U.S. Highway 138 (US 138), commissioned in 1926, is an east–west
U.S. Highway in
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 ...
and
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
that travels predominantly northeast to southwest, paralleling the
South Platte River
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/ Mountain West. It ...
and
Interstate 76 (I-76). Similarly to the spurs of the former
US 66 and
US 99, US 138 is an orphan route.
US 38 was commissioned in 1926, but
US 6 was extended over it to
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
(but was truncated to
Bishop, California
Bishop (formerly Bishop Creek) is a city in California, United States. It is the largest populated place and only incorporated city in Inyo County. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of . The city was ...
in 1964). Therefore, US 138 still meets its former parent route's path.
Route description
Colorado
U.S. 138 begins in Sterling at U.S. 6 and Business Loop 76. It goes northeast and intersects
Colorado State Highway 113 southwest of
Iliff. It becomes more easterly as it goes through Iliff,
Proctor and
Crook
Crook is another name for criminal.
Crook or Crooks may also refer to:
Places
* Crook, County Durham, England, a town
* Crook, Cumbria, England, village and civil parish
* Crook Hill, Derbyshire, England
* Crook, Colorado, United States, a ...
, where it intersects
Colorado State Highway 55. It continues on to
Sedgwick, where it meets
Colorado State Highway 59
State Highway 59 (SH 59) is a state highway in eastern Colorado. SH 59's southern terminus is at U.S. Route 40 (US 40) and US 287 in Kit Carson, and the northern terminus is at US 138 in Sedgwick.
Route description
SH 59 begins in ...
. After passing through
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, it then meets
U.S. Highway 385 west of
Julesburg, and they overlap into Julesburg. Also in Julesburg, U.S. 138 intersects
Colorado State Highway 11. U.S. 138 then leaves Julesburg going northeast and enters Nebraska.
Nebraska
Shortly after entering Nebraska, U.S. 138 intersects
Interstate 80. It continues east from I-80 and enters
Big Springs. At Big Springs, U.S. 138 turns north and ends at
U.S. Highway 30.
History
![Lewellen P6060584](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Lewellen_P6060584.jpg)
The western terminus is in
Sterling, Colorado, where it met
U.S. Route 38 from 1926 to 1931 (US 38 became
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 ...
); the eastern terminus is at
U.S. Route 30
U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route in the system of the United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. With a length of , it is the third longest ...
north of
Big Springs, Nebraska
Big Springs is a village in Deuel County, Nebraska, Deuel County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 400 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census.
History
The first name of the settlement was "Lone Tree", after a large cottonwood t ...
. US 138 is an example of a "child" route that has long outlived its "parent"; before
U.S. Route 99 was decommissioned in 1964, US 138 was the only US route to not have a "parent" route.
Major intersections
References
External links
Endpoints of U.S. Highway 138*
ttp://nebraskaroads.com/roads/usroutes/136-183.html#138 Nebraska Roads: Nebraska US Highways 136-183
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38-1
38-1
38-1
1 38
Transportation in Logan County, Colorado
Transportation in Sedgwick County, Colorado
Transportation in Deuel County, Nebraska