THE ROUTE

Highway 50, the central most transcontinental route in the United States, is one of the nation's most historic roads. It spans over 3,000 miles, traversing 12 states and Washington D.C., as it stretches from Ocean City, Maryland on the Atlantic coast to Sacramento, California in the west. Along the way it passes through farmland and suburbs and even the occasional city, past historic Civil War battlefields and iconic Wild West towns, across the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, the Continental Divide, the Great Plains and the Great Basin, and across a stretch of Nevada where signs proclaim it "The Loneliest Road in America."

Though officially formed in 1926, when the American Association of State Highway Officials and the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Public Roads created the U.S. Highway system, Highway 50, like most of these routes, was fashioned out of existing roads. In many areas, Highway 50 follows former Native American paths, trade routes, pioneer trails and horse-and-wagon turnpikes, and passes through some of the United States' oldest settlements and pioneer towns. Unlike modern Interstates, Highway 50 cuts directly through the center of many towns along its route, revealing the rich history and diversity of the communities it serves and affording travelers a glimpse into the lives of the locals who live right beside the historic road. And much like the inhabitants of the towns through which it passes, the character of Highway 50 varies as it progresses; in some areas it is a straight, solitary and seemingly endless road, in others it winds through treacherous mountain passes, in many areas it is a two-lane road and in others it joins a much larger Interstate. Though officially called Highway 50 throughout its route, the name too alters in different regions, often sharing a route number with another road or bearing the name of a historical figure or famous local. And in many towns, Highway 50 is simply known as Main Street.

Though the road has undergone many changes over the years, losing much of its tourism and traffic with the advent of the Interstate system, a description of the route in a 1954 brochure remains surprisingly fitting today: "Above all, Famous Fifty is a pleasure route designed for the enjoyment of America and its varied wealth of history and natural grandeur."

KEY FACTS

Length:
Though signs on either end of the road, in Ocean City, Maryland and West Sacramento, CA, list the distance as 3,073 miles, in actuality it is slightly less because of renumbering that has occurred over the years; by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)'s 1989 count, it now measures 3011 miles.

Route:
Highway 50 begins in Ocean City, Maryland, travels east into Washington, D.C., and through the heart of the capital into Virginia. From Virginia the road heads into West Virginia, crosses the Ohio River into Ohio, and passes through Indiana and Illinois before crossing the Mississippi River into Missouri. Traversing the plains of Kansas, Highway 50 reaches Colorado, where it climbs up into the mountains, reaching its highest point at the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass, then down into vast, flat regions of Utah and Nevada, where it crosses over the state line at South Lake Tahoe and reaches the final state on its route, California.

History:
In its original 1926 form, Highway 50 ran from Annapolis, Maryland to Wadsworth, Nevada. Early on, it was extended along the Lincoln Highway's Pioneer Branch past the south side of Lake Tahoe into California, and several years prior to the opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in 1952, Highway 50 was extended east from Annapolis to Ocean City, which remains the eastern terminus of the route today. By the 1930s, Highway 50 had been extended west to San Francisco, which remained the western end of the route until 1964, when renumbering ended the road at the junction of Interstate 80 in West Sacramento, CA, the present-day western terminus.