US 287 in Colorado

According to 800zipcodes.com, US 287 is a US Highway in the US state of Colorado. The road forms a long north-south route through the east of the state, from the Oklahoma border at Campo through Lamar and Denver to the Wyoming border at Virginia Dale. Portions of the route are double -numbered with other roads, especially Interstate 70 and US 40. The road is 620 kilometers long.

Travel directions

US 50/287 on the High Plains near Lamar.

US 287 near the Wyoming border.

Southeastern Colorado

South of the hamlet of Campo, US 287 in Oklahoma from Boise City enters the state of Colorado on a plateau at about 1,200 meters altitude. The road crosses the Comanche National Grasslands to the north, and after 50 kilometers reaches the intersection with US 160, the lonely east-west route from Trinidad to Dodge City. The road continues north for 50 miles to the town of Lamar, one of the larger towns in eastern Colorado. Here US 385 turns off US 287 and heads to Burlington in the northeast. The US 50. is also crossed here by means of a short double numbering, the road from Pueblo to Dodge City. US 287 then continues north for 50 miles to Kit Carson, a small town where US 287 turns west and merges with US 40, the road from Denver to Hays, Kansas. US 40 and US 287 then run together for 100 kilometers to Limon in the northwest. This area is lonely with treeless plains. Limon is small but a relatively important interchange, US 40 and US 287 merge onto Interstate 70 toward Denver, while also intersecting US 24, which comes from Colorado Springs and merges onto I-70 toward Kansas City.

Denver Region

US 40 and US 287 are then double -numbered with Interstate 70 to the large city of Denver, over a distance of about 120 kilometers. Along the way, US 36 also joins, an east-west route north of I-70. At Exit 288, US 287 exits from I-70, so does US 40, and both roads run on Colfax Avenue through downtown Denver. In the eastern suburb of Aurora, one crosses Interstate 225, Denver’s eastern bypass. In downtown Denver, one crosses US 85, which runs parallel to Interstate 25.walk, which is then crossed. US 287 then turns north on Federal Boulevard, and then in quick succession intersects Interstate 70, Interstate 76, and US 36, all three highways. US 287 then passes through the northern suburbs of Westminster and Broomfield before crossing the Northwest Parkway, the three-quarter ring road around Denver.

Northern Colorado

North of Denver, US 287 forms a 2×2 trunk road through Longmont, and through Loveland to the town of Fort Collins. In Loveland, US 34 crosses the road from Estes Park in the Rocky Mountains to Greeley and Fort Morgan in the east. The last major city in Colorado is Fort Collins, which has a population of 129,000. Just north of this town, the road narrows back to a single carriageway, crossing the foothills of the Rocky Mountains toward Laramie, Wyoming.

History

US 40/287 (Colfax Avenue) in Denver.

US 287 was created in 1935. The southern end was then at Fort Collins in northern Colorado. In 1940, the route was extended south into Texas, creating today’s US 287 through Colorado. In 1991, the southern portion between the Oklahoma and Denver border was designated as part of the Ports to Plains Corridor. The Denver area portion is double-numbered with several other roads, most prominently I-70 and US 36, these portions being a freeway. The section between Denver and Fort Collins is of great regional importance to the many places along US 287. In 2016 and 2017, US 287 between Fort Collins and Laporte was widened to 2×2 lanes.

Traffic intensities

Every day, 2,400 to 4,800 vehicles drive between the Oklahoma border and Lamar, rising to 15,000 vehicles in Lamar itself. Further north, 2,700 to 3,600 vehicles run between Lamar and Kit Carson.

The part north of Denver is a lot busier, with mostly 21,000 to 45,000 vehicles between Denver and Fort Collins. This drops sharply north of Fort Collins, to some 3,500 vehicles on the Wyoming border.