U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system. It goes over from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic Ocean. The Interstates were built later. They are mostly separate from this route. The route goes through mostly rural desert and mountains in the western United States. The part that goes through Nevada is known as "The Loneliest Road in America". In the Midwest, US 50 goes through mostly rural areas of farms, although it does go through a few big cities including Kansas City, Missouri; St. Louis, Missouri; and Cincinnati, Ohio. The route goes into the eastern United States, where it goes through the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia; then it goes through Washington, D.C. From there, US 50 goes through Maryland as a high-speed road to Ocean City. Signs at each end give the length as , but the actual distance is slightly shorter. This is due to small changes in the route since it was measured. US 50 goes through a total of 12 states; California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia.