The Million Dollar Highway is history you can drive

The famous mountain road north of Silverton has a name that sticks: the Million Dollar Highway. It is the stretch of US 550 between Silverton and Ouray, and the state highway department completed it in 1924. The route grew out of the same mining era as the towns it connects, following ground that earlier roads and trails had already opened to reach the mines.

Today that segment is part of the San Juan Skyway, a scenic byway loop through southwest Colorado that has been recognized at the national level as an All-American Road. The byway links Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, and Durango and passes through millions of acres of national forest, so driving it is a way to read the region’s history across the windshield.

Worth remembering: this is history, but it is also a real working mountain highway with steep grades, tight curves, and long drops, much of it the same Red Mountain Pass corridor that can close in winter. Admire it as a historic route, but drive it as the serious road it is.

For the road’s history and byway designation, the Colorado Department of Transportation is the official source.