Colorado State Highway 88

State Highway 88 (SH 88) is a 21.734-mile-long (34.977 km) state highway in Denver and Arapahoe counties within the U.S. state of Colorado. SH 88's northern terminus is at Interstate 70 Business (I-70 Bus.), U.S. Route 40 (US 40) and US 287 in Denver, and the eastern terminus is at SH 83 in Aurora.

State Highway 88
SH 88 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by CDOT
Length	21.734 mi[1] (34.977 km)
Major junctions
North end	I-70 BL / US 40 / US 287 in Denver
	US 6 in Denver US 285 in Sheridan US 85 in Englewood I-25 / US 87 in Greenwood Village
East end	SH 83 in Aurora
Location
Counties	Denver, Arapahoe
Highway system
Colorado State Highways Interstate U.S. State Scenic ← US 87 → SH 89

Route description

SH 88 is a 21.7 mile (34.9 km) long highway, starting at a cloverleaf intersection at Colfax Avenue (U.S. Route 40) and Federal Boulevard in Denver. It starts as a six lane highway going south with a 35 mph speed limit. It then interchanges with the 6th Avenue Freeway (US 6) before passing through the west Denver neighborhoods. Continuing south, it interchanges at US 285's final exit as a freeway entering Sheridan. It then turns east on Belleview with three lanes in each direction and a 40 mph speed limit. It passes under US 85 and goes through another neighborhood with two lanes in each direction approaching Greenwood Village. The route enters the Denver Tech Center and becomes concurrent with Interstate 25 from exit 199 to exit 197 at Arapahoe Road. SH-88 continues east with a 40 mph speed limit on Arapahoe Road with three lanes in each direction passing through Centennial and north of Centennial Airport with a 55 mph speed limit until it reaches its eastern terminus at Parker Road (State Highway 83) in Foxfield.

History

SH 88 was an original 1920's highway that originally ran along Belleview from Broadway to Parker Road in Greenwood Village. In 1939, it was extended east along Quincy Avenue into the now defunct Lowry Field Bombing Range until 1954. The western extension to Santa Fe (US 85) was completed by 1956.

Cherry creek reservoir construction

Construction of the dam didn't start until 1948. Before that, there was an old wooden bridge that passed over cherry creek until it was destroyed in a fire in which the state abandoned the road. However, state maps still showed the section of Belleview by 1958.

Present day

In 1959, the section along Arapahoe road was added, originally as a gravel road and it wasn't paved until 1961. The section of Federal Blvd in Sheridan was originally signed as SH 75 and was renumbered to SH 88 in 1968. Arapahoe Road didn't become an expressway until it was built east to Peoria Street in 1977 and the final stretch to SH 83 (Parker Rd.) wasn't finished until 1990. The intersection of Arapahoe Road and Parker Road used to have a triple left going from eastbound to northbound and was one of the most congested intersections in the Denver Metro Area. It was later upgraded to an interchange where Parker Road now continues north without stopping. The interchange was completed in 2012.[2]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
City and County of Denver		0.000	0.000		I-70 BL / US 40 / US 287 (Colfax Avenue)	Interchange; Northern terminus, Road continues north as U.S. 287
		1.090	1.754		US 6 (Sixth Avenue)	Interchange; access to US 6 east via Fifth Avenue
		1.978	3.183		SH 26 (Alameda Avenue)
Arapahoe	Sheridan	5.973	9.613		US 285	Interchange; signage changes from north/south to east/west
	Englewood	8.711	14.019		US 85	Single-point urban interchange
	Cherry Hills Village–Greenwood Village line	11.560	18.604		SH 177 (University Boulevard)
	Greenwood Village	14.709	23.672	199	I-25 north / US 87 / Belleview Avenue east – Denver	Western terminus of concurrency with I-25/ US-87; Eastern terminus of concurrency with Belleview Avenue; I-25 exit 199
		15.5	24.9	198	Orchard Road	I-25 exit 198
		16.7	26.9	197	I-25 south / US 87 / Arapahoe Road west – Colorado Springs	Eastern terminus of concurrency with I-25/U.S.-87; Western end of concurrency with Arapahoe road; I-25 exit 197
	Aurora	21.734	34.977		SH 83 (Parker Road)	Interchange; eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus             Incomplete access       Route transition

References

1. "Segment list for SH 88". Retrieved January 21, 2011.
2. Salek, Matthew E. "Colorado Routes 80-99". Retrieved November 11, 2020.