Colfax
Avenue
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Longest SH Highways |
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Shortest SH Highways |
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Longest US Highways |
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Longest US Highways |
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Shortest US Highway |
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Determining the longest US Highway in Colorado is not a cut-and-dried thing. The problem in Colorado is that nearly every US Highway at some point has a gap because it becomes unsigned, usually where it has an overlap with an Interstate. For example, if you're eastbound on US 40 through Empire approaching I-70 at Exit 232, signage for US 40 simply disappears at the interchange. There's no indication of where US 40 goes from there. (You head east on I-70 and US 40 starts up again at Exit 259 in Golden). So, when adding up the mileage for US Highways in Colorado, there are two ways to do it: One is by taking the total mileage across the state, even the "implied" mileage where a US Highway has an unsigned overlap with an Interstate, and the other way is to discount the implied mileage and count only where the US Highway is actively signed. But the bottom line by both measures is US 160 is the longest US Highway in Colorado. Second place is either US 40 or US 50 depending on the method used. Thanks to Dale Sanderson and "John N" for prompting me to do these calculations.
Colfax
AvenueUrban legend has it that Colfax Avenue in metro Denver -- US 40 from Golden through Denver to east Aurora -- is the longest street in the U.S. at 27 miles. Wrong! I've found a handful that are 10 miles longer, including El Camino Real in south metro San Francisco, Telegraph Road in west metro Detroit, and Sepulveda Boulevard in west metro Los Angeles. I've also heard Colfax referred to as the longest "commercial street" in the country, but that's such an ambiguous phrase there's no way to confirm that.
VPD is vehicles per day. The number is from CDOT's 2004 compiled traffic data, which reports AADT for sections of highway in the state. AADT is Annual Average Daily Traffic, a way of determining the average daily number of vehicles on a roadway, either through actual measurement or statistical analysis.
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Busiest Sections of Highway in Colorado |
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Busiest Sections of Highway That Aren't Freeway |
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Loneliest Sections of State Highway |
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Loneliest Sections of Freeway |
Here a SPUI, there a SPUI, everywhere a SPUI! OK, what the heck is a SPUI? (pronounced "spooey"). It's a Single Point Urban Interchange, and is a special kind of interchange layout that minimizes the area required. It does this by taking the traditional diamond interchange and pinching the ramps together to form a single intersection, rather than the two intersections required with the diamond. As a result left turns can be done at the same time for oncoming directions allowing three signal phases at two intersections to be replaced with three phases at a single intersection. An important element of SPUIs is whether the cross road, and thus the intersection, is above or below the freeway. If the cross road is above the freeway, this adds greatly to the cost, because a huge bridge structure is needed to suspend the intersection above the freeway. In Colorado, there are SPUIs at:
Another unusual interchange is at I-225/Alameda Avenue in Aurora. It's like a SPUI-diamond hybrid, where the two intersections of a traditional diamond have been combined into one, but instead of the intersection being over or under the freeway, it's off to the side. This was done by having the two ramps on the southbound side of I-225 use flyovers to cross over to the east side of I-225. Thus there's just a single intersection on Alameda on the the east side of I-225.
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Page created 6 August 2003
Last updated 4 July 2006
