Nevada state highway 34

[agentsteel53]

there are signs left for Nevada state highway 8-A and 34 in the wild as of 2007, well after the official renumbering of 1976 that was supposed to eliminate them all.  Does this mean they are on the books, or that the signs have simply been forgotten?

specifically, what is up with this sign?



why is 34 in a circle?  Is this a pre-renumbering sign, or one just after?  

[roadfro]

SR 34 and SR 8A have not been on the books for a long time, as they were both eliminated in the 1976 renumbering. Most of the remaining signs, as far as I'm aware, are located out on the far reaches of the northwest corner of the state, except for the circle 34 signs in Gerlach.  So, to answer the question, the signs were simply forgotten--and are probably some of the few examples of pre-1976 Nevada numbering left in the wild.


In regards to the picture, I believe this to be a sign from after the renumbering. This sign, located just north of Gerlach, is the junction of former SR 34 & SR 81. In the renumbering, new State Route 447 was assigned to old SR 34 south of Gerlach and old SR 81 north of Gerlach.  I believe portion of SR 447 north of Gerlach (old SR 81) was relinquished to county control sometime in the 1980s.  My guess would be that the sign was posted by the county, and that's how the county decided to sign the old route (standard county pentagon shields are posted at the real end of current SR 447 in Gerlach--probably an NDOT installation).  Washoe County maintains some of the old state highways in this area, retaining the pre-1976 state highway numbers--signage standards vary, but they appear to be somewhat consistent in their own adaptation of NDOT-inspired mileposts.

[agentsteel53]

so that circle 34/SR-447 is a Washoe County sign?  If so, why sign county 447 as a state route?  What about the white signs just behind it heading down 34?  Are those leftovers from before the relinquishment?

also - there's other old signs on the former state highways?  I just know of 8A and the several 34s in the same area.  Where's the others?

[agentsteel53]

in other news, I see Google Street View drove down the Jungo Road.  Excellent!

(I also see it's not a bad road at all... given that most maps have only one classification of dirt road, I always get concerned that I'll run into the equivalent of CA 173)

there's a potential old sign here

[roadfro]

My guess is that the sign was a county installation, posted prior to that portion of SR 447 being relinquished to the county.  Note that the sign in question is all one piece (in a style reminiscent of some Virginia installs) with the Nevada shield being far too large compared to current signing standards. The sign is also posted on wooden supports (extremely rare for permanent installations on state-maintained routes).  Both observations indicate to me a non-NDOT installation.

I'm not sure about the white signs. I've never seen them in person, only on Google Street View (and can't make them out clearly).  The first one, immediately after the junction heading north on 34, appears to be a white-on-black mileage destination sign. Two others much further away seem to be county line signs.  Given other pictures I've seen of older mileage signs in the area (like around Vya and along old SR 8A) that are the current color standards, I'd guess these are all county installs.


As far as other old signs in the area, it's mostly the old 8A's and 34's you've probably seen before. There's at least one SR 447 of the more modern vintage along the relinquished portion of that route.

[agentsteel53]

I do recall that 447 randomly on the county section - wasn't sure if it was a mistake or whatnot, but since it was a modern number, I didn't pay much attention to it.

I've only seen one 8A - are there others?  Then again I've only driven 8A about five miles away from the state line.  I've also never gone down 34, Jungo Road, or any of the other dirt roads in the area.  I've definitely not gone all the way to Vya.

I've taken some dirt roads between Susanville and the road to Pyramid Lake and there are a lot of county-erected green signs, but the only old sign I remember is a flat printed steel yellow diamond with a curve arrow.

[Rover_0]

It's odd to see the county use state route signs, but in Utah, I've seen some small pointer signs to US-91 in North Logan and also some US-89 signs at the end of some county routes in Kane County, so this isn't entirely foreign to me.  Also, you have that oddly-placed "TO UT-22" sign at the junction of UT-12 and UT-63, over 30 (maybe 40) miles from the actual south end of UT-22.

Roadfro, since you are in Nevada, I have one nagging question:  Why exactly did Nevada go with virtually all 3-digit state routes?  It seems as though the older system was pretty good (save for route duplication)--why didn't they just line up all the route numbers with the posted route number, like Utah?

[agentsteel53]

any Utah county-erected shields that are unusual in appearance?

Nevada's official switchover was 1976, and first reflected in their 1978 state map.  Though major parts of the switchover were done as late as 1982.

[roadfro]

I've only seen one 8A - are there others?  Then again I've only driven 8A about five miles away from the state line.  I've also never gone down 34, Jungo Road, or any of the other dirt roads in the area.  I've definitely not gone all the way to Vya.

I've not been out there myself either, but I've seen a few photos from user 'sagebrushgis' on Flickr:
8A eastbound at 34 near Vya
34 northbound at 8A near Vya
8A at the CA state line (this one shows up on Street View at the end of California SR 299, missing the NV state line sign)

It's odd to see the county use state route signs...

Yeah, but remember that these are remnants from the state route days. The county probably just never bothered to put up pentagons. They probably should put some up in certain areas though.

Roadfro, since you are in Nevada, I have one nagging question:  Why exactly did Nevada go with virtually all 3-digit state routes?  It seems as though the older system was pretty good (save for route duplication)--why didn't they just line up all the route numbers with the posted route number, like Utah?

The "Which Nevada SH system was better?" thread has the explanation on how the current route numbers were derived, which represents most of what information I've found about the history of Nevada's highway system.

The old system was very cumbersome. Routes were legislatively defined and numbers assigned and reassigned with no apparent rhyme or reason--several routes were segmented, suffixed routes didn't always logically branch from the parent, and numbers didn't distinguish which routes were longer or important. In reassigning the Federal Aid numbers across the state, it gave NDOT an opportunity to put some thought into the state highway numbering--using the existing route numbers in the new federal aid numbering would not have fit with the scheme developed.