Roadtrippin' Colorado Style

US 85 goes around, literally, the Fort Vasquez Museum. This used to be white man's safe haven from those indian types who wandered the plains. (P.C., aren't I?)

Not sure why the buffalo, but at least the sclpture looks nice.

This is the eastern END! of SH 66, located in beautiful "downtown" Platteville.

A new traffic signal installation in Platteville. Even frontage roads get signals 'round these parts.

The next distance marker we get to see. LaSalle is a tiny community, while Evans is essentially a suburb of Greeley.

There goes the neighborhood!

The railroad lines parallel 85 for most of its journey north from Denver to Greeley and points north.

This part of the tracks is often used for stopping points for trains...

...so many of these crossings get blocked for extended periods. Also note our next state highway intersection.

Superfulous JCT sign just after the one in the previous picture.

And here's the western END! of SH 60. There's a CDOT maintenance shed on this corner, too.

Approaching Gilcrest, home of the speed trap.

When the sign sez 50, you best do it through here. I'm going slower for no apparaent reason.

Now for the good deed of the day from me to you: 90% of the time while traveling through here, one to two police cruisers will be sitting at this gas station, waiting for unsuspecting speeders. Since these officers have nothing better to do with their day, they'll pull you over for doing 53 in a 50. You've been warned.

A bad shot of overkill protection of a stop sign on the frontage road.

So I saw a yellow speed limit sign off of 85, but I wasn't in the right lane to exit. So I took the next road to double back, and came across this specimen. The camera has better vision than me: I couldn't see what was below the 20 at all.

Here's that yellow speed limit sign I was talking about.

A perspective shot of the sign and its surroundings.

Headed back to US 85, we encounter this sign. Because the first intersection with 85 and the road we're on is so complex because of a frontage road, CDOT recommends coming out here to keep heading north.

Back on 85 now. Let's encounter our next state highway.

And here's the END! of SH 256, which is a short connector route from 85 to Johnstown.

Just before LaSalle, 85 goes over a branch of the railroad tracks...

...and immediately has its speed limit drop on the downhill side of the bridge. LaSalle police like this section, too. I wonder why.

Now into LaSalle. LaSalle is a one traffic light town on the way into Greeley. Its only major claim to fame is when one gas station's underground tanks leaked and contaminated the soil of an entire city block. There's still issues surrounding that to this day.

Seen between LaSalle and Greeley. This CR is completely out of the numbering scheme, so I was wondering if this used to be a state route. Researching this turned up nothing, though.

Just before Evans, we cross over the South Platte River, mistakenly identified here as just the Platte River. This is a long bridge and it sees many accidents when we get ice or snow storms up here.

This is my favorite 7-11 to fill up at in the Greeley/Evans area. It's way too easy to jump back onto 85 utilizing the frontage road.

Approaching the next to last intersection in Evans on 85. Frontage roads are on both sides of 85 here, and they are both signalized at this intersection. This leads to one long light cycle here.

Old No Right U Turn sign. This is a legitimate install of this sign, since there's a frontage road that trucks could potentially turn down. I'd hate to see an 18-wheeler try to navigate that turn, though.

Alright, we've hit the interchange mess of US 85 and US 34. This is a big, complex interchange that some civil engineer somewhere screwed up. Because of the complexity of this interchange, I have elected to enlist the help of Google Maps in my documentation of it. Ready to see this mess? (You'll definitely need to have JavaScript turned on to see the map.) The other pictures I've taken up here will continue below, and there's a link on the map page that'll take you back to this point, too.

Old road, old lights. Seen on Bus 85 at 27th Street.

Greeley, Colorado is home to the University of Northern Colorado. That's supposed to be a bear in silhouette there, don't know how close that is.

Contrary to the added-in arrow, Bus 34 West only turns north here. And check out that snazzy mast arm for the traffic lights!

None of the business routes through Greeley are really marked with the Business tag. This reassuarance shield even gets the dubious honor of being on an odd-shaped shield.

Bouncing over a usually busy railroad track (the same one that parallels 85 from here to Denver) on EB Bus 34.

Here's the intersection of Bus 34 and US 85. Not too special, huh?

This sign is at this corner. Now that you've seen the intersection's configuration, I bet you understand the restriction.

Now on WB 34 after the mess with 85. Check out this abandoned ramp!

Here's a shot of the exit part of that abandoned ramp while heading east on 34.

A close up of the chain used to stop traffic. Why do I think emergency vehicles can still use this?

And the merge, if you want to call it that, of the abandoned ramp.

That's a lot of info to place on one mast arm, especially at that small of a font.

One way new traffic light mast arms are being attached to the poles. I'm assuming that this is a lot sturdier than it looks.

These vertical poles on this new traffic signal installation are huge! That's a usual-sized pedestrian button there.

An interesting font on this RR crossbuck.

Note to travelers in the older parts of Greeley: don't cut your corners. This is seen more often than not in the areas surrounding UNC.