US 50 highlighted in red | ||||
Route information | ||||
Maintained by Caltrans | ||||
Length | 108.624 mi[1] (174.813 km) | |||
Existed | 1926–present | |||
Tourist routes | ![]() | |||
Major junctions | ||||
West end | ![]() | |||
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East end | ![]() | |||
Location | ||||
Country | United States | |||
State | California | |||
Counties | Yolo, Sacramento, El Dorado | |||
Highway system | ||||
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U.S. Route 50 (US 50) is a transcontinental United States Numbered Highway, stretching from West Sacramento, California, in the west to Ocean City, Maryland, in the east. The California portion of US 50 runs east from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento to the Nevada state line in South Lake Tahoe. A portion in Sacramento also has the unsigned designation of Interstate 305. The western half of the highway in California is a four-or-more-lane divided highway, mostly built to freeway standards, and known as the El Dorado Freeway outside of downtown Sacramento. US 50 continues as an undivided highway with one eastbound lane and two westbound lanes until the route reaches the canyon of the South Fork American River at Riverton. The remainder of the highway, which climbs along and out of the canyon, then over the Sierra Nevada at Echo Summit and into the Lake Tahoe Basin, is primarily a two-lane road.
The US 50 corridor is a historic one, used by many 49ers who came to California during the Gold Rush as well as the Pony Express. In 1895, part of the present-day route was designated as California's first state highway, and it was later designated as one of two routes of the Lincoln Highway across the Sierra Nevada. Much of US 50 was constructed during the initial construction of the California state highway system.
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