End of US highway 50

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info on this page is based on the research of Robert Droz; click here to view his site. Photo credits: Chris Elbert; Andy Field; Alex Nitzman; Eric Rosenberger; Dave Strong; Marion Warren

US 50 was among the original 1926 routes, but for its first two years it consisted of two separate segments: one from Annapolis to Thistle UT, and the other from Ely NV to Sacramento. The photo below was taken looking south on 16th Street in Sacto:

Google Maps Street View, 2008

This was westbound US 40 and southbound US 99E. US 40 continued to the right on L Street, and that was also northbound US 99W. To the left on L was southbound US 99, and it was also the west beginning of US 50. (Those two routes turned south on Alhambra Boulevard, but then US 50 split off almost immediately onto Folsom Boulevard.)

US 93 wasn't extended through Ely (pronounced EE-lee) until 1932, so it's hard to say why that was chosen as the eastern terminus of US 50. Maybe the road through the desert east of there wasn't deemed safe enough to be signed as a US route. Anyway, here are a couple photos from the main junction in Ely; this first one is looking east on Aultman Street:

Elbert, July 2005

Today this is westbound US 50, which continues to the right on Great Basin Boulevard with southbound US 93. Northbound US 93 is straight ahead. This also used to be US 6, but traffic now bypasses downtown to the south. Maps now show this as "Business US 6", but as you can see it's signed only as "TO US 6" in these photos. The Schell Creek Range is visible in the background; this seems to be the most logical junction where US 50 might've ended. Below we're looking the opposite direction:

Elbert, July 2005

This is southbound US 93, which continues to the left via Great Basin (which until recently was probably known as East 7th Street). US 50 probably would've begun straight ahead. Saxton Peak is visible in the background, or at least that part of the Egan Range.

Thistle UT looks quite a bit different today than it did when US 50 ended there; you can view photos on this page.

US 50 was completed between Thistle and Ely in 1928, and then in 1931 the designation was extended west to Hayward CA (you can view a photo of that junction on my US 48 page).

In 1935, US 50 was extended west again. It joined with US 40 in Oakland and crossed to San Francisco via the Bay Bridge - you can view photos from there on this page.

The original east end of US 50 was in Annapolis. Traffic came into the city on West Street, shown below:

Warren, Mar. 1965

The church in the distance is situated in the middle of Church Circle, and that's where the US 50 designation ended. Beyond that, you can see the Maryland State House, which sits within State Circle.

In the 1940s, another Bay Bridge was planned - this one was at the other end of US 50, and it would span the Chesapeake. So in 1948, in anticipation of the new roadway, the US 50 designation was extended eastward from Annapolis to a new endpoint in Ocean City MD - you can view photos from there on this page.

In 1971 the US 50 designation had a couple transitionary truncations, and by 1973 its west end was at its current terminus in West Sacramento CA. There was no "End" sign on this side, either. In fact, since there are no "US 50" signs west of the photo below...

Field, Aug. 2003

...it would be easy to believe that marks the west end of US 50. That's the interchange with Business I-80, or the Capital City Freeway. But technically the US 50 designation does continue ahead with BL-80, ending where the freeway merges with mainline I-80:

Field, Aug. 2003

Heading west on I-80, the west beginning of US 50 looks like this...

Field/Nitzman, Sep. 2005

...and heading the opposite direction, the beginning of US 50 is announced thus:

Field/Nitzman, Sep. 2005

Note how US 50/BL-80 is actually the mainline here; I-80 traffic has to exit to continue westbound. That's because today's BL-80 was the original I-80 through the city. Not far ahead, the sign shown below used to be posted:

Strong

Thanks to Milton John Kleim Jr. for setting me straight on the location: that was actually at the west beginning of US 50/Business I-80, just past the interchange where I-80 splits off. What a cool thing it would be if similar attention were given to other grand old highways...

...but anyway, I guess that sign was stolen. Here's what replaced it:

Rosenberger, Dec. 2002

Notice the transposed 7 and 3 digits in the mileage to Ocean City; that was fixed not much later:

Field/Nitzman, Sep. 2005

More info about this sign and its historic predecessors - as well as just about anything else you want to know about US 50 - can be found at this site.

From the beginning in 1926 and for the next 30 years, US 50 had a significant split route in Kansas. At today's junction of US 56 and US 59 just west of Baldwin City, US 50-N followed today's US 56 all the way to Larned, then K-156 (former US 156) to Garden City. US 50-S went south via US 59 to Ottawa, and then west essentially along modern US 50, rejoining US 50-N in Garden City. Incidentally, the 1925 US highway plan had US 50 following what actually ended up being commissioned as US 50-N the next year. US 50-S was marked as US 250 in the 1925 plan.