US Route 36 begins at US 34 at Deer Ridge Junction in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, just west of Estes Park. It then passes through Boulder and Denver on its way to Kansas. Between Boulder and Denver, the road that is now US 36 was originally built as the Denver-Boulder Turnpike. It serves today as a major arterial freeway in the Front Range Urban Corridor. Between Denver and Byers, US 36 exists in unsigned overlaps with I-270 and I-70, while some parts of its original route are signed separately as Colorado State Highway 36. After it diverges from I-70 in Byers, US 36 is a relatively lightly-traveled two-lane rural highway to the Kansas state line.
Kansas
US-36 passes through all 13 counties in Kansas which border Nebraska. The highway enters the Sunflower State from Colorado in Cheyenne County, and leaves the state by crossing the Missouri River on the Pony Express Bridges entering Missouri. The section of US-36 from Washington, Kansas to St. Joseph, Missouri is officially called the Pony Express Highway because it marks the starting section of the Pony Express. It crosses the Missouri River on the Pony Express Bridges. From the western junction with K-383 to the Missouri state line, US-36 is part of the National Highway System. Except for wider sections in towns and passing lanes on hills, US-36 through Kansas is mostly a two-lane surface road. However some of the principal intersections all along the road are grade-separated diamond interchanges. From the Little Blue River just west of the K-148 junction to the US-77 North junction just west of the Big Blue River at Marysville, US-36 is a four-lane divided surface highway. From Hiawatha to west of Wathena, the road is a two-lane freeway. After passing through Wathena as a surface street, it becomes a four-lane freeway to the Missouri state line.
In the state of Illinois, U.S. 36 runs concurrently with much of Interstate 72. It enters from Missouri across the Mississippi River on the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge, and runs east, crossing Interstate 55 in Springfield. At the U.S. Route 51 bypass in Decatur, U.S. 36 leaves I-72 and runs due east through downtown Decatur. U.S. 36 then continues east, through Tuscola and several smaller communities, to the Indiana border.
Indiana
US 36 enters Indiana near Dana in Vermillion County. It then passes through the towns of Montezuma, Rockville, Bainbridge, Danville, and Avon before approaching Indianapolis. US 36 then joins I-465, traveling around the south side of the city. East of the city, US 36 exits onto Pendleton Pike and travels northeast. It passes through Lawrence, McCordsville, and Fortville before passing around the east side of Pendleton, where the route turns east. The route then travels mostly in a straight line, passing through Sulphur Springs, Losantville, Modoc, and Lynn before entering Ohio. The former routing through Indianapolis consisted of Rockville Road, Washington Street, West Street/Michigan Road, 38th Street, and Pendleton Pike.
Ohio
US 36 enters Ohio in Darke County near the small village of Palestine, after which it passes through Darke, Miami, Champaign, Union, Delaware, Knox, and Coshocton counties before reaching its terminus at Uhrichsville in Tuscarawas County. It travels concurrent with US 127 in Greenville for about. Within the state, US 36 is classified as 83.1% rural and 16.9% urban with only coded as freeway. It also travels concurrent with US 33 in Marysville for about. The Birthplace of Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States, 17 E. William St., Delaware, is on the north side of US 36, approximately west of the US 23 overpass. The home was demolished in 1926 and the location is marked with a historical monument.
