U.S. Highway 34
US 34 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NDOT
Length	387.83 mi[1] (624.15 km)
Existed	1934[2]–present
Major junctions
West end	US 34 at Colorado state line
Major intersections	US 6 between Culbertson and Hastings US 83 in McCook US 283 in Arapahoe US 136 near Edison US 183 in Holdrege US 281 between Hastings and Grand Island I-80 near Grand Island US 81 in York I-80 / I-180 / US 77 in Lincoln US 75 from Union to south of Offutt AFB
East end	US 34 at Iowa state line
Location
Country	United States
State	Nebraska
Counties	Dundy, Hitchcock, Red Willow, Furnas, Harlan, Phelps, Kearney, Adams, Hall, Merrick, Hamilton, York, Seward, Lancaster, Cass, Sarpy
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Special Divided Nebraska State Highway System Interstate US State Link Spur State Spurs Recreation
← N-33 → N-35

In the U.S. state of Nebraska, U.S. Highway 34 is a highway which goes between the Colorado border west of Haigler to the Iowa border east of Plattsmouth. Between Culbertson and Hastings, U.S. 34 overlaps U.S. Highway 6. From Grand Island to Lincoln, U.S. 34 has been replaced by Interstate 80 as a high-speed corridor and mostly serves local traffic. On this portion of the highway, U.S. 34 is continuously north of Interstate 80. Within Lincoln, U.S. 34 runs concurrent with all of Interstate 180, and much of it follows O Street.

Route description

U.S. Highway 34 begins west of Haigler. At Haigler, it meets Nebraska Highway 27, which connects with K-27 in Kansas. It continues east to Benkelman, where it intersects and overlaps with Nebraska Highway 61 and briefly turns north. After leaving Benkelman, the overlap ends, and U.S. 34 continues northeast through Max and Stratton before meeting Nebraska Highway 25 in Trenton. Before reaching Culbertson, it intersects U.S. Highway 6.^[1][3]

U.S. 34 and U.S. 6 then pass through Culbertson, where they intersect Nebraska Highway 17. They go east together through McCook, where they meet U.S. Highway 83 and briefly overlap. They continue east through Indianola and Bartley, and at Cambridge, intersect the southern segment of Nebraska Highway 47. After passing through Holbrook, they intersect U.S. Highway 283 in Arapahoe.^[1][3]

After Arapahoe, U.S. 34 and U.S. 6 continue east, intersecting U.S. Highway 136, Nebraska Highway 46 and Nebraska Highway 4 before turning northeast. After passing through Atlanta, they meet Nebraska Highway 23 and U.S. Highway 183 in Holdrege. They continue northeasterly through Funk before intersecting and overlapping Nebraska Highway 44 through Axtell. They then continue through Minden, where they intersect Nebraska Highway 10. They continue going northeast through Heartwell, where the road turns due east. At Hastings, U.S. 34 and U.S. 6 intersect U.S. Highway 281, and U.S. 34 then turns north with U.S. 281. U.S. 34 and U.S. 281 then follow a divided highway north to Grand Island, intersecting Interstate 80 south of Grand Island near its crossing of the Platte River. At the southern end of Grand Island, U.S. 34 ends its overlap with U.S. 281 and turns east, overlapping the western segment of Nebraska Highway 2.^[1][3]

U.S. 34 and Nebraska Highway 2 continue east through the southern portion of Grand Island, where they briefly enter Merrick County while crossing the Platte River. The two highways end their overlap shortly after this crossing. U.S. 34 then continues east through Aurora and intersecting Nebraska Highway 14 there. It then passes through Hampton and Bradshaw before meeting U.S. Highway 81 in York. After passing through Waco, U.S. 34 then intersects Nebraska Highway 69. It then continues through Utica and Tamora before meeting Nebraska Highway 15 in Seward. U.S. 34 continues east and becomes a divided highway when it intersects Nebraska Highway 79.

U.S. 34 passes north of the Lincoln Airport as the Purple Heart Highway before it curves south towards downtown Lincoln and intersects with Interstate 80 and U.S. Highway 77. At I-80, a new overlap begins with Interstate 180, which overlaps U.S. 34 for its entire length to downtown. U.S. 34 then becomes a pair of one-way streets, North 9th Street and North 10th Streets, where Interstate 180 ends. U.S. 34 turns east on "O" Street in downtown Lincoln just a few blocks later.^[1][3]

U.S. 34 then continues due east from Lincoln, intersecting Nebraska Highway 43 in Eagle. It then intersects Nebraska Highway 63 east of Eagle and then Nebraska Highway 1 near Elmwood. It then intersects Nebraska Highway 50 and Nebraska Highway 67 before passing through Union. It then turns north with U.S. 75, intersects Nebraska Highway 1 again near Murray, and then intersects Nebraska Highway 66 in Plattsmouth. It then passes through Plattsmouth and over the Platte River, then splits from U.S. 75 just south of Bellevue, turning east where it enters Iowa.^[4]

History

U.S. 34 was realigned onto a new divided highway northwest of Lincoln in late 1963, shortly after the opening of I-180, which was also incorporated into U.S. 34. The highway's former alignment was demolished to make way for an expansion of the Lincoln Air Force Base (now Lincoln Airport).^[5] In 1997, this 4-mile (6.4 km) section of U.S. 34 was designated as the Purple Heart Highway.^[6]

Prior to 2014, U.S. 34 entered Iowa at the Plattsmouth Bridge east of Plattsmouth.^[1][3] A new bridge was built near La Platte and opened to traffic on October 22, 2014, bringing it more in line with the current U.S. 34 alignment near Glenwood, Iowa.^[7][4]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Dundy	​	0.00	0.00		US 34 west – Wray	Continuation into Colorado
	Haigler	7.50	12.07		N-27 south – St. Francis
	Benkelman	28.51	45.88		N-61 south – Bird City	Western end of N-61 overlap
		31.49	50.68		N-61 north – Imperial	Eastern end of N-61 overlap
Hitchcock	Trenton	60.88	97.98		N-25 (Main Street) – Hayes Center, Atwood
	​	68.24	109.82		US 6 west – Palisade, Imperial	Western end of US 6 overlap
	​	68.65	110.48		L-44C west
	Culbertson	71.16	114.52		N-17 south – Herndon
Red Willow	McCook	81.91	131.82		US 83 north – North Platte	Western end of US 83 overlap
		83.34	134.12		US 83 south (6th Street) – Oberlin	Eastern end of US 83 overlap
Furnas	Cambridge	108.51	174.63		N-47 south (Patterson Street)
	Arapahoe	122.99	197.93		US 283 (Nebraska Avenue) – Elwood, Norton
	​	129.19	207.91		US 136 east – Edison, Oxford
	​	137.12	220.67		N-46 south – Oxford
Harlan	​	141.59	227.87		N-4 east – Beatrice
Phelps	Holdrege	154.29	248.31		N-23 west (4th Avenue)
		154.89	249.27		US 183 (Burlington Street)
Kearney	Axtell	166.73	268.33		N-44 south (21 Road)	Western end of N-44 overlap
		170.81	274.89		N-44 north (25 Road)	Eastern end of N-44 overlap
	Minden	177.91	286.32		N-10 (Brown Avenue) / Oregon National Historic Trail / California National Historic Trail / Pony Express National Historic Trail
Adams	Kenesaw	194.53	313.07		S-1A north (Smith Way)
	Juniata	202.51	325.91		S-1B north (Juniata Avenue)
	Hastings	206.01	331.54		S-1C north
		208.00	334.74		US 281 south (Baltimore Avenue) / Oregon National Historic Trail / California National Historic Trail / Pony Express National Historic Trail	Western end of US 281 overlap
		208.50	335.55		US 6 east (J Street)	Eastern end of US 6 overlap
	Trumbull	216.73	348.79		S-1D east
Hall	​	226.15	363.95		I-80	Exit 312 along I-80
	Grand Island	230.83	371.48		US 281 north / N-2 west	Eastern end of US 281 overlap, western end of N-2 overlap
Merrick	​	236.50	380.61	Bridge over Platte River
Hamilton	​	237.48	382.19		N-2 east	Eastern end of N-2 overlap
	Phillips	240.01	386.26		S-41A north (Phillips Spur)
	Giltner	243.50	391.88		S-41B south (Giltner Spur)
	Aurora	251.46	404.69		N-14 (16th Street)
	Hampton	257.50	414.41		L-41D south (W Road)
York	Henderson	261.63	421.05		S-93A north (Road B)
	York	271.67	437.21		US 81 south	Western end of US 81 overlap
		273.07	439.46		US 81 north	Eastern end of US 81 overlap
	Waco	280.21	450.95		L-93B south (Road S)
		283.20	455.77		N-69 north (Road V)
Seward	Utica	286.16	460.53		L-80F south (Centennial Avenue)
	Tamora	293.19	471.84		L-80G south
	Seward	299.38	481.81		N-15 (6th Street)
	Garland	305.76	492.07		S-80D north
Lancaster	Malcolm	314.12	505.53		S-55M north
	Lincoln	316.27	508.99		N-79 north (NW 56th Street)
		317.61	511.14		S-55C south (NW 31st Street)
		317.92	511.64		NW 27th Street	Interchange; westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		320.71	516.13	401C-D	I-80 / US 77 / I-180 begins – Omaha, Lincoln Airport	Western end of I-180 overlap; exit numbers based on I-80 mileage; signed as 401C (west) and 401D (east)
		321.12	516.79	1	Superior Street	Exit numbers follow I-180
		322.48	518.98	2	To US 6 (Cornhusker Highway) – Lincoln Airport
		323.90	521.27		I-180 ends / R Street	Eastern end of I-180 overlap
		323.98	521.40		10th Street – UNL, Stadium	Interchange; westbound exit and eastbound entrance
Cass	Eagle	338.90	545.41		N-43 south (214th Street)
		340.91	548.64		N-63 north (238th Street)
	Elmwood	345.89	556.66		N-1 east (298th Street)
	​	351.92	566.36		N-50
	Avoca	354.93	571.20		S-13C south (132nd Street)
	​	360.92	580.84		N-67 south (60th Street)
	Nehawka	361.90	582.42		S-13D north (48th Street)
	Union	365.93	588.91		US 75 south	Western end of US 75 overlap
	Murray	372.97	600.24		N-1 west
	Plattsmouth	379.00	609.94		N-66
	​	382.02	614.80	—	Webster Boulevard / Bay Road – Plattsmouth	Western end of freeway
Platte River		383.17	616.65	Bridge
Sarpy	​	384.89	619.42		US 75 north (Kennedy Freeway north)	Interchange; eastern end of US 75 overlap; eastern end of freeway section
Missouri River		387.83	624.15	Nebraska–Iowa line
					US 34 east	Continuation into Iowa
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

See also

• U.S. Route 34
• Interstate 180 (Nebraska)

References