U.S. Route 385 (US 385) is a spur of U.S. Route 85 that runs for 1,206 miles (1,941 km) from Deadwood, South Dakota to

Big Bend National Park Big Bend National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in West Texas, bordering Mexico. The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topograph ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Route description

, - , TX , 545 , 877 , - , OK , 36 , 58 , - , CO , 317 , 510 , - , NE , 181 , 290 , - , SD , 122 , 196 , - , Total , 1206 , 1941

Texas

US 385 is designated as a part of the

La Entrada al Pacifico LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

trade corridor from

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...

in Fort Stockton to Interstate 20 in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

. The section from Fort Stockton to McCamey runs concurrently with US 67. From McCamey, the route proceeds to Crane in Crane County. From Crane to Odessa, US 385 intersects with U.S. Highway 62 in

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

and continues northward to Brownfield, where US 385 continues northward towards Levelland and crosses by Texas State Highway 86 in Dimmitt, as well as U.S. Highway 84 in Littlefield. From Littlefield, US 385 continues northward until it crosses

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

and then goes in a half circle to Hartley, where US 385 joins U.S. Highway 87. US 385 and US 87 follow a northwest track until the two meet U.S. Highway 54 then split, with US 385 continuing northward until it exits Texas at the

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

border. On rural US 385, the speed limit is 75 mph in all counties going south of Gaines County starting between Seminole and Andrews down to US 90 in Marathon.

Oklahoma

, US-385 runs through Cimarron County at the end of the Oklahoma panhandle. Fourteen miles north of the border, it joins with US-56, US-64, and US-412. The three highways run northeast into the county seat, Boise City. In the middle of town, the highways come to a traffic circle surrounding the Cimarron County Courthouse. The traffic circle serves six highways (with most passing through): U.S. Routes 56, 64, 385 and 412, and State Highways 3 and 325. After leaving the circle, US-385 heads northward, overlapping US-287 and SH-3, the state's longest state highway. SH-3 ends at the state line while US-287/385 continue north into Colorado. The section of US-385 that overlaps SH-3 is also signed as Governor George Nigh's Northwest Passage, after the governor of Oklahoma responsible for improvements to the corridor.

Colorado

U.S. 385 passes north–south through the easternmost counties of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. It enters the state south of Campo on an overlap with U.S. Route 287. The overlap continues north until Lamar. At Lamar, the route turns east on an overlap with

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...

and this overlap ends in

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

. The highway turns north at Granada and meets

Interstate 70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15, I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to Interstate 695 (Maryland), I-695 and Maryland Route 570 (MD 570) in Woodlawn, Baltimo ...

at Burlington and Interstate 76 at Julesburg. The highway leaves Colorado northwest of Julesburg.

Nebraska

U.S. 385 passes north–south through the Nebraska Panhandle. It enters

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

south of Chappell and overlaps U.S. Route 30 between Chappell and Sidney. At Sidney, it turns north, meeting U.S. Route 26 at Bridgeport. It passes through

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

before intersecting U.S. Route 20 at Chadron. It exits the state northwest of Chadron. Throughout its entire length in Nebraska, US 385 is known as the Gold Rush Byway, one of nine scenic byways in the state.

South Dakota

U.S. 385 enters

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

south of Oelrichs. It is overlapped with U.S. Route 18 between Oelrichs and

Hot Springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

. U.S. 385 turns north and enters

Wind Cave National Park Wind Cave National Park is a national park of the United States located north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota. Established on January 3, 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was the sixth national park in the U.S. and t ...

before turning west to go through Pringle. At Custer, it begins an overlap with U.S. Route 16, which ends near Hill City. U.S. 385 gradually turns in a northwesterly direction and ends at an intersection with U.S. Route 85 at Deadwood. Legally, the South Dakota section of U.S. 385, with the exception of concurrencies with U.S. 16 and U.S. 18 and a gap at

, is defined at South Dakota Codified Laws § 31-4-235.

History

Today's US 385 is the second route to bear the number. The original route eventually became part of US 87. This US 385 designation was decommissioned around 1935. The current US 385 first appeared in 1959. Originally, the route continued along US 287 north of Lamar, Colorado, splitting in Kit Carson to follow US 40 east to meet up with the present-day alignment in Cheyenne Wells. In

, in 2009, the South Dakota Department of Transportation designated US 16/US 385 between Custer and Hill City, which passes by the Crazy Horse Memorial, now being carved in the Black Hills. This segment of US 385 is also a part of the

George Hearst George Hearst (September 3, 1820 – February 28, 1891) was an American businessman, politician, and patriarch of the Hearst family, Hearst business dynasty. After growing up on a small farm in Missouri, he founded many mining operations a ...

Memorial Highway.

Major intersections

;Texas : The north entrance to

south-southeast of

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

: in Marathon. The highways travel concurrently to east of Marathon. : in Fort Stockton. The highways travel concurrently through Fort Stockton. : in Fort Stockton. I-10/US 385 travels concurrently to east-southeast of Fort Stockton. US 67/US 385 travels concurrently to McCamey. : in

: in

. US 62/US 385 travels concurrently to Brownfield. : in Brownfield. The highways travel concurrently through Brownfield. : in Littlefield : in Springlake : in

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

: in

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and ...

: in Hartley. The highways travel concurrently to Dalhart. : in Dalhart ;Oklahoma : southwest of Boise City. The highways travel concurrently to Boise City. : north of Boise City. The highways travel concurrently to Lamar, Colorado. ;Colorado : south of Springfield : in Lamar. US 50/US 385 travels concurrently to

. : in Granada : in Cheyenne Wells. The highways travel concurrently to east of Cheyenne Wells. : in Burlington : in Burlington. The highways travel concurrently through Burlington. : east of Idalia. The highways travel concurrently to northeast of Idalia. : in Wray : in

Holyoke Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,247. Loca ...

: in Julesburg : in Julesburg. The highways travel concurrently to west-southwest of Julesburg. ;Nebraska : in Chappell. The highways travel concurrently to Sidney. : in Bridgeport. The highways travel concurrently to Northport. : in Chadron. The highways travel concurrently to west of Chadron. ;South Dakota : in Oelrichs. The highways travel concurrently to

. : in Custer. The highways travel concurrently to east-northeast of Hill City. : in Deadwood

References

External links

Endpoints of U.S. Highway 385
{{DEFAULTSORT:85-3 United States Numbered Highway System U.S. Highways in South Dakota U.S. Highways in Oklahoma 3