Former NV 85 in Red Rock Canyon

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm starting to work on preliminary research for a blog I have coming up for NV 160.  I'm noticing a highway that just never really clicked with me before which is former NV 85.  The highway very clearly on a 1952 NDOT map going up Red Rock Canyon up Rocky Gap Road to Red Rock Summit.  From the summit highway is shown connecting to Pahrump Valley via Lovell Canyon. 

https://www.dot.nv.gov/home/showdocument?id=688

Anyone know what the story is here?  I know there was a ton of garbage routes that were never actually maintained in the early pre-1976 system.  This seems like an oddly late addition which was ultimately dropped in favor of a modern highway over Mountain Springs Pass (now NV 160). 

[roadfro]

This was the first SR 85 designation, but I don't know too much about it.

Pre-1976, Nevada state routes were defined in state law, but not always maintained by NDOT.

I have copies of parts of a couple books (from UNR's government document collection) that have copies of all the laws pertaining to state highways. The 1951 version of this shows the definition as follows: "Route 85. From a connection with route 16 near the Nevada-California state line, easterly via the southerly end of the Spring Mountains to a connection with route 5c in the city of Las Vegas." (At the time, this was the highest numbered route.) The 1958 version has the same definition, then codified as NRS 408.830. By the 1972 version of the book, Route 85 had been redefined to be a route near Pioche (which became SR 322 with the renumbering)...the entry notes that it was added to NRS by 1971, so the first legislative definition couldn't have lasted longer than that.

From what I can tell on the linked map, the part of SR 85 east of that junction right by what is marked as the 'Desert Game Range Boundary' later became SR 159 and follows present-day Red Rock Canyon Road and Charleston Blvd. (That junction seems to match up with where the the scenic loop road starts now [by the Red Rock Visitor Center], but doesn't seem to follow the path of the present loop.) Current state highway logs seem to corroborate this in the highway number cross-reference tables.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm gathering this was likely a placeholder until the modern routing of NV 160 was built.  I'm seeing NV 85 dropped from maps as soon as the highway was built to the south. 

Interesting to note though, someone with a Jeep has mapped out former NV 85 on GSV. I was surprised to see GSV images available for Red Rock Summit when I checked.

[Scott5114]

The Red Rock area is the de-facto playground for the outdoorsy people in the Vegas area. I'm not all that surprised someone created imagery for it. (They probably didn't realize it was NV 85, of course, just saw a cool Jeep road and decided to try it.)

[Scott5114]

Pre-1976, Nevada state routes were defined in state law, but not always maintained by NDOT.

I have copies of parts of a couple books (from UNR's government document collection) that have copies of all the laws pertaining to state highways.

Is this (or old versions of the relevant part of the NRS generally) available online anywhere? Would be helpful to have for wiki purposes.

[Max Rockatansky]

There are scans of the Nevada Department of Highways Biennial reports on archive.org that cl94 pointed out to me also.  I haven't quite dug into them yet pertaining to this topic but had it on my list of things to do on Friday. 

[NE2]

Pre-1976, Nevada state routes were defined in state law, but not always maintained by NDOT.

I have copies of parts of a couple books (from UNR's government document collection) that have copies of all the laws pertaining to state highways.

Is this (or old versions of the relevant part of the NRS generally) available online anywhere? Would be helpful to have for wiki purposes.

Didn't I compile the laws somewhere in the Wikiproject files? Or did I not do Nevada?

Edit: never mind, I gave up. Here's what I have for 1949 and 1963 from years ago (using Google Books search to ferret out bits of partial-view books): https://wiki.aaroads.com/wiki/AARoads_talk:United_States/Nevada/Legislative_definitions

[roadfro]

Pre-1976, Nevada state routes were defined in state law, but not always maintained by NDOT.

I have copies of parts of a couple books (from UNR's government document collection) that have copies of all the laws pertaining to state highways.

Is this (or old versions of the relevant part of the NRS generally) available online anywhere? Would be helpful to have for wiki purposes.

These books appeared to be someone at NDOT compiling a list of all the highway law for internal use, and not something that would've been published.

The UNR library's Government Document Collection does have a lot of printed copies of NRS over the years. As well as a lot of old NDOT stuff like the previous editions of state highway logs, highway project EIS reports, and collections of news article clippings about road projects/issues (which are photocopies in a book in chronolgical order). None of this is digitized to my knowledge, so it's not easy to access... (I discovered all this back when I was in grad school and was more active in editing Wikipedia articles. I work at UNR now, so I haven't been motivated to spend my free time on campus researching this stuff.)

[Max Rockatansky]

Here is an interesting tidbit I found in a biennial report.  Pahrump Valley Highway was completed during the 1955-56 fiscal years as a Department of Highways maintained road.  For some reason it wasn't given a State Route number until the 1976 Renumbering.

[Max Rockatansky]

Something I put together for NV 160 which also hits on NV 85.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2024/12/nevada-state-route-160.html?m=1

[roadfro]

Something I put together for NV 160 which also hits on NV 85.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2024/12/nevada-state-route-160.html?m=1

A quick note for a revision to the blog post, regarding the mention of SR 85: The SR 85 connection to SR 5C would have been slightly west of downtown at Rancho Drive, not Main Street. (SR 5C, labeled "US 95 Alt" on some maps, was effectively a US 95 bypass of downtown using Charleston Blvd & Rancho Dr. SR 85 would have had to overlap Charleston Blvd/SR 5C to reach Main St, and that portion of Main St would've been SR 6A at the time.)

[Max Rockatansky]

Something I put together for NV 160 which also hits on NV 85.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2024/12/nevada-state-route-160.html?m=1

A quick note for a revision to the blog post, regarding the mention of SR 85: The SR 85 connection to SR 5C would have been slightly west of downtown at Rancho Drive, not Main Street. (SR 5C, labeled "US 95 Alt" on some maps, was effectively a US 95 bypass of downtown using Charleston Blvd & Rancho Dr. SR 85 would have had to overlap Charleston Blvd/SR 5C to reach Main St, and that portion of Main St would've been SR 6A at the time.)

Just fixed.

[Scott5114]

Something I put together for NV 160 which also hits on NV 85.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2024/12/nevada-state-route-160.html?m=1

A quick note for a revision to the blog post, regarding the mention of SR 85: The SR 85 connection to SR 5C would have been slightly west of downtown at Rancho Drive, not Main Street. (SR 5C, labeled "US 95 Alt" on some maps, was effectively a US 95 bypass of downtown using Charleston Blvd & Rancho Dr. SR 85 would have had to overlap Charleston Blvd/SR 5C to reach Main St, and that portion of Main St would've been SR 6A at the time.)

How did US-95 reach downtown from Rancho? Bonanza?

[roadfro]

How did US-95 reach downtown from Rancho? Bonanza?

US 95 progressed north via Fremont St > Main St > Bonanza Rd > Rancho Dr (aka "Tonopah Highway" north of Bonanza, back in the day).

Bonanza Road between Rancho and Main St being old US 95 is likely a contributing factor as to why that stretch is still in the state highway system (SR 579).