State Highway 64 (SH 64) is a two-lane
state highway connecting the towns of
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
and
Meeker in the western part of the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, 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 wes ...
. It is located in both
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.
...
and
Rio Blanco counties.
[ The western end of SH 64 is part of the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway, while the eastern end is a junction with SH 13 near Meeker, Colorado. Its largest amount of traffic is 6600 near Rangely.][ It is classified as a Minor Rural Highway by the ]Colorado Department of Transportation
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT, pronounced See Dot) is the principal department of the Colorado state government that administers state government transportation responsibilities in the state of Colorado. CDOT is responsible f ...
.
Route description
The route begins at a junction with US 40
U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America, is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid-Atlantic States. As with most routes wh ...
in Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
where it is named Stegosaurus
''Stegosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been fou ...
Freeway (despite the fact it is not a freeway), following the tradition of naming the roads in Dinosaur after names of dinosaurs.[ Other street names include ]Brontosaurus
''Brontosaurus'' (; meaning "thunder lizard" from Greek , "thunder" and , "lizard") is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs. Although the type species, ''B. excelsus'', had long been considered a species of the closely related ' ...
Boulevard and Triceratops
''Triceratops'' ( ; ) is a genus of herbivorous chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur that first appeared during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, about 68 million years ago in what is now North America. It is one ...
Terrace. After passing 8th Street and exiting the town, SH 64 continues on in the Colorado Plateau bearing south-southeast as Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway, crossing into Rio Blanco after another mile. About after it enters Rio Blanco County, SH 64 curves to the east and starts heading southeast to Rangely. Once past Rangely, it bends northeast to bisect the town of Angora. From there, it bends back southeast following the White River valley through White River City, situated next to Rio Blanco Lake. It continues until it reaches a junction with SH 13 about away from Meeker.
History
SH 64 was originally built in the 1920s.Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, but it was changed in the middle of the 1940s.[ The route of the highway shifted several times over the next two decades. In 1939, a spur line was constructed to continue southwest of Meeker. In 1946, the western end was moved from south of Dinosaur to US 40, which was a route already situated within Dinosaur (at that time called Sandy Springs).][ About a decade later, the spur line built in 1939 was eliminated. The following year, all of SH 64 was paved.][ There have been no other construction developments on the highway since then.
]
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 ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colorado State Highway 064
064
Transportation in Moffat County, Colorado
Transportation in Rio Blanco County, Colorado