Interstate 11 alignment, though Vegas and points north

[Max Rockatansky]

Do they have a date on when they will renumber the rest of Interstate 515, and co-designate the rest of US 95 to NV 157 as Interstate 11? Or will we have to wait a few years for it to happen?

Likely later this year. Enjoy the I-11 extension now, because it's probably the last one we'll see in Nevada for a loooooooong time (if ever). On which note, I was on US 95 south of Hawthorne on Saturday. There were periods when I couldn't even see another car on the road. Hard to imagine that ever becoming a freeway.

But, but, but, if you build it they will come for Tonopah, Luning, Mina and Coaldale!

Can't wait to see how such road can "induce demand" in the middle of nowhere

.

I'm planning on buying into a Buc-ee's franchise at the Coaldale exit.

[Occidental Tourist]

Do they have a date on when they will renumber the rest of Interstate 515, and co-designate the rest of US 95 to NV 157 as Interstate 11? Or will we have to wait a few years for it to happen?

Likely later this year. Enjoy the I-11 extension now, because it's probably the last one we'll see in Nevada for a loooooooong time (if ever). On which note, I was on US 95 south of Hawthorne on Saturday. There were periods when I couldn't even see another car on the road. Hard to imagine that ever becoming a freeway.

But, but, but, if you build it they will come for Tonopah, Luning, Mina and Coaldale!

Can't wait to see how such road can "induce demand" in the middle of nowhere

.

I'm planning on buying into a Buc-ee's franchise at the Coaldale exit.

How much does the 20 acres of land necessary for a Buc-ee's cost in Coaldale?  Also, does it have enough of a nearby population to adequately staff just the bathroom maintenance requirements of an Buc-ee's alone?

[Max Rockatansky]

Do they have a date on when they will renumber the rest of Interstate 515, and co-designate the rest of US 95 to NV 157 as Interstate 11? Or will we have to wait a few years for it to happen?

Likely later this year. Enjoy the I-11 extension now, because it's probably the last one we'll see in Nevada for a loooooooong time (if ever). On which note, I was on US 95 south of Hawthorne on Saturday. There were periods when I couldn't even see another car on the road. Hard to imagine that ever becoming a freeway.

But, but, but, if you build it they will come for Tonopah, Luning, Mina and Coaldale!

Can't wait to see how such road can "induce demand" in the middle of nowhere

.

I'm planning on buying into a Buc-ee's franchise at the Coaldale exit.

How much does the 20 acres of land necessary for a Buc-ee's cost in Coaldale?  Also, does it have enough of a nearby population to adequately staff just the bathroom maintenance requirements of an Buc-ee's alone?

Irrelevant, people will come once I-11 and Buc-ee's are constructed.

[Bobby5280]

I'm planning on buying into a Buc-ee's franchise at the Coaldale exit.

Buc-ee's does not do franchise agreements. All of their stores are company-owned.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm planning on buying into a Buc-ee's franchise at the Coaldale exit.

Buc-ee's does not do franchise agreements. All of their stores are company-owned.

They'll make an exception for manifest destiny.

[Henry]

I wouldn't be surprised if I-11 suffered the same fate as the I-70 extension plans of some five and a half decades ago: cancelled due to the lack of traffic. But a Reno-Vegas freeway certainly would be nice to have.

[The Ghostbuster]

Nice to have, yes. It would also be very difficult and expensive to build. It would also be heavily underutilized (like Henry said). The farthest I could see it potentially going is to NV 373. The terrain is too mountainous to bypass Beatty, and going beyond there is probably ludicrous (as is my train of thought on this post).

[kkt]

Do they have a date on when they will renumber the rest of Interstate 515, and co-designate the rest of US 95 to NV 157 as Interstate 11? Or will we have to wait a few years for it to happen?

Likely later this year. Enjoy the I-11 extension now, because it's probably the last one we'll see in Nevada for a loooooooong time (if ever). On which note, I was on US 95 south of Hawthorne on Saturday. There were periods when I couldn't even see another car on the road. Hard to imagine that ever becoming a freeway.

But, but, but, if you build it they will come for Tonopah, Luning, Mina and Coaldale!

Can't wait to see how such road can "induce demand" in the middle of nowhere

I've been to Tonopah!  There was a gas station with a fairly clueless attendant there.  I was about 15 and with my mom.  She ask for gas and opened the hood to refill the radiator.  Hot day.  Attendant moved over to the hood to "help" and reached for the radiator cap.  Mom:  "Don't just open the cap all at once when it's been overheating!"  Attendant just scoffed about clueless city women telling him how to do his job.  Went ahead and opened the radiator cap all at once and was treated to a faceful of hot steam mixed with antifreeze.  He wasn't seriously hurt and was okay once he rinsed off his face, while Mom filled the radiator....

[Plutonic Panda]

I wouldn't be surprised if I-11 suffered the same fate as the I-70 extension plans of some five and a half decades ago: cancelled due to the lack of traffic. But a Reno-Vegas freeway certainly would be nice to have.

I thought the Sierra Club or some environmentalist group was responsible for it not being extended? I still think it should via a tunnel under the Sierras. It would greatly improve mobility during the winter when I-80 is shut down.

Regarding I-11, I basically could care less what happens now given they nixed the alternative to tie it into Carson City and put it way east of Reno which makes me so mad I could break a lamp shade. Why even do that? I don't see the point of NDOT pursuing I-11 north of Vegas unless they rethink the alignment which won't happen either way for a long time. I don't mind the current drive at the moment because if you time it right there isn't much traffic and it's a fun drive.

[cl94]

I-70 being canceled west of I-15 was mostly lack of money, but it was also completely ludicrous to build a freeway there. There's a reason a decent road didn't even exist along what is now US 50 between Delta and Ely until the 50s. Sure, it might serve some cross-country traffic, but so few people actually drive straight across the country. Salt Lake and Vegas are major freight hubs; you need population to support a freight hub. Never mind the fact that terrain along 50 isn't nearly as forgiving as old US 40/ modern I-80. The part of the western extension that had the best chance of being built was between Sacramento and Carson City and, indeed, much of that was alive into the 2000s. California long wanted an alternate to Donner Pass, but cost eventually killed it. Never mind the fact that you're never building a freeway through the Tahoe Basin.

Nice to have, yes. It would also be very difficult and expensive to build. It would also be heavily underutilized (like Henry said). The farthest I could see it potentially going is to NV 373. The terrain is too mountainous to bypass Beatty, and going beyond there is probably ludicrous (as is my train of thought on this post).

Very expensive. Several mountain ranges in very active seismic zones and large military reservations prevent a more direct route than you'd get along modern US 95. Which, honestly, is mostly a high-speed road. A freeway will not cut the drive time enough to encourage more people to drive between Vegas and Reno/Tahoe.

Regarding I-11, I basically could care less what happens now given they nixed the alternative to tie it into Carson City and put it way east of Reno which makes me so mad I could break a lamp shade. Why even do that? I don't see the point of NDOT pursuing I-11 north of Vegas unless they rethink the alignment which won't happen either way for a long time. I don't mind the current drive at the moment because if you time it right there isn't much traffic and it's a fun drive.

Have fun getting a freeway across the mountains between Hawthorne and Minden. As it is, there is only one paved road that does it inside Nevada and it passes through a very narrow canyon. The cost would have been immense. Really need to go around those mountains, at which point you may as well just go straight to I-80. Do note that an upgrade of US 395 between the south side of Gardnerville and Carson is in the works, including a Minden/Gardnerville bypass.

[Plutonic Panda]

It's always cost and our inability to build tunnels in this fucking country. Look at projects in Europe. Tunnels are considered a no brainer over there.

[Bobby5280]

In all fairness many of the highway and railroad tunnels built in places like Europe and Far East nations like Japan were built decades ago when the costs were far less. Still, the US doesn't do itself any favors with all the damned Draft EIS, EIS and Public Comment stages -all of which get pock-marked by lawsuits. ACCESS Oklahoma doesn't involve building any tunnels at all. But lawyers wanna get paid anyway. So the whole thing is held up by lawsuits. That's "America" for you, home to roughly 70% of the world's attorneys.

Odds are pretty slim for I-11 ever getting completed between Las Vegas and Reno. Still, I think the project is very do-able from a construction perspective. Carson City as a destination is just way out of the running though due to all the tunnels that would be necessary to get there.

IMHO, the best spot for I-11 to begin off I-80 is in Clark and the NV-439 corridor. The Tesla plant and other distribution centers are there in that location. NV-439 is already 4-lane divided there. It's all factory buildings there, so if a new-terrain segment is needed there would probably be less outcry in that location than ram-rodding it through any residential area. Ultimately the goal would be to create a leg of I-11 that extended down to Schurz.

Here's a probably unpopular, but workable idea: from the intersection with US-95 at Schurz, make I-11 bypass Walker Lake, Hawthorne, Luning, Mina and Coaldale to take a more direct route to Tonopah. CR-89 already covers much of that route going NW from the Tonopah area. Those small (and dying) towns along US-95 wouldn't like being bypassed. But it would make a Vegas-Reno I-11 route quite a bit more direct. People on the Walker River Reservation could be a hurdle. But they might like the idea of a freeway possibly bringing more commerce thru their locale.

I-11 between Las Vegas and Phoenix is an obviously valid connection. Going NW out of Vegas is more questionable. I think I-11 could only work well going NW out of Vegas if the concept was bigger. That means not just going to Reno, but going farther North and connecting into I-5 in the Medford, OR area. I-11 could be a "NAFTA" style route that bypasses much of California.

[Plutonic Panda]

Well, connecting to Carson City wouldn't just be for Carson City would be a more direct route to Reno as well.

[Bobby5280]

Not really. If they were to build I-11 with a fairly direct, diagonal route from Tonopah up to Schurz (bypassing the current route thru Coledale, Mina, Luning, Hawthorne & Walker Lake) it would eliminate more than 30 miles of driving. From Schurz up to Clark & I-80 could be a fairly straight route too. Follow alongside the existing rail corridor and the Walker River rather than the V-shaped nonsense Alt US-95 does. Yerington gets bypassed, but that's not a big deal. The end result connects I-11 to I-80 a short drive outside of Reno. That's better than I-11 reach I-80 at Fernley, which would be a half hour's drive East of Reno.

In order to route I-11 up into Carson City the Interstate would have to follow the existing US-95 path (including all the stupid L-shaped bends it makes hitting Tonopah and Coledale) up to Walker Lake. And then they would have to punch the Interstate thru that mountain range on the lake's West side. That would be in order to open a gateway due West to Smith Valley where there is a gap between other mountain ranges. I-11 would have to overlap parts of NV-208 to reach US-395 just North of Topaz Lake. It would be tricky building I-11 parallel to US-395 up into the Gardnerville and Carson City areas in order to eventually overlap I-580. The end result would not be any sort of direct looking route at all.

[kkt]

It's always cost and our inability to build tunnels in this fucking country. Look at projects in Europe. Tunnels are considered a no brainer over there.

Look at the tax rates and population density of Europe...

[Plutonic Panda]

Not really. If they were to build I-11 with a fairly direct, diagonal route from Tonopah up to Schurz (bypassing the current route thru Coledale, Mina, Luning, Hawthorne & Walker Lake) it would eliminate more than 30 miles of driving. From Schurz up to Clark & I-80 could be a fairly straight route too. Follow alongside the existing rail corridor and the Walker River rather than the V-shaped nonsense Alt US-95 does. Yerington gets bypassed, but that's not a big deal. The end result connects I-11 to I-80 a short drive outside of Reno. That's better than I-11 reach I-80 at Fernley, which would be a half hour's drive East of Reno.

In order to route I-11 up into Carson City the Interstate would have to follow the existing US-95 path (including all the stupid L-shaped bends it makes hitting Tonopah and Coledale) up to Walker Lake. And then they would have to punch the Interstate thru that mountain range on the lake's West side. That would be in order to open a gateway due West to Smith Valley where there is a gap between other mountain ranges. I-11 would have to overlap parts of NV-208 to reach US-395 just North of Topaz Lake. It would be tricky building I-11 parallel to US-395 up into the Gardnerville and Carson City areas in order to eventually overlap I-580. The end result would not be any sort of direct looking route at all.

IMO it would be direct than what is being considered with the added benefit of serving the Tahoe-Carson city area as well.

[Plutonic Panda]

It's always cost and our inability to build tunnels in this fucking country. Look at projects in Europe. Tunnels are considered a no brainer over there.

Look at the tax rates and population density of Europe...

There's more to it than that. They can just build tunnels cheaper, faster, and are more ambitious than we are. We're the second richest country on earth. Compare their ADTs on their tunnels to ours. There is no excuse.

[The Ghostbuster]

Blame our political leaders for why we can't have nice things in this country. I already blame them for everything under the sun anyway.

[Molandfreak]

I won't pretend to know anything about European land rights, but maybe it's just easier to get whatever easement is required to tunnel under private properties there.

[Sub-Urbanite]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/infrastructure-us-costly-explained-solutions-11658263884

[Plutonic Panda]

Blame our political leaders for why we can't have nice things in this country. I already blame them for everything under the sun anyway.

It has to be something. It's just so frustrating how whenever a tunnel project is announced in this country it becomes such a big deal and is subject to so much scrutiny.

[skluth]

Blame our political leaders for why we can't have nice things in this country. I already blame them for everything under the sun anyway.

It has to be something. It's just so frustrating how whenever a tunnel project is announced in this country it becomes such a big deal and is subject to so much scrutiny.

I think it's less to do with will and more to do with the litigious nature of our political system developed by lawyers to enrich their ranks at everyone else's expense.

[Henry]

I wouldn't be surprised if I-11 suffered the same fate as the I-70 extension plans of some five and a half decades ago: cancelled due to the lack of traffic. But a Reno-Vegas freeway certainly would be nice to have.

I thought the Sierra Club or some environmentalist group was responsible for it not being extended? I still think it should via a tunnel under the Sierras. It would greatly improve mobility during the winter when I-80 is shut down.

They probably weren't paying too much attention to that extension because they were focusing more on the eastward extension through Baltimore.

I-70 being canceled west of I-15 was mostly lack of money, but it was also completely ludicrous to build a freeway there. There's a reason a decent road didn't even exist along what is now US 50 between Delta and Ely until the 50s. Sure, it might serve some cross-country traffic, but so few people actually drive straight across the country. Salt Lake and Vegas are major freight hubs; you need population to support a freight hub. Never mind the fact that terrain along 50 isn't nearly as forgiving as old US 40/ modern I-80. The part of the western extension that had the best chance of being built was between Sacramento and Carson City and, indeed, much of that was alive into the 2000s. California long wanted an alternate to Donner Pass, but cost eventually killed it. Never mind the fact that you're never building a freeway through the Tahoe Basin.

Mystery solved.

Not really. If they were to build I-11 with a fairly direct, diagonal route from Tonopah up to Schurz (bypassing the current route thru Coledale, Mina, Luning, Hawthorne & Walker Lake) it would eliminate more than 30 miles of driving. From Schurz up to Clark & I-80 could be a fairly straight route too. Follow alongside the existing rail corridor and the Walker River rather than the V-shaped nonsense Alt US-95 does. Yerington gets bypassed, but that's not a big deal. The end result connects I-11 to I-80 a short drive outside of Reno. That's better than I-11 reach I-80 at Fernley, which would be a half hour's drive East of Reno.

In order to route I-11 up into Carson City the Interstate would have to follow the existing US-95 path (including all the stupid L-shaped bends it makes hitting Tonopah and Coledale) up to Walker Lake. And then they would have to punch the Interstate thru that mountain range on the lake's West side. That would be in order to open a gateway due West to Smith Valley where there is a gap between other mountain ranges. I-11 would have to overlap parts of NV-208 to reach US-395 just North of Topaz Lake. It would be tricky building I-11 parallel to US-395 up into the Gardnerville and Carson City areas in order to eventually overlap I-580. The end result would not be any sort of direct looking route at all.

As much as I'd love to see a direct route to Reno swallowing up I-580 in the process, it would be better to just build it on top of NV 439 and end it at I-80. Too far east, sure, but that would be the best option of all.

[cl94]

TBH, if you're going from Reno to points southeast, Carson is out of the way. Even if you spend countless billions of dollars building a tunnel system between the Carson Valley and Hawthorne, 80-439-50-95A would at worst be a wash in terms of distance and travel time. And you'd need a crapton of earthmoving along NV SR 208, because you're not squeezing anything else through the canyon 208 uses between Smith and Mason Valleys.

Part of the impetus for NV 439 was to make a more direct route between Reno and Vegas that bypasses Fernley and Fallon. And indeed, it chops 10 miles and 10 or so minutes off of the trip. It's only about 15 miles longer than the straight-line distance between Reno and Hawthorne and isn't particularly mountainous. If it becomes necessary, I could see them formalizing the unofficial Yerington bypass, but what exists now works. US 50 is 4-lane expressway between I-580 and US 95A, with plans to make it a continuous 4 lanes to Fallon. That doesn't need a freeway bypass to the south.

I maintain that a far more worthy endeavor would be 4-laning the rest of US 395 between Lee Vining and Gardnerville. That actually has nearly the traffic counts to warrant it.

[pderocco]

I maintain that a far more worthy endeavor would be 4-laning the rest of US 395 between Lee Vining and Gardnerville. That actually has nearly the traffic counts to warrant it.

You'd need a crapton of earthmoving along US 395, because you're not squeezing anything else through the canyon 395 uses between Sonora Junction and Antelope Valley.

Also, I've driven between Lee Vining and Gardnerville a dozen or two times, and at least in California the traffic never seemed enough to warrant fourlaning. But I was mostly there on weekends.

That said, I'm all for it.