Texas (El Paso) US 54 begins in
El Paso at
Loop 375 downtown (US 54/Patriot Freeway). The highway serves as a major
freeway for the Metro area's network, running north–south along the city's eastern slope of the
Franklin Mountains range. The highway runs through the city for approximately before reaching the
New Mexico state line. Within the network, it is a military connector for
Fort Bliss and
Holloman Air Force Base.
New Mexico US 54 enters
New Mexico in
Chaparral as part of the
El Paso, Texas Metro area network. It also serves as a military highway to connect
Fort Bliss in El Paso to
Holloman Air Force Base in
Alamogordo, New Mexico (via
U.S. Route 70). The speed limit is 75 mph on the divided highway section upon entering the state to approximately south of Alamogordo, with a 35 mph zone in
Orogrande. Upon entering Alamogordo, US 54 becomes concurrent with
U.S. Route 70. US 54/US 70 then intersects the beginning of
U.S. Route 82 at the north end of Alamogordo (near
La Luz). The limit is 60 mph from Alamogordo to
Tularosa and 55 mph north of Tularosa, where the concurrency with US 70 ends, and the highway reverts to being two lanes wide and not divided. The highway runs north through the central portion of the state, passing through
Carrizozo and intersecting
U.S. Route 380. The route then turns northeast before passing through
Vaughn. Upon entering Vaughn, the route is briefly concurrent with
U.S. Route 60 and
U.S. Route 285. In Vaughn, US 285 splits off to the south. Exiting Vaughn, US 60 splits off to the southeast, and the route continues northeast to
Santa Rosa where it becomes concurrent with
Interstate 40. The I-40 concurrency lasts for to
Tucumcari. The highway then exits the state back into
Texas at
Nara Visa. The highway runs for in New Mexico, and is signed as a north–south route through the state.
Texas (Panhandle) The highway re-enters the
Texas Panhandle just beyond Nara Visa, New Mexico, and continues northeast for to the Oklahoma border. Major Texas cities along US 54 in the panhandle are
Dalhart and
Stratford.
Oklahoma US 54 runs through the
Oklahoma Panhandle from southwest to northeast. It enters at
Texhoma, then continues northeast through
Goodwell before entering
Guymon. In Guymon, it intersects
US 412 and begins a concurrency with
US-64. It goes northeast through
Optima and
Hooker, where US 64 turns east. After going northeast through
Tyrone, it enters Kansas just before entering Liberal, Kansas.
Kansas US 54 enters the state from Oklahoma in
Seward County, and travels through the cities of
Liberal and
Plains, where it runs concurrently with
US 160 in
Meade County. Just east of the city of
Meade, US 54 splits from US 160 and continues in a northeasterly direction through Meade and
Ford counties before beginning a long concurrency with
US 400 in
Mullinville in
Kiowa County. The highway then travels through the town of
Greensburg and continues as a two-lane road through
Pratt,
Cunningham, and
Kingman. At Pratt, the Union Pacific railroad tracks which paralleled the highway for over from El Paso turn to the northeast (towards Topeka) and leave US 54. The road becomes a divided highway in eastern
Kingman County. From Kingman to Garden Plain in
Sedgwick County it is a freeway but becomes an at-grade expressway as it passes through Goddard and approaches Wichita. The freeway resumes as the road crosses the city limits of Wichita near
Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. In Wichita, US 54/US 400 is known as
Kellogg Avenue, and has junctions with
I-235,
I-135 and
I-35, the
Kansas Turnpike, before a junction with
K-96. The Kellogg Avenue freeway has six lanes and extends from 111th Street on the west side of Wichita to Zelta just after the I-35/Kansas Turnpike interchange on the east side. Upgrading of Kellogg Avenue from a surface arterial to a freeway has been underway since the mid-1980s, with the latest interchange project opening in late 2019. The road gets its name from Milo Bailey Kellogg, a shopkeeper and Civil War veteran who was the city's first civilian postmaster in 1870. The concurrency of US 54 and US 400 continues through
Augusta in
Butler County before US 400 heads east toward the
Missouri state line, while US 54 forms a brief concurrency with
US 77 through
El Dorado. At El Dorado, US 54 continues its easterly course through rural areas in
Greenwood and
Woodson counties before passing through the cities of
Iola and
Fort Scott; US 77 heads north to
Junction City. US 54 exits Kansas in
Bourbon County before reaching
Nevada, Missouri.
Missouri In Missouri, US 54 runs from the southwest portion of the state to the northeast. It is a major conduit through the
Ozarks and is the primary access road to
Pomme de Terre Lake and
Lake of the Ozarks. After entering the state it passes through
Nevada,
El Dorado Springs,
Hermitage, crossing Lake of the Ozarks the first time just north of
Ha Ha Tonka State Park. It passes through
Camdenton and crosses the lake a second time on the
Grand Glaize Bridge at
Osage Beach before bypassing
Eldon and going through
Jefferson City, where it crosses the
Missouri River via the
Jefferson City Bridge and briefly overlaps
U.S. Route 63. Just north of the bridge, it splits passing through
Fulton, crossing
Interstate 70 at
Kingdom City, bypassing
Mexico, sharing a concurrency with
Highway 19 through
Laddonia, passing just north of
Vandalia, and ultimately crossing the
Mississippi River via the
Champ Clark Bridge into
Illinois at
Louisiana.
Illinois In the state of
Illinois, U.S. 54 runs from the Champ Clark Bridge over the
Mississippi River to its terminus at
Interstate 72 southwest of
Griggsville. Before the eastern terminus was cut back to I-72, U.S. 54 continued northeast via several existing roads, including the current
Illinois Route 54,
Illinois Route 50, and Governors' Highway, into downtown
Chicago, where it ended at Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. It is a rural, two-lane surface street for its entire length in Illinois. In the state of Illinois, U.S. 54 is long. == History ==