State Highway 114 (SH 114) is a long

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in southern central

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. SH 114's western terminus is at

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlanti ...

(US 50) east of Gunnison, and the eastern terminus is at US 285 in Saguache.

Route description

SH 114 begins in the west at its junction with US 50 approximately eight miles east of Gunnison. From there the route initially proceeds southward for more than before turning more nearly eastward and entering

Gunnison National Forest The Gunnison National Forest is a U.S. National Forest covering 1,672,136 acres (2,612.71 sq mi, or 6,766.89 km²) Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

North Pass North Pass (elevation: ) is a mountain pass over the Continental Divide in Saguache County, Colorado. The pass is traversed by Colorado State Highway 114 State Highway 114 (SH 114) is a long state highway in southern central Colorado. ...

at an elevation of . At North Pass the road crosses into

Rio Grande National Forest Rio Grande National Forest is a 1.86 million-acre (7,530 km²) U.S. National Forest located in southwestern Colorado. The forest encompasses the San Luis Valley, which is the world's largest agricultural alpine valley, as well as one of ...

through which it passes generally eastward for roughly four and a half miles before leaving

National Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

land and continuing for a further twenty-six miles before reaching Saguache at the northern edge of the

San Luis Valley The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, extending from the Continental Divide on the northwest rim into New Mexico on the south. It co ...

. There the road finds its eastern terminus at US 285.

History

The route was defined in the 1920s, using a routing over

Cochetopa Pass Cochetopa Pass is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of south-central Colorado. It lies on the Continental Divide between the city of Gunnison to the northwest and the town of Saguache to the southeast. It also lies on the boundary between ...

. By 1954, the route was paved for about and was paved for another two years later. In 1963, the section over Cochetopa Pass was deleted and

was used instead, paved by 1964.

Major intersections

References

Pictures

North Pass.JPG, North Pass on Highway 114. Colorado State Highway 114.JPG, A section of Highway 114 in Gunnison County. {{Attached KML 114 Transportation in Gunnison County, Colorado Transportation in Saguache County, Colorado Gunnison National Forest Rio Grande National Forest San Luis Valley of Colorado