U.S. Route 385 (US 385) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that travels from Big Bend National Park in Texas to US 85 in Deadwood, South Dakota.

It served as the primary route to transport gold and mining gear between Sidney, Nebraska and the Black Hills to the north.

[3] The current incarnation of US 385 was commissioned in 1959 bringing the highway into Nebraska along the new alignment that stretched from Big Bend all the way to Deadwood, South Dakota in the Black Hills.

Traveling to the northwest through agricultural fields and alongside Lodgepole Creek, the highway passes beneath I-80 just before it enters the small city of Chappell.

[5] After departing Sidney, US 385 travels north as it begins its trek into the vast agricultural fields of the rural Nebraska Panhandle.

On the south side of town, US 26 continues to the west where it passes Chimney Rock National Historic Site just twelve miles down the road.

For a brief few miles the roadway is, again, surrounded by agricultural fields, brought to life with center pivot irrigation north of Bridgeport.

Here, the Heartland Expressway joins US 385 from the west, a high priority corridor between Denver and Rapid City, South Dakota.

As the highway continues northeast from here, it enters the western reaches of the Nebraska Sandhills for about fifteen miles before it arrives in Alliance to meet up with N-2 just west of a large BNSF railyard.

As US 385 continues north it passes through additional spotty portions of the sandhills as it travels over forty miles without encountering any towns.

Sharing similarities with the Black Hills, the area is forested with Ponderosa Pine and contains a variation of wildlife such as bighorn sheep, elk, and mule deer, which are not common elsewhere in the state.

US 385 then passes the Chadron Municipal Airport before turning to the northwest where it reaches the South Dakota state line.

The construction of Camp Clarke Bridge over the North Platte River in 1876, three miles west of modern-day Bridgeport also boosted its appeal.

This became such a problem that the Gilmer and Salisbury stage lines manager, Luke Voorhees, attempted to capture the bandits to prevent loss of business along the route.

As the faster northerly route became preferred, freight companies moved their business to Pierre, mostly returning Sidney to the quieter times before the Gold Rush.

N-19 then continued along the rest of the modern day route north to the South Dakota state line passing through Bridgeport, Alliance, and Chadron.

[14][15][16] US 385 north of Link 62A east of Scottsbluff is part of the federally designated high priority corridor titled the Heartland Expressway that connects Rapid City, South Dakota with Denver, Colorado via improved four-lane divided highways.

The other two systems include the Theodore Roosevelt Expressway between Rapid City and Saskatoon and The Ports to Plains Corridor between Monterrey and Denver.