State Highway 340 (SH 340) 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 the
U.S. state of
Colorado. The highway's western end is at
U.S. Route 6
U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to P ...
(US 6) and
US 50 in
Fruita
The City of Fruita is a home rule municipality located in western Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 13,395 at the 2020 United States Census. Fruita is a part of the Grand Junction, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area a ...
, and the eastern end is at the junction of US 50 and
I-70 Business (I-70 Bus.) in
Grand Junction. This highway is mainly used by the residents of Grand Junction's suburb
Redlands.
Route description
The route begins at a concurrency of
US 6 and
US 50 in
Fruita
The City of Fruita is a home rule municipality located in western Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 13,395 at the 2020 United States Census. Fruita is a part of the Grand Junction, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area a ...
. The route then turns onto cherry Street in
Fruita
The City of Fruita is a home rule municipality located in western Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 13,395 at the 2020 United States Census. Fruita is a part of the Grand Junction, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area a ...
where it junctions with
Interstate 70 (I-70). The Highway then moves then heads south, passing over the
Colorado River, where it heads into
Redlands. There, it traverses the suburban area as Broadway Road, passing the
Colorado National Monument on the south side of the highway. As SH 340 travels eastward, it enters Downtown
Grand Junction, meeting again with the
Colorado River and passing over the
Riverside Parkway
The Riverside Parkway is a , five-lane limited-access road in the lower central business district of Grand Junction, Colorado. Paralleling the Colorado River, it connects several of the major highways in the city, and has bike lanes in both dire ...
. Then, the highway ends at
I-70 Bus. and
US 50.
History
The route was defined in 1939, when it moved along its current alignment but continued to
US 6 in
Palisade
A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade.
Etymology
''Palisade' ...
. This entire length was paved by 1955. The east terminus was then moved to SH 146, today's
SH 141, in 1970. Two years later, the east terminus was moved all the way to where it is now in Grand Junction.
Major intersections
See also
*
List of state highways in Colorado
The state highways of Colorado are a system of public paved roads funded and maintained by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) in the U.S. state of Colorado. These are state highways, which are typically abbreviated SH. The numbered h ...
References
External links
{{authority control
340
Year 340 (Roman numerals, CCCXL) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Acindynus and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1093 ...
Crossings of the Colorado River
Transportation in Mesa County, Colorado
Grand Junction, Colorado