Nevada

[Scott5114]

Maybe they should just let them get stolen.

Zombie NV-589 signs (including the entire BEGIN/END assemblies at the former western terminus!) have made it for years still standing...Perhaps I-515 signs are more likely to be stolen because the media has drawn attention to the fact that it is no longer considered an active designation by NDOT, though.

[cl94]

Maybe they should just let them get stolen.

Zombie NV-589 signs (including the entire BEGIN/END assemblies at the former western terminus!) have made it for years still standing...Perhaps I-515 signs are more likely to be stolen because the media has drawn attention to the fact that it is no longer considered an active designation by NDOT, though.

There are zombie shields in Reno for truncated routes that have been up for 20+ years since truncation, and multiple routes are represented. Notably SR 430, but SRs 653 and 667 have standing examples. Even former SR 121 has signs remaining along US 50 despite being demoted to "frontage road" 3 years ago.

[roadfro]

Mod Note: Moved 5 posts from 6/20/2024 about an I-11 public meeting and ensuing discussion to the appropriate thread. —Roadfro

[roadfro]

Mormon crickets have apparently been a big problem this year in northeastern Nevada...

NDOT crews use snow plows to clear droves of Mormon crickets from state highways
Mick Ackers, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 6/10/2024

Snowplows are used on roads to clear winter snows, but they also come in handy in the summer to deal with another nuisance on northeast Nevada roads — hordes of Mormon crickets.

Seasonal cricket swarms near the Elko area are covering some highways, leading to dangerous driving conditions along affected stretches, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation. Rain can add to the problem because crickets on wet roads create slick driving conditions.
<...>
Crews are using snowplows and sanding the roads to clear the crushed insects. After plowing occurs, maintenance workers use high-pressure hoses to clean crickets from the plows and other state vehicles.

Crews began to notice the insects on state roads in May on a portion of Interstate 80 near Emigrant Pass and the Osino interchange east of Elko. As of this week, Mormon crickets also have been seen on state Routes 225, 227, 228 and 278, according to the transportation department.
<...>
NDOT has placed temporary electronic signage on Elko-area highways to alert drivers to slow down in areas of cricket infestation. The signs are routinely moved to be near where bands of crickets are located at a given time.

With this year's invasion particularly heavy, various road preservation projects in the area are being placed on hold, Larkin-Thomason noted.

"They're going to have to be delayed to another year," she said, "simply because they are not part of our mix design and we can't clear them enough to keep them off the roadway."

I LOL'd on that "crickets aren't part of our mix design" bit at the end.

This image from the article, of SR 225 covered in crickets, is kinda wild!

[cl94]

That's about what SR 225 looked like when I drove it on June 1. My car was caked in the bastards after I was done. Even I-80 had a ton of them east of about Lovelock.

[pderocco]

I just drove up US-93 a little over a week ago, which passes about 50 miles from Elko, and didn't go through any clouds of insects. Or were they all just wandering around on foot? That pic looks like there were enough to alter the surface traction. I wonder if they make the road slippery or sticky.

[cl94]

I just drove up US-93 a little over a week ago, which passes about 50 miles from Elko, and didn't go through any clouds of insects. Or were they all just wandering around on foot? That pic looks like there were enough to alter the surface traction. I wonder if they make the road slippery or sticky.

Slick. Not quite as bad as driving on ice, but same idea. And I think that picture was from early June.

[Sub-Urbanite]

I drove through a herd of them (they're actually katydids!) a few years ago on NV 893. It was the damndest thing, where the road looked like it was "moving," almost like an old staticky television. And then I realized it was a flock of Mormon crickets and I just kind of moved slowly through it because it was... just... icky and weird.

Even though I was in a rental, I felt obligated at the end of my roadtrip to go to a car wash and power wash all the bug guts and carcasses.

I just drove up US-93 a little over a week ago, which passes about 50 miles from Elko, and didn't go through any clouds of insects. Or were they all just wandering around on foot? That pic looks like there were enough to alter the surface traction. I wonder if they make the road slippery or sticky.

[cl94]

Even though I was in a rental, I felt obligated at the end of my roadtrip to go to a car wash and power wash all the bug guts and carcasses.

You want to wash those things off ASAP if remaining in cricket country because they're cannibals. Mormon crickets are attracted to the guts of dead Mormon crickets, so a car covered in them will just attract more.

They'll also cake onto your tires, affecting traction long after you have passed.

[FredAkbar]

affecting traction long after you have passed.

At first I interpreted "passed" with a darker meaning, as if you were warning that the tires would be forever caked with the insects for centuries to come.

[ClassicHasClass]

Even the frontage roads near I-80 were lousy with them when we drove through in early June.

[roadfro]

MOD NOTE: Moved the recent posts about the possible removal of the HOV lanes in Las Vegas to a previous thread that has discussed the changing rules and the now-Lt Governor's crusade. —Roadfro
Las Vegas HOV rules to change

[RZF]

I was in Reno for the first time this week (work trip). I know that the complete I-580 designation is new between Reno and Carson City, but logically the freeway should just be signed as US 395.

Yes, I know interstate funding played a major role in an entire freeway being built between the two cities, but I-580 is not physically a separate route from US 395.

Was the desire for a freeway the only reason why this 3DI exists?

[The Ghostbuster]

The Interstate 580 designation for the US 395 freeway was actually approved in 978. However, it was not signed as Interstate 580 until 2012. I believe the freeway's construction, which was first planned in 1956, got significantly underway in 1964, and continued for decades until completion in 2017, was always to connect the region's largest city (and Interstate 80) with the state's capital city (Carson City). I don't think it was originally intended to be an Interstate, but it deducted the number of state capitals not directly served by the Interstate System from five to four (Juneau, AK; Dover, DE; Jefferson City, MO; Pierre, SD are the four that remain without direct connections).

[vdeane]

The Interstate 580 designation for the US 395 freeway was actually approved in 978

I was not aware that we were approving interstate designations during the Medieval Era.

[The Ghostbuster]

Sorry, I meant 1978.

[Rothman]

Sorry, I meant 1978.

I preferred 978.

[The Ghostbuster]

Then here are some events that happened that year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/978.

[kernals12]

Mormon crickets have apparently been a big problem this year in northeastern Nevada...

NDOT crews use snow plows to clear droves of Mormon crickets from state highways
Mick Ackers, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 6/10/2024

Snowplows are used on roads to clear winter snows, but they also come in handy in the summer to deal with another nuisance on northeast Nevada roads — hordes of Mormon crickets.

Seasonal cricket swarms near the Elko area are covering some highways, leading to dangerous driving conditions along affected stretches, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation. Rain can add to the problem because crickets on wet roads create slick driving conditions.
<...>
Crews are using snowplows and sanding the roads to clear the crushed insects. After plowing occurs, maintenance workers use high-pressure hoses to clean crickets from the plows and other state vehicles.

Crews began to notice the insects on state roads in May on a portion of Interstate 80 near Emigrant Pass and the Osino interchange east of Elko. As of this week, Mormon crickets also have been seen on state Routes 225, 227, 228 and 278, according to the transportation department.
<...>
NDOT has placed temporary electronic signage on Elko-area highways to alert drivers to slow down in areas of cricket infestation. The signs are routinely moved to be near where bands of crickets are located at a given time.

With this year's invasion particularly heavy, various road preservation projects in the area are being placed on hold, Larkin-Thomason noted.

"They're going to have to be delayed to another year," she said, "simply because they are not part of our mix design and we can't clear them enough to keep them off the roadway."

I LOL'd on that "crickets aren't part of our mix design" bit at the end.

This image from the article, of SR 225 covered in crickets, is kinda wild!

What makes them mormon crickets?

[Plutonic Panda]

They have found a way to make money.

[Rothman]

They have found a way to make money.

Unlike...Presbyterian crickets?

[ClassicHasClass]

What makes them mormon crickets?

Polygamy. *runs and hides*

(Seriously this time, look up the Miracle of the Gulls for the alleged explanation.)

[roadfro]

Sparks proposing Nevada's first toll road to connect Spanish Springs to industrial center (KRNV News4, 8/13/2024)

Here's a map of the endpoints of what this toll road would be trying to connect, versus the same travel path using SR 445. I think it's an interesting concept, but I think the end point up at La Posada Drive is way too far north for this to be attractive as a toll option to a lot of users living in Sparks and Spanish Springs.

For those unfamiliar, Nevada law does not currently allow for toll roads. There were toll roads in the late 1800s during the gold/silver mining booms (some of which were the early iterations of what are now some state highways, such as SR 341), but I'm not sure when state law was changed to ban them. The Boulder City Bypass, now I-11/US 93, was at some point proposed to be the state's first toll demonstration project, but ultimately that did not come to fruition and alternate funding found to construct that (mostly Southern Nevada RTC funds, IIRC).

[cl94]

For those unfamiliar, Nevada law does not currently allow for toll roads. There were toll roads in the late 1800s during the gold/silver mining booms (some of which were the early iterations of what are now some state highways, such as SR 341), but I'm not sure when state law was changed to ban them. The Boulder City Bypass, now I-11/US 93, was at some point proposed to be the state's first toll demonstration project, but ultimately that did not come to fruition and alternate funding found to construct that (mostly Southern Nevada RTC funds, IIRC).

It's complicated. Currently, toll roads are allowed with strict guardrails in counties with a population greater than 700,000, which is Clark County and nowhere else. This, yes, was a change made to allow the Boulder City Bypass as a toll project had they not found the funds to build it toll-free.

The question remains as to whether the leg would allow it, or only allow it with VERY specific limits, as it could allow tolls/fees elsewhere. There is currently a constitutional prohibition on using toll revenue for anything other than ROW acquisition, construction, and maintenance, but there will almost certainly be opposition from people who fear this will allow fees/tolls elsewhere for reasons other than construction (e.g., the Tahoe entry fee some California local politicians want). You want to open a can of worms in regional politics, reopen the Tahoe entry fee debate.

Of course, I will note that part of the TRIC deal was that the developer would pay for construction of new access roads to Spanish Springs and south Reno. So there is going to be a LOT of pushback from members of the public who were under the impression that the developer/Tesla/Panasonic/etc. would pay for the road and are now forcing the public to fund it. RTC currently has those getting built in the late 2030s or 2040s in their long-range plans, but Sparks obviously wants to accelerate the schedule for the northern one.

(Personal opinion strongly emphasized)

[Scott5114]

I suppose the fact that a Legislature is about to happen is what's driving this proposal coming out now, so they can adjust the law to allow Washoe to have toll roads.

Coming from Oklahoma, it seems kind of silly to have a geographical restriction on where toll roads can and can't be built. Oklahoma has used toll financing to build turnpikes as safety improvements for roads that wouldn't justify a freeway by traffic count alone. It would be kind of strange if such an improvement were needed in, say, Lander County, and it was constructed as free, whereas Clark County might have to pay to use a more highly-trafficked road.

But then again, Nevada is mercifully less prone to gigantic self-inflicted budget holes than Oklahoma is. So maybe we can find the cash for this road in Sparks without having to go the tolling route.