page_title: U.S. Route 50 in California
section_title: Route description
hierarchical_section_title: U.S. Route 50 in California / Route description
caption_attribution_description: This is looking east-southeast from near the southeast end of Lower Echo Lake towards 38°50′10″N 120°02′10″W﻿ / ﻿38.83622°N 120.03600°W. US 50 is climbing up to the summit away from the photographer. The actual summit is off to the right, about 12 curves later.
context_page_description: U.S. Route 50 is a transcontinental United States Numbered Highway, stretching from West Sacramento, California, in the west to Ocean City, Maryland, in the east. The California portion of US 50 runs east from Interstate 80 in West Sacramento to the Nevada state line in South Lake Tahoe. A portion in Sacramento also has the unsigned designation of Interstate 305. The western half of the highway in California is a four-or-more-lane divided highway, mostly built to freeway standards, and known as the El Dorado Freeway outside of downtown Sacramento. US 50 continues as an undivided highway with one eastbound lane and two westbound lanes until the route reaches the canyon of the South Fork American River at Riverton. The remainder of the highway, which climbs along and out of the canyon, then over the Sierra Nevada at Echo Summit and into the Lake Tahoe Basin, is primarily a two-lane road.
  The US 50 corridor is a historic one, used by many 49ers who came to California during the Gold Rush as well as the Pony Express.
context_section_description: US 50 begins in West Sacramento, where I-80 leaves the West Sacramento Freeway onto a bypass of Sacramento. The old route of I-80 through Sacramento is signed as US 50 and Business 80 in the western section and Business 80 (Capital City Freeway) in the eastern section. Business 80 overlaps US 50 on the West Sacramento Freeway to the split with SR 275, then over the Sacramento River on the Pioneer Memorial Bridge and across I-5 to SR 99. Beginning in 2016, signs on this section are being updated to remove references to Business 80 and instead sign the route only as US Highway 50. US 50 is part Interstate Highway as well, carrying the unsigned designation of Interstate 305 from I-80 to its interchange with SR 99.
  At the US 50/Business 80/SR 99 interchange, Business 80 splits to the north, SR 99 heads south, and US 50 continues east as the El Dorado Freeway and the Lincoln Highway. This freeway parallels Folsom Boulevard and the American River east-northeasterly through the suburb of Rancho Cordova to Folsom. Entering El Dorado County, US 50 continues eastward through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada via El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, and Shingle Springs to downtown Placerville. The freeway ends, and US 50 has several at-grade intersections in Placerville, including SR 49.
  Leaving Placerville, the expressway through town starts, only to end several miles later. The final section of freeway begins near Camino, where the Lincoln Highway splits from US 50, and ends at the east end of Pollock Pines. Just east of Pollock Pines, US 50 continues as an undivided conventional highway with one eastbound lane and two westbound lanes, entering the river canyon of the South Fork American River near Riverton and crossing to the north side of the river near Ice House Road. From Ice House Road to the crest of the Sierras, US 50 is a steadily rising mostly two-lane road, staying just north of the river except for a 1995 cutoff that crosses the river twice in quick succession west of Kyburz, the boyhood home of ski racer Spider Sabich.
  Several hairpin turns take the highway up a grade east of Strawberry, after which US 50 continues east alongside the river to its source at Echo Summit. Echo Summit is the highest elevation U.S. Route 50 reaches in California at 7,382 feet (2,250 m). In 1968, it was the site of the U.S. Olympic trials for men's track and field, held at a temporary facility in the parking lot of the Nebelhorn ski area.
  From Echo Summit down to the Lake Tahoe Basin, the roadway slowly descends the side of a steep hill; it then curves northeast to its south junction with SR 89 (which heads south to Luther Pass) beginning co-signing of SR 89, and then turns northward near the city of South Lake Tahoe. Where US 50 and SR 89 split, at an intersection known as "The Y", the former turns east on the four-lane Lake Tahoe Boulevard, which it follows to and along the south shore of Lake Tahoe, then it enters the state of Nevada.
  US 50 has been added to the California Freeway and Expressway System by the state legislature, and is part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration. The highway east of SR 49 is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System, and has been recognized as such except within the South Lake Tahoe city limits, meaning that it is a substantial section of highway passing through a "memorable landscape" with no "visual intrusions", where the potential designation has gained popular favor with the community.
caption: Highway 50 winds down
  Echo Summit
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