U.S. Route 50

U.S. Route 50
U.S. Route 50
	US 50 highlighted in red
Route information
Length	3,019 mi (4,859 km)
Existed	November 11, 1926–present
Major junctions
West end	I-80 in West Sacramento, CA
	I-5 in Sacramento, CA; I-15 near Fillmore, UT; I-25 / US 85 / US 87 in Pueblo, CO; I-35 from Emporia to Lenexa, KS; I-55 in Concord, MO; I-65 in Seymour, IN; I-71 / I-75 in Cincinnati, OH; I-77 in Parkersburg, WV; I-81 / US 11 / US 17 / US 522 in Winchester, VA; I-95 / I-495 in Lanham, MD;
East end	MD 528 in Ocean City, MD
Location
Country	United States
States	California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland
Highway system
	United States Numbered Highway System; List; Special; Divided;

U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching 3,019 miles (4,859 km) from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic Ocean. Until 1972, when it was replaced by Interstate Highways west of the Sacramento area, it extended (by way of Stockton, the Altamont Pass, and the Bay Bridge) to San Francisco, near the Pacific Ocean. The Interstates were constructed later and are mostly separate from this route. It generally serves a corridor south of I-70 and I-80 and north of I-64 and I-40.

The route runs through mostly rural desert and mountains in the western United States, with the section through Nevada known as "The Loneliest Road in America". In the Midwest, US 50 heads through mostly rural areas of farms as well as a few large cities including Kansas City, Missouri; St. Louis, Missouri; and Cincinnati, Ohio.

The route continues into the eastern United States, where it passes through the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia before heading through Washington, D.C. From there, US 50 continues through Maryland as a high-speed road to Ocean City.

Signs at each end give the length as 3,073 miles (4,946 km), but the current distance is slightly less due to realignments since that figure was calculated.^[3] US 50 passes through a total of 12 states; California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia.

US 50 was created in 1926 as part of the original U.S. Highway system. The original route planned in 1925 ran from Wadsworth, Nevada, east to Annapolis, Maryland, along several auto trails including the Lincoln Highway, Midland Trail, and the National Old Trails Road. The final 1926 plan had US 50 running from Sacramento, California, east to Annapolis with a gap in west Utah that was bridged by running the route north via Salt Lake City before rerouting it to US 6 in the 1950s. US 50 was extended west from Sacramento to San Francisco in the 1930s, replacing US 48; this was reversed in 1964 when I-580 replaced much of the route between the two cities. In addition, US 50 was extended east from Annapolis to Ocean City prior in 1949, replacing a portion of US 213. US 50 had two split configurations into US 50N and US 50S, one in Kansas and another in Ohio and West Virginia; both of these instances have been removed.

^ Figure derived from summing mileages provided by each state DOT.
^ Cite error: The named reference 1926 map was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Dildine, Dave (November 27, 2017). "How did that Sacramento road sign end up in Ocean City?". Washington, DC: WTOP-FM. Retrieved January 10, 2018.

[1] Figure derived from summing mileages provided by each state DOT.

[1926_map-2] Cite error: The named reference 1926 map was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[3] Dildine, Dave (November 27, 2017). "How did that Sacramento road sign end up in Ocean City?". Washington, DC: WTOP-FM. Retrieved January 10, 2018.

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