US 95 in California north of Needles, CA (OMG the excessive bunny hills!)

[capt.ron]

Incoming opinion!
I just got back from my road trip out west and one city I went and visited was Las Vegas. I took US 95 north where it breaks off from I-40 just northwest of Needles. Man, I don't want to bash on Caltrans but that road is a JOKE! It looks like they just simply paved over a dirt road in the late 1930's and it's been the same ever since. Never before have I driven over so many "bunny hills" aka whoop-de-doos  in my life! It has a 65 mph speed limit which helps some but with limited sight lines due to the crazy amount of little bunny hills, passing people can be dangerous.
Caltrans needs to tear out that old alignment and put in a proper 4 lane section like Nevada's. I'm sure residents that live in or around Needles would agree with me.
The Nevada section of US 95 up to the new I-11 & US 93 is MUCH nicer, aside from slowing down like crazy in Searchlight.
Anybody else driven that stretch before?

[oscar]

As I recall, the "bunny hills" you describe might be actually where the highway dips into washes. (I've definitely seen them on US 95 between Needles and Blythe, not sure about north of Needles to the Nevada border.) At the bottom of those dips, the highway is on a concrete roadbed with culverts, where the occasional flood waters that are too much for the culverts can flow over the road without causing permanent damage.

Does the Nevada part of the highway have bridges over, rather than dips into, washes?

[Max Rockatansky]

Interestingly you're not very far off, that particular stretch of US 95 north of I-40 up Goffs Road was the original alignment of US 66.  That particular section of US 66 was replaced I want to say in 1930 by section that would be essentially buried under I-40 today and at the time it was "unimproved."  Either way you can see US 66 is shifted to the south by 1932:

1930 State Highway Map

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239599~5511899:Road-Map-of-the-State-of-California?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=76&trs=86

1932 State Highway Map

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239597~5511898:Map-Showing-State-Highway-System--C?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=75&trs=86

Before US 95 was extended to Blythe at US 60/70 by 1939 that particular section of road was part of SSR 195.  The SSR 195 designation was original back in 1934.  So essentially despite Goffs Road being dropped from the state highway system the section heading north into Nevada was adopted again as LRN 146:

http://www.cahighways.org/145-152.html#LR146

The change from SSR 195 to US 95 can be seen here:

1938 State Highway Map

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239588~5511892:Road-Map-of-the-State-of-California?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=69&trs=86

1940 State Highway Map

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239585~5511890:Road-Map-of-the-State-of-California?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=67&trs=86

If I recall correctly US 95 was blown out to Four-Lanes in Nevada due to threats against the Hoover Dam Post-9/11 which pushed truck traffic off of US 93.  I believe the upgrades to AZ 68 and NV 163 to expressways were part of the same series of projects at the turn of the century.  For whatever US 95 in California north of I-40 was never really touched, but then again most truckers tended to avoid it in favor of US 93, AZ 68, and NV 163 at the time. 

Also, US 95 south of Needles went through a substantial rebuild/repair about half a decade ago.  That particular section is where all the real hills and dips come into play and it can be a really wild ride.  CA 62 and CA 177 became popular funnels for Southern Californian traffic using US 95 to reach Laughlin over time.  Now the real travesty out there near Needles is the Needles Highway...granted I know that's a county maintained road.  If you want a rough and wild but well traveled desert highway the Needles Highway is the place to go.  I had work sites in Las Vegas, Needles, Laughlin, and Bullhead City about six years ago which to answer your question...I used to frequent all those roads at least two dozen times a year.  The desert and time in general has not been kind to eastern San Bernardino County.

As I recall, the "bunny hills" you describe might be actually where the highway dips into washes. (I've definitely seen them on US 95 between Needles and Blythe, not sure about north of Needles to the Nevada border.) At the bottom of those dips, the highway is on a concrete roadbed with culverts, where the occasional flood waters that are too much for the culverts can flow over the road without causing permanent damage.

Does the Nevada part of the highway have bridges over, rather than dips into, washes?

The Nevada side of US 95 is now a full expressway (sans Searchlight) for the reasons I described above.  Its actually way over built now that the Pat Tillman Bridge has been completed and I-11 is being gradually constructed.

[roadfro]

As I recall, the "bunny hills" you describe might be actually where the highway dips into washes. (I've definitely seen them on US 95 between Needles and Blythe, not sure about north of Needles to the Nevada border.) At the bottom of those dips, the highway is on a concrete roadbed with culverts, where the occasional flood waters that are too much for the culverts can flow over the road without causing permanent damage.

Does the Nevada part of the highway have bridges over, rather than dips into, washes?

The Nevada side of US 95 is now a full expressway (sans Searchlight) for the reasons I described above.  Its actually way over built now that the Pat Tillman Bridge has been completed and I-11 is being gradually constructed.

US 95 doesn't have any bridges out there between California and Boulder City. However, with the reconstruction that widened the highway in the early-mid 2000s (resulting from increased traffic due to the restrictions over Hoover Dam after 9/11), the roadway was re-profiled and culverts installed/expanded where it crosses washes.

State highways maintained by NDOT very rarely follow the exact profile of the surrounding grade, rolling through washes and such. They are usually built up a little bit and include culverts where applicable.

[Max Rockatansky]

As I recall, the "bunny hills" you describe might be actually where the highway dips into washes. (I've definitely seen them on US 95 between Needles and Blythe, not sure about north of Needles to the Nevada border.) At the bottom of those dips, the highway is on a concrete roadbed with culverts, where the occasional flood waters that are too much for the culverts can flow over the road without causing permanent damage.

Does the Nevada part of the highway have bridges over, rather than dips into, washes?

The Nevada side of US 95 is now a full expressway (sans Searchlight) for the reasons I described above.  Its actually way over built now that the Pat Tillman Bridge has been completed and I-11 is being gradually constructed.

US 95 doesn't have any bridges out there between California and Boulder City. However, with the reconstruction that widened the highway in the early-mid 2000s (resulting from increased traffic due to the restrictions over Hoover Dam after 9/11), the roadway was re-profiled and culverts installed/expanded where it crosses washes.

State highways maintained by NDOT very rarely follow the exact profile of the surrounding grade, rolling through washes and such. They are usually built up a little bit and include culverts where applicable.

Any recollection of how US 95 was from the state line north to US 93 before the upgrades?  I drove it a couple times about 20 years ago but I can't for the life of me remember much of it other than Searchlight.  I want to say it was far more tame of a road traffic wise than US 93 was...god that was an awful drive between Phoenix and Vegas back in those days.

[roadfro]

Any recollection of how US 95 was from the state line north to US 93 before the upgrades?  I drove it a couple times about 20 years ago but I can't for the life of me remember much of it other than Searchlight.  I want to say it was far more tame of a road traffic wise than US 93 was...god that was an awful drive between Phoenix and Vegas back in those days.

I interned for NDOT in summer 2003, and one project I went on was a survey crew marking location for tortoise fence and other items in advance of the widening between Searchlight and Boulder City. At that time, that section of US 95 was a two-lane highway with a reasonably flat profile and decently-wide shoulders. Pretty typical NDOT rural highway and in good repair for the increased amount of traffic it was getting. Only thing of note that I recall was it had raised pavement markers instead of paint for the centerline markings.

[Quillz]

I would imagine US-95 in California being little traveled, probably explaining why it doesn't seem to have any upgrades since the 1930s.

[sparker]

I would imagine US-95 in California being little traveled, probably explaining why it doesn't seem to have any upgrades since the 1930s.

Since it has little commercial use and is primarily utilized for recreational traffic, CA's segment of US 95 isn't considered to warrant any activities beyond routine maintenance and the occasional repaving.  The only time that situation was projected to change was in the 1980's when a number of U.S. firms set up or contracted with maquiledoras, or, more succinctly, Mexican-based OEM production sites, mainly for appliances, electronic gear, and other labor-intensive items, to produce items to be forwarded across the border and then hauled to warehouses; since San Luis, south of Yuma, was the site of several of these facilities, it was presumed that a significant amount of production would initially travel straight north to the Las Vegas area because of the state's lack of taxation for goods warehoused there.  While there was a slight uptick in cross-border traffic, including trucks with Nevada destinations, that was short-lived, as Chinese production of goods --at an even lower cost structure than with Mexico -- "came on line" in the early-to-mid 1990's -- and today has essentially "swamped" the Mexican production.  A few larger appliances are still churned out by the Mexican plants; but most of those have consolidated in the larger border cities for transport efficiency; "outposts" like San Luis have largely ceased such activities.  So once again US 95 has reverted to its previous recreational status -- although it gets plenty of use twice a year when "snowbirds" from the north converge, with their RV's and trailers, on Colorado River "wintering" locations near Yuma, Quartzsite, and Havasu City.  Still, not enough regular use to warrant major expansion.