State Highway 17 (SH 17) is an 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

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 17's southern terminus is a continuation as

New Mexico State Road 17 New Mexico State Road 17 (NM 17) is a state highway in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. Its southern end is at US 64- 84 in Chama and its northern end is at Colorado State Highway 17 at the Colorado state line. Route description The ...

(NM 17) at the

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

state line, and the northern terminus is at U.S. Route 285 (US 285) south of Villa Grove.

Route description

SH 17 is officially split into two parts by a stretch of concurrence with US 285. The first part of the route begins in the south at the

state line where the road becomes

. From the state line the road proceeds in a winding, generally easterly path over the

San Juan Mountains The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry ...

via

Cumbres Pass Cumbres Pass, elevation , is a mountain pass in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, United States. The pass is traversed by State Highway 17 (Colorado), State Highway 17 and the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. The highway has a moderate 5.8% ...

and La Manga Pass, both over in elevation. Along this section, the road offers access to

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 ...

and the many recreational activities it offers. After leaving the national forest, the road continues east for approximately 13 more miles before merging with US 285 at Antonito. From Antonito, SH 17 runs northward concurrent with US 285 for just over thirty miles to the city of

Alamosa Alamosa is a home rule municipality and the county seat of Alamosa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 9,806 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is the commercial center of the San Luis Valley in south-central Colorad ...

. At Alamosa, the second part of SH 17 begins after the road splits from US 285. From there, the road proceeds northward up the middle 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 ...

between the Sangre de Christo Mountains in the east and the

to the west. The route passes through the towns of Mosca, Hooper (where the road meets the eastern end of SH 112) and

Moffat Moffat ( gd, Mofad) is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire, now part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland. It lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town. ...

before reaching its northern terminus where it again meets US 285 roughly five miles south of Villa Grove.

History

When the route was established in the 1920s, the route was broken into two sections. The road began at

Pagosa Springs The Town of Pagosa Springs ( Ute language: Pagwöösa, Navajo language: Tó Sido Háálį́) is a home rule municipality that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Archuleta County, Colorado ...

and began southeast and disappeared as the route ended at the New Mexico state line. The route then reappeared northeast and terminated at SH 15 (now moved) near Mineral Hot Springs. Within the northeast segment, the route from Antonito to

was paved by 1936. The portion of the eastern segment from the New Mexico state line to Antonito was deleted and readded by 1938 and 1946, respectively. The rest of the route, not included the segment from New Mexico to Antonito, was paved by 1954. In 1968, the sections of the highway that were concurrent with other highways were eliminated, leaving the two segments existent now. The route was paved by 1970.

Major intersections

Gallery

File:Colorado17Moffat.JPG, Highway 17 looking north toward Moffat from near Road T File:ChicoClosedBasin.jpg, View from Highway 17 between

and Hooper

Footnotes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colorado State Highway 017 017 Transportation in Archuleta County, Colorado Transportation in Conejos County, Colorado Transportation in Alamosa County, Colorado Transportation in Saguache County, Colorado