The highway largely parallels the North Platte River for the majority of its route in Nebraska and as such, runs at a northwest–southeast angle.

The highway also parallels the original paths of the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails.

US-26 passes through Bayard and, after crossing the North Platte River, meets with N‑92 again near Chimney Rock.

At Lewellen, US‑26 and N‑92 separate for the last time and shortly thereafter, US‑26 crosses the North Platte River again.

This alignment went east to Martin, where US‑26 met N-61 and the two highways went south from there into Ogallala.

In those years, the mainline of US‑26 between Bridgeport and Broadwater went on the south side of the North Platte River, along today's N-92.