U.S. Route 85 in Colorado

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U.S. Route 85 marker

U.S. Route 85
CanAm Highway
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US 85 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by CDOT
Length: 309.6 mi[1] (498.3 km)
Major junctions
South end: I-25 / US 85 / US 87 at the New Mexico state line
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North end: US 85 at the Wyoming state line
Location
Counties: Las Animas, Huerfano, Pueblo, El Paso, Douglas, Arapahoe, Denver, Adams, Weld
Highway system
Colorado State Highways
US 84 SH 86

U.S. Route 85 (US 85) is a part of the U.S. Highway System that travels from the Mexican border in El Paso, Texas, north to the Canadian border in Fortuna, North Dakota. In the U.S. state of Colorado, US 85 begins at the New Mexico state line south of Starkville and ends at the Wyoming state line south of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Route description

File:Ault, Colorado.JPG
US 85 looking north entering Ault
File:Gilcrest, Colorado.JPG
US 85 looking north entering Gilcrest

US 85 enters Colorado from New Mexico concurrent with Interstate 25 (I-25) but is not signed. US 85 leaves I-25 at exit 128 and follows Santa Fe Avenue through Fountain before turning west briefly onto Lake Avenue before rejoining I-25 at exit 138. Approaching the south side of Denver, US 85 again leaves I-25 at exit 184. From there it heads west and north as a two-lane rural highway. It becomes an expressway near Chatfield Reservoir and the southern Denver suburbs of Littleton and Englewood, where it is commonly known as Santa Fe Drive. From just north of its intersection with C-470 to its northern intersection with I-25, it is known as the Navy SEAL Danny Dietz Memorial Highway. It continues north through Denver for a few miles before once again joining with I-25 at mile marker 207. There it runs concurrently with US 87 as well as I-25 and heads north through downtown Denver. At exit 214, US 85 turns east and runs concurrently with I-70 and US 6 for about a mile where it exits with US 6 and heads northeast through Commerce City. In just a few miles the US 6/US 85 concurrency merges with I-76 at mile marker 9. They travel concurrently for three miles (4.8 km) until exit 12 when US 85 becomes an expressway and continues north out of the Denver area through Brighton.

File:US85NBM234.8CO.jpg
US 85 looking north at the exit ramp for SH 7 (Bridge Street) in Brighton

From there it parallels I-25 for about 75 miles (121 km) passing through Fort Lupton, Platteville, Evans, Greeley, and Eaton before crossing into Wyoming.[2]

History

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. US 85 originally followed the route that I-25 would later take.[3] In southern Colorado, US 85 originally was placed on city streets in Pueblo and Trinidad until 1938 where the route was ultimately paved from one state to another, taking place at the present I-25 corridor.

Realignment

Starting in 1942, a realignment project took place in northeastern Denver, involving the opening of Vasquez Blvd. Originally, US 85 ran along Brighton Blvd. from downtown going northeast and then was realigned along 46th Ave. to Vasquez Blvd. Five years later, in Pueblo, the route took the downtown streets before the Greenhorn/Crow bypass opened two years later. In 1950, the Palmer Lake/Larkspur bypass opened, moving US 85 along with US 87 along the expressway. The expressway opened north of Pueblo in 1951, which allowed both US 85 and US 87 to use the expressway coming out of downtown until 1954.

On October 1, 2007, part of the US-85 known as Nevada Ave was relinquished and is now maintained by the City of Colorado Springs.[4]

Junction list

All exits are unnumbered.

County Location mi[1] km Destinations Notes
ColoradoNew Mexico line 0.00 0.00 I-25 south (US 85 / US 87 south) Continuation into New Mexico
See I-25
El Paso Fountain 128.0 206.0 I-25 north (US 87 north) – Colorado Springs Northern end of I-25/US 87 concurrency; I-25 exit 128
131.7 212.0 SH 16 (Mesa Ridge Parkway) to I-25 (US 87) – Ft. Carson Interchange
Stratmoor 135.4 217.9 Invalid type: road – Colorado Springs Airport Interchange
137.04 220.54 Invalid type: road – Ft. Carson Northern end of state maintenance
Colorado Springs Invalid type: road (Willwood Road) Interchange; northbound exit and southbound left entrance
139.8 225.0 SH 115 south – Cañon City Interchange; southern end of SH 115 concurrency; SH 115 exit 46
141.0 226.9 SH 115 ends / I-25 / US 24 (US 87) – Pueblo, Denver Northern terminus of SH 115; northern end of SH 115 concurrency; I-25 exit 140
148.0 238.2 I-25 south (US 87 south) / Invalid type: road – Pueblo Southern end of I-25/US 87 concurrency; I-25 exit 148
See I-25
Douglas Castle Rock 184.7 297.2 I-25 north (US 87 north) / SH 86 east (Founders Parkway) – Denver Southern end of state maintenance; northern end of I-25/US 87 concurrency; I-25 exit 184
186.3 299.8 N. Meadows Drive / Castle Rock Parkway Interchange
Sedalia 190.4 306.4 SH 67 – Woodland Park
196.4 316.1 Titan Parkway Interchange
DouglasArapahoe
county line
Highlands RanchLittleton line 200.5 322.7 SH 470 – Chatfield Dam SH 470 exit 17
Arapahoe Littleton 204.8 329.6 SH 88 (Belleview Avenue) Interchange
Sheridan Frontage Road Access Interchange; southbound exit and entrance
SheridanEnglewood line 206.8 332.8 US 285 (Hampden Avenue) Interchange
City and County of Denver 208.7 335.9 Evans Avenue Interchange
211.0 339.6 I-25 south (US 87 south) / Invalid type: road north – Colorado Springs Southern end of freeway section; southern end of I-25/US 6/US 87 concurrency; I-25 exit 207B
See I-25
216.8 348.9 I-25 north (US 87 north) Northern end of I-25/US 87 concurrency; northbound left exit and southbound left entrance; I-25 exit 214A
Invalid type: road / Invalid type: road – Downtown Southbound exit and northbound entrance; northbound access via I-25 exit 213
I-70 west – Grand Junction Northbound left exit and southbound entrance; I-70 exit 274
I-25 north (US 87 north) – Thornton, Ft. Collins Southbound exit and northbound entrance; I-25 exit 214A
Washington Street Northbound exit and southbound entrance; southbound access via I-70 exit 275A
I-70 west Southern end of I-70 concurrency; southbound left exit and northbound left entrance; I-70 exit 274
See I-70
218.9 352.3 I-70 east Northern end of freeway section; northern end of I-70 concurrency; I-70 exit 276A
See US 6
Adams 228.1 367.1 I-76 east (US 6 east) – Fort Morgan Northern end of I-76/US 6 concurrency; left entrance southbound, no southbound exit; I-76 exit 12
228.3 367.4 SH 44 – Thornton
Henderson 231.3 372.2 SH 22
231.7 372.9 E-470 – Aurora Interchange; E-470 exit 38; entrance ramp includes direct entrance from Brighton Road
Brighton 235.7 379.3 SH 7 – Brighton Dumbbell interchange
Weld Fort Lupton 241.6 388.8
US 85 Bus. east / SH 52 – Ft. Lupton
Interchange
Platteville 250.5 403.1 SH 66 – Longmont
252.0 405.6
US 85 Bus. south
Southbound access only
253.8 408.5 SH 60 – Milliken
Peckham CR 44 Future partial dumbbell interchange[5]
Evans 265.6 427.4
US 85 Bus. north – Greeley
Southern end of freeway; northbound left exit and southbound left entrance
8th Avenue Right in/right out interchange; southbound exit and entrance
US 34 west – Loveland Southern end of US 34 concurrency; no direct northbound exit; northbound access via US 85 Bus.

US 85 Bus. north – Greeley
Southbound exit only; access from US 85 Bus. to northbound US 85 via US 34
Greeley US 34 east – Ft. Morgan Northern end of freeway; northern end of US 34 concurrency; left exit and entrance southbound
267.2 430.0
US 34 Bus. (18th Street)
270.2 434.8 O Street east Interchange; northbound exit and southbound entrance
270.5 435.3
US 85 Bus. south – Greeley Business District
Interchange; southbound exit and northbound entrance
Lucerne 272.5 438.5 SH 392 – Windsor
Ault 279.8 450.3 SH 14 – Fort Collins
309.6 498.3 US 85 north – Cheyenne Continuation into Wyoming
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Related routes

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US 85 has three current business routes in Colorado: one in Fort Lupton, one in Platteville, and one in Greeley.

See also


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[self-published source]
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[self-published source]
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Script error: No such module "Attached KML". Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons


U.S. Route 85
Previous state:
New Mexico
Colorado Next state:
Wyoming