaps on SH 7 and SH 66.[15] In 2012, the turnpike was also given the honorary nameBuffalo Highway in recognition of the University of Colorado's mascot,[18] though this name has not achieved common use.
Returning to Colfax Avenue east of Denver, the first part ofI-70 in that area opened in 1961–1962, bypassingWatkins andBennett and carrying US 36 (andUS 40/US 287). The freeway was extended east past Strasburg and Byers in 1963–1964, including the final realignment of US 36 northeast of Byers. The old alignment was initially removed from the state highway system, but in 1964–1965 it returned as part ofSH 8. When this route was largely eliminated in late 1968, this bypassed highway instead becameState Highway 36 (andSH 40 east of Byers), with US 36 remaining on I-70. US 36 was realigned through Denver in 1970, following I-70 andI-270 north of downtown. (Note that, until 2000, I-270 ended atI-76, and US 36 traffic had to use short pieces of I-76 and I-25.) A final westerly extension came in 1977–1978, when US 36 replaced the western segment of SH 66 (except for a spur) from Estes Park intoRocky Mountain National Park and another junction with US 34.[15]
In early September 2013, a 31-mile (50 km) section of US 36 fromEstes Park toBoulder was closed due to damage from the2013 Colorado floods. For a time, the only route available in and out of Estes Park was a long detour throughNederland,Blackhawk, andGolden. The section in North St. Vrain Canyon west ofLyons was especially heavily damaged.[19] The road was finally reopened two months later with the help of theNational Guard.[20] Permanent repairs were started in January, 2014.[21]
In July 2019, cracks appeared on the eastbound lanes of the highway inWestminster due to shifting soil underneath. The highway has been closed as construction crews try to address the problem.[22]
The mileposts in Larimer County temporarily reset at the concurrency with US 34.All exits are unnumbered.
| County | Location | mi[23] | km | Destinations | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Larimer | Deer Ridge Junction | 0.000 | 0.000 | US 34 (Trail Ridge Road) –Grand Lake,Horseshoe Park,Estes Park,Rocky Mountain National Park | Western terminus | ||
| Rocky Mountain National Park | 2.900 | 4.667 | Bear Lake Road –Moraine Park,Glacier Basin,Bear Lake | ||||
| 3.089 | 4.971 | Beaver Meadows Entrance Station Rocky Mountain National Park entrance fee required | |||||
| 4.959 | 7.981 | Highway 66 –YMCA Center | FormerSH 66 | ||||
| Estes Park | 6.982 1.306 | 11.236 2.102 |   US 34 Bus. west (Elkhorn Avenue) | Western end of US 34 Bus. concurrency | |||
| 1.690 0.000 | 2.720 0.000 |  US 34 (Wonderview Avenue / Big Thompson Avenue) /US 34 Bus. ends –Grand Lake,Loveland,Greeley | Eastern end of US 34 Bus. concurrency | ||||
| 0.395 | 0.636 |   SH 7 south (South St. Vrain Avenue) –Allenspark | |||||
| Boulder | Lyons | 20.357 | 32.761 | SH 7 west (5th Avenue) –Allenspark | Western end of SH 7 concurrency | ||
| | 21.764 | 35.026 |   SH 66 east –Longmont | Western terminus of SH 66 | |||
| Boulder | 35.005 | 56.335 |   SH 119 north (Diagonal Highway) –Longmont | Western end of SH 119 concurrency | |||
| 36.342 | 58.487 | SH 119 south (Canyon Boulevard) –Nederland,Eldora Ski Area,Pearl Street Mall, Business District | Eastern end of SH 119 concurrency | ||||
| 36.533 | 58.794 | SH 7 east (Arapahoe Avenue) –Lafayette | Eastern end of SH 7 concurrency | ||||
| 37.601 | 60.513 |   ToSH 93 /Baseline Road | West end of Denver-Boulder Turnpike | ||||
| 39.198 | 63.083 |  SH 157 north (Foothills Parkway) / Table Mesa Drive / South Boulder Road –CU Stadium | |||||
| Louisville–Superior line | 43.198 | 69.520 |  SH 170 west / McCaslin Boulevard –Superior,Louisville | Eastern terminus of SH-170;diverging diamond interchange opened Oct. 19, 2015 | |||
| City and County ofBroomfield | 45.3 | 72.9 | West Flatiron Crossing Drive | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |||
| 45.825 | 73.748 |   Northwest Parkway east / Interlocken Loop –Broomfield,Louisville | Western terminus of Northwest Parkway; access toDenver International Airport | ||||
| 46.194 | 74.342 | East Flatiron Crossing Drive | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||||
| 48.035 | 77.305 |   US 287 /SH 121 –Broomfield,Arvada,Lafayette | |||||
| Jefferson | Westminster | 50.378 | 81.076 | 104th Avenue / Church Ranch Boulevard | |||
| Adams | 52.571 | 84.605 |  SH 95 (Sheridan Boulevard) / 92nd Avenue | ||||
| 54.858 | 88.285 | US 287 (Federal Boulevard) | |||||
| | 55.931 | 90.012 | Pecos Street | ||||
| | 55.956 | 90.052 |    I-25 Express south | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |||
| | 56.993 | 91.721 |   SH 224 east (Broadway) toSH 53 | No eastbound entrance | |||
| | 57.418 | 92.405 | I-25 south (US 87 south) –Denver | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |||
| |   I-270 begins | East end of Denver-Boulder Turnpike; western end of I-270 concurrency | |||||
| SeeI-270 | |||||||
| |    I-70 west /I-270 ends | Eastern end of I-270 concurrency; western end of I-70 concurrency; westbound exit and eastbound entrance; I-70 exit 279A | |||||
| SeeI-70 | |||||||
| Arapahoe | Byers | 100.998 | 162.541 |  I-70 east (US 40 east /US 287 south) /SH 36 west –Byers | East end of SH 36; eastern end of I-70/US/40/US 287 concurrency; I-70 exit 316 | ||
| Washington | Last Chance | 135.583 | 218.200 |  SH 71 –Brush,Limon | |||
| Anton | 155.614 | 250.436 |  SH 63 north –Akron,Arriba | ||||
| | 178.048 | 286.540 |   SH 59 south toI-70 | Western end of SH 59 concurrency | |||
| Yuma | | 185.382 | 298.343 | SH 59 north –Haxtun,Yuma | Eastern end of SH 59 concurrency | ||
| | 211.109 | 339.747 |  US 385 south –Burlington | Western end of US 385 concurrency | |||
| | 213.654 | 343.843 | US 385 north –Wray | Eastern end of US 385 concurrency | |||
| | 224.718 | 361.649 | US-36 east –St. Francis | Kansas state line | |||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| |||||||
 State Highway 36 | |
|---|---|
| Location | Aurora–Byers |
State Highway 36 (SH 36) is the stretch of former US 36 that runs fromAurora toByers. Its western terminus is at exit 292 of I-70. Form there, it goes east throughWatkins,Bennett, andStrasburg, meeting I-70 twice along the way before meeting I-70 for a third time at its eastern terminus (exit 316). This first junction with I-70 east of Aurora is in Bennett, at exit 306. The second such junction is at an underpass near Strasburg, with no access to or from the Interstate.
The highway was originally signed as part ofSH 8.
Major intersections
Mileposts are based on US 36 mileage.
| County | Location | mi | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adams | Aurora | 76.394 | 122.944 | I-70 (US 36 /US 40 /US 287) | Western terminus; I-70 exit 292 |
| Watkins | 79.730 | 128.313 | Watkins Road (I-70 BS south) toI-70 | Northern terminus of I-70 Bus. | |
| Bennett | 88.836 | 142.968 |  SH 79 south (1st Street) toI-70 | Western end of SH 79 concurrency | |
| 89.210 | 143.570 | SH 79 north (Adams Street) –Prospect Valley | Eastern end of SH 79 concurrency | ||
| Adams–Arapahoe county line | 91.188 | 146.753 | I-70 –Denver | No access to I-70 east; I-70 exit 306 | |
| Arapahoe | Strasburg | 95.000 | 152.888 | ToI-70 / Wagner Street | |
| Byers | 100.937 | 162.442 |  SH 40 east | FormerUS 40 east | |
| 100.998 | 162.541 | I-70 (US 40 /US 287) / US 36 | Eastern terminus; I-70 exit 316; highway continues as US 36 east. | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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 U.S. Route 36 | ||
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