Colorado State Highway 17

State Highway 17
290x172px Map of southern Colorado with SH 17 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by CDOT
Length:	88.5 mi (142.4 km)
Major junctions
South end:	NM 17 at New Mexico state line
	US 285 in Antonito US 160 in Alamosa SH 112 near Hooper
North end:	US 285 south of Villa Grove
Location
Counties:	Archuleta, Conejos, Alamosa, Saguache
Highway system
Colorado State Highways Interstate U.S. State ← SH 16 SH 21 →

State Highway 17 is a 88.5 mi (142.4 km) long state highway in southern Colorado.

Route description

SH 17 is officially split into two parts by a stretch of concurrence with U.S. Highway 285. The first part of the route begins in the south at the New Mexico state line where the road becomes New Mexico State Road 17. From the state line the road proceeds in a winding, generally easterly path over the San Juan Mountains via Cumbres Pass and La Manga Pass, both over 10,000 ft (3,000 m) in elevation. Along this section, the road offers access to Rio Grande National Forest and the many recreational activities it offers. After leaving the national forest, the road continues east for approximately 13 more miles before merging with US 285 at Antonito. From Antonito, SH 17 runs northward concurrent with US 285 for just over thirty miles to the city of Alamosa. At Alamosa, the second part of SH 17 begins after the road splits from US 285. From there, the road proceeds northward up the middle of the San Luis Valley between the Sangre de Christo Mountains in the east and the San Juan Mountains to the west. The route passes through the towns of Mosca, Hooper (where the road meets the eastern end of State Highway 112) and Moffat before reaching its northern terminus where it again meets US 285 roughly five miles south of Villa Grove.

File:ChicoClosedBasin.jpg

View from Highway 17 between Moffat and Hooper

History

When the route was established in 1920s, the route was broken into two sections. The road began at Pagosa Springs and began southeast and disappeared as the route ended at the New Mexico state line. The route then reappeared northeast and terminated at SH 15 (now moved) near Mineral Hot Springs. Within the northeast segment, the route from Antonito to Alamosa was paved by 1936. The portion of the eastern segment from the New Mexico state line to Antonito was deleted and readded by 1938 and 1946, respectively. The rest of the route, not included the segment from New Mexico to Antonito, was paved by 1954. In 1968, the sections of the highway that were concurrent with other highways were eliminated, leaving the two segments existent now. The route was paved by 1970.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Archuleta	​	0.00	0.00	NM 17
Conejos	Antonito	39.05	62.84	US 285	South end of US 285 overlap
Alamosa	Alamosa	69.02	111.08	US 285 / US 160	North end of US 285 overlap
Saguache	Hooper	88.19	141.93	SH 112
	Mineral Hot Springs	118.86	191.29	US 285
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

On the south side of Moffat there is a crossroads with Saguache County Road T. Crestone is 12.5 miles (20.1 km) east.

Gallery

• Colorado17Moffat.JPG

  Highway 17 looking north toward Moffat from near Road T

Footnotes

^ a: The section of SH 17 which runs concurrent to US 285 is maintained with federal rather than state funds and is therefore not counted by the Colorado Department of Transportation in the road's official 88.5 mile length; the total end-to-end length including this segment is 118.8 mi (191.2 km).