Why Is This Harmful Colorado Street Referred to as The Million Greenback Freeway?

Touring by means of the high-octane altitudes of the Colorado Rockies, one encounters winding highways throughout huge swaths of unadulterated pure magnificence pockmarked right here and there by small cities. These highways function a lifeline for the cities they join. But with vehicles navigating inches from sheer cliffside drops on gearbox-grinding grades, Rocky Mountain roads might be as treacherous as they’re stunning .

In a state identified for a few of the curviest roads is a stretch of asphalt referred to by locals because the Million Greenback Freeway. Formally a stretch of U.S. Route 550, it carves a path 20 miles lengthy by means of the San Juan Mountains and is bookended by the cities of Ouray at its north and Silverton at its south. It has been designated one of the crucial harmful roads in America, owing to its sharp switchbacks and hundred-foot drops. Though it sits within the path of 70 avalanche tracks, giant sections of the freeway are needle-narrow and should not have guardrails, and winter circumstances add additional hazards for months every year. Regardless of a 25 mph velocity restrict, there have been 53 crashes on the cross in 2024 alone. The Colorado Division of Transportation disputes the freeway’s characterization as harmful and emphasizes that the views are among the many finest within the area.

Vacationers usually marvel how such a dangerous cross earned such a splendid sobriquet. Whereas the exact reply has been buried beneath the alpine asphalt, a number of explanations have been put forth over time. Listed below are the most typical explanations for why this slice of Route 550 grew to become the Million Greenback Freeway, in addition to which ones line up with the identified info.

Rocky Mountain cities usually make use of charming gildings that function reminders of their historic foundations. Locals in Ouray, the previous mining city on the north finish of the Million Greenback Freeway, have referred to their residence as “the Switzerland of the Rockies” because the late 1800s, across the identical time the Million Greenback Freeway was nicknamed. The story of that colorfully named highway is due to this fact one among embellishment, irrespective of which model of the story you consider. Quite a few explanations have proliferated, their veracity obfuscated by greater than a century of retellings like a coat of ice on the freeway itself.

In response to some, the freeway’s non-public house owners imposed a big toll on drivers, equal to about $150 in right this moment’s cash, and locals acquired within the behavior of claiming the freeway price one million {dollars} to drive on. Others declare that the freeway’s hazardous terrain proved so harrowing for folks arriving in one of many municipalities it connects that they might dismount their vehicles and  — in one more hyperbolic flip  of phrase — declare their intention by no means to make the drive once more, not even for one million {dollars}.

Probably the most literal origin story is that the highway price one million {dollars}, however even right here, there are completely different opinions. Some say one million {dollars} in treasured ore was used as a part of the highway fill, whereas others declare the route incurred that quantity in development prices as a result of problem of constructing it over the Pink Mountain Move and Uncompahgre Gorge. At present, tourism places of work within the surrounding cities will let you know it is due to the “million-dollar views,” whilst they warning drivers to not get distracted by the surroundings.

The historical past of the Million Greenback Freeway clarifies which of its legends have some fact to them. Now a part of the U.S. interstate system on one of many longest highways in America, the highway was constructed by industrialist Otto Mears in 1883. A Russian-born Jewish immigrant, Mears settled in Colorado after preventing for the Union through the Civil Battle. He grew to become a prolific highway builder, recognizing the commerce his routes might facilitate. Not all had been constructed within the public curiosity, nevertheless. Along with charging exorbitant tolls, Meers constructed a highway to facilitate the compelled removing of the White River and Uncompahgre Utes from the world. Extra to our goals right here, among the many toll roads he constructed was an bold freeway from Silverton as much as Ouray  — now often called the Million Greenback Freeway.

The historical past would appear to help the declare that exorbitant tolls led to the highway’s tongue-in-cheek nickname. Charging between $1 and $5, relying on the variety of wagons and horses, Mears profited to the tune of $100,000 or extra, in keeping with some sources, a staggering $3.2 billion in right this moment’s cash. The prices stirred up a lot resentment that Colorado in the end took possession of the freeway. Nevertheless, there isn’t any laborious proof that anybody referred to as it the Million Greenback Freeway due to the tolls. Some sources declare the title really originated at a planning assembly when one man’s math led to a million-dollar determine in whole contracts. Others declare with equal confidence that locals had been so enamored of the highway’s development that they assumed it had price its titular sum. In the end, the thriller of its title stays a part of its million-dollar attraction.