US Route 50 in Nevada: The Loneliest Road in America

[bing101]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTs55qzvcjE




Here is a cool tour of US 50 in Nevada by Interstate Kyle.

[hotdogPi]

While 50 is branded as the loneliest, US 6 in Nevada is lonelier.

[Max Rockatansky]

While 50 is branded as the loneliest, US 6 in Nevada is lonelier.

160 miles plus on US 6 with no services between Tonopah and Ely.  Even US 95 isn't all that populated between Las Vegas and Fallon. 

[sparker]

While 50 is branded as the loneliest, US 6 in Nevada is lonelier.

160 miles plus on US 6 with no services between Tonopah and Ely.  Even US 95 isn't all that populated between Las Vegas and Fallon. 

Normally, the presence of Beatty, Tonopah, Hawthorne, and Schurz means some sort of roadside service is available -- but the last time I drove 95 at night (NB), I was lucky to find one gas station open in Tonopah about midnight; Beatty and Henderson were shut up tighter than a drum.  If not for that one open station, I would have had to resort to the nearly-full 5-gallon poly gas container in the back of my pickup. 

BTW, smart-ass response to "the loneliest road":  Twin it so it won't be so lonely!

[Max Rockatansky]

While 50 is branded as the loneliest, US 6 in Nevada is lonelier.

160 miles plus on US 6 with no services between Tonopah and Ely.  Even US 95 isn't all that populated between Las Vegas and Fallon. 

Normally, the presence of Beatty, Tonopah, Hawthorne, and Schurz means some sort of roadside service is available -- but the last time I drove 95 at night (NB), I was lucky to find one gas station open in Tonopah about midnight; Beatty and Henderson were shut up tighter than a drum.  If not for that one open station, I would have had to resort to the nearly-full 5-gallon poly gas container in the back of my pickup. 

BTW, smart-ass response to "the loneliest road":  Twin it so it won't be so lonely!

I find it amusing that anyone really thinks that there are additional Interstates needed out there between Vegas and Reno.  You're basically on the surface of Mars considering how devoid the population levels really are.  US 95 is by far the busiest of any of the roads we've mentioned but it has two massive "no services xx miles" on both sides of Tonopah.  Hell, Goldfield is the Esmeralda County seat and essentially a derelict ghost town.

[sparker]

^^^^^^^^^
Obviously, the current AADT on US 95 certainly doesn't warrant much beyond additional passing lanes and maybe a bypass or two.  But NDOT and the state politicos obviously think otherwise, and got their congressional delegation to go along with the concept (e.g., the I-11 designation codicil added to the HPC 68 legislation a couple of years ago).  And with the (functional) end of the 2007-11 recession, it looks like NV's coffers are full enough to at least get a running start on the project.  The saving grace is that if development occurs sooner than later, they may stay ahead of inflation enough so the project costs don't skyrocket.  Back about 40 years ago NDOT was roundly criticized by state auditors -- and a number of state legislators not from Las Vegas -- for delaying construction on I-15 through central Las Vegas at the behest of casino owners and the city of L.V. who wanted to retain maximum traffic on LV Boulevard as long as possible, causing construction to occur in the post-1973 period of maximum inflation (I-80 through the Lovelock area, the last to be fully developed on that route, was also subject to similar scrutiny).  My guess is that NDOT's institutional memory is probably figuring into the I-11 extension concept -- they might do as much as possible as soon as feasible -- spreading the project out just enough not to be a "budget-breaker" any given fiscal year.  NDOT has the relative "luxury" of not having to maintain a massive amount of roads (although their state-maintained network in Clark County, including most of the E-W arterials crossing the Strip, is quite substantial and certainly is relatively "high maintenance" compared to their lightly-traveled rural mileage); doing their political handlers' wishes and developing I-11 keeps them in the public eye and, in all likelihood, also in a position for increased funds.  I-580 and the LV "Spaghetti Bowl" showed that NDOT can, despite the "glitches" with those projects, still see a corridor's development and/or upgrading through to completion with only normative funding;  a 400-mile freeway corridor would be a "showcase" project for a state always willing to call attention to itself as a unique entity -- particularly if the time from designation to fully realized facility was kept short!  Compared to what other states are or aren't doing, it'll be a glitzy developmental project that will keep the state in the public eye for something other than a recreational mecca!