Colorado approaching the western endpoint of US 36 at Deer Ridge Junction in
Rocky Mountain National Park. US Route 36 begins at US 34 at Deer Ridge Junction in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, just west of
Estes Park. It then passes through
Boulder and
Denver on its way to
Kansas. Between Boulder and Denver, the road that is now US 36 was originally built as the
Denver-Boulder Turnpike. It serves today as a major arterial
freeway in the
Front Range Urban Corridor. Between Denver and
Byers, US 36 exists in unsigned overlaps with
I-270 and
I-70, while some parts of its original route are signed separately as
Colorado State Highway 36 (SH 36). After it diverges from I-70 in Byers, US 36 is a relatively lightly traveled two-lane rural highway to the
Kansas state line.
Kansas US-36 passes through all 13 counties in Kansas which border
Nebraska. The highway enters the Sunflower State from Colorado in
Cheyenne County, and leaves the state by crossing the
Missouri River on the
Pony Express Bridges entering Missouri. The section of US-36 from
Washington, Kansas to
St. Joseph, Missouri is officially called the
Pony Express Highway because it marks the starting section of the
Pony Express. It crosses the
Missouri River on the
Pony Express Bridges. From the western junction with K-383 to the Missouri state line, US-36 is part of the
National Highway System. Except for wider sections in towns and passing lanes on hills, US-36 through
Kansas is mostly a two-lane surface road. However some of the principal intersections all along the road are grade-separated
diamond interchanges. From the
Little Blue River just west of the
K-148 junction to the
US-77 North junction just west of the
Big Blue River at Marysville, US-36 is a four-lane divided surface highway. From Hiawatha to west of Wathena, the road is a
two-lane freeway. After passing through Wathena as a surface street (Riverside High School in Wathena fronts the westbound lanes), it becomes a four-lane freeway to the Missouri state line.
Missouri US 36 across Missouri is a four-lane
expressway with some
freeway sections, passing through or near
St. Joseph,
Cameron,
Chillicothe,
Brookfield,
Macon,
Monroe City and
Hannibal. Between
I-35 in Cameron and the
Illinois state line, it runs concurrently
CKC (Route 110) and forms part of the principal route between
Kansas City and
Chicago. Just prior to crossing the
Mark Twain Memorial Bridge, US 36 also encounters the western terminus of
I-72 and all three routes run concurrently into
Illinois.
Illinois In the state of
Illinois, US 36 runs concurrently with much of
I-72. It enters from Missouri across the
Mississippi River on the
Mark Twain Memorial Bridge, and runs east with the concurrency with the
CKC (IL 110) ending when IL 110 diverges to follow
I-172. US 36/I-72 then continue eastward, crossing
I-55 in
Springfield. At the
US 51 bypass in
Decatur, US 36 leaves I-72 and runs due east through downtown Decatur. US 36 then continues east, through
Tuscola and several smaller communities, to the Indiana border.
Indiana US 36 enters Indiana near
Dana in
Vermillion County. It then passes through the towns of
Montezuma,
Rockville,
Bainbridge,
Danville, and
Avon before approaching
Indianapolis. US 36 then joins I-465, traveling around the south side of the city (counter-clockwise in the eastbound direction). East of the city, US 36 exits onto Pendleton Pike and travels northeast. It passes through
Lawrence,
McCordsville, and
Fortville before passing around the east side of
Pendleton, where the route turns east. The route then travels mostly in a straight line, passing through
Sulphur Springs,
Losantville,
Modoc, and
Lynn before entering Ohio. The former routing through Indianapolis consisted of Rockville Road,
Washington Street, West Street/Michigan Road (the latter once Northwestern Avenue, now
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street), 38th Street, and Pendleton Pike.
Ohio US 36 enters Ohio in
Darke County near the small village of
Palestine, after which it passes through Darke,
Miami,
Champaign,
Union,
Delaware,
Knox, and
Coshocton counties before reaching its terminus at
Uhrichsville in
Tuscarawas County. It travels concurrent with
US 127 in
Greenville for about . Within the state, US 36 is classified as 83.1% rural and 16.9% urban with only coded as freeway (out of total). It also travels concurrent with
US 33 in
Marysville for about . The Birthplace of
Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th
President of the United States, 17 E. William St.,
Delaware, is on the north side of US 36, approximately west of the
US 23 overpass. The home was demolished in 1926 and the location is marked with a historical monument. ==Major intersections==