🚘 Headlines About California Highways – May 2026

[cahwyguy]

Here are the headlines for May 2026. It seems like a sparser month for me, but perhaps that is because I'm not including a lot of maintenance items.

https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=17754

Ready, set, discuss.

[Max Rockatansky]

41 really ought to be four lanes north to 145 or Road 200.  There is always thick traffic on the highways and Rocky Cut is known for high numbers of collisions.  Jessica probably got stuck having to detour down Road 211 at least a dozen times when she worked in Oakhurst.

[gonealookin]

Regarding the "Loneliest Road" article (not California, but cahwyguy can post whatever content he wants):

The second sentence is a problem.

A road sign warns that the next gas station is 167 miles away.

I don't recall any such sign, and it wouldn't be true.  There are open gas stations in Fallon, (111 miles to) Austin, (70 miles to) Eureka, (78 miles to) Ely, (63 miles to) Border Inn and continuing into Utah, (88 miles to) Delta.

On to the fourth sentence.

You can drive for hours on this blacktop connecting Nevada to California and Utah on either side and never see another car.

Oh my goodness.  "Minutes" sometimes works there, but not "hours".

Later, in paragraph six.

At Winnemucca Lake in western Nevada, etched on boulders beside the dry lake bed, are the oldest known petroglyphs in all of North America, dating back tens of thousands of years.

True about the petroglyphs.  However, Winnemucca Lake isn't anywhere near US 50 (nor the city of Winnemucca).  It's a dry lakebed along SR 447, north of I-80, between Fernley and Gerlach.

The writer is using her description of the road to set up some human interest stuff later in the piece, but she lost so much credibility with those statements I couldn't read down that far.

[Max Rockatansky]

US 50 in Nevada is far from lonely.  You get a fair bit of consistent traffic most of the way from South Lake Tahoe east to Fallon.  The only real falloff is east of Silver Springs when it drops to two lanes.

[ClassicHasClass]

I found US 6 much lonelier than US 50.

[oscar]

Regarding the "Loneliest Road" article (not California, but cahwyguy can post whatever content he wants):

A road sign warns that the next gas station is 167 miles away.

I don't recall any such sign, and it wouldn't be true.  There are open gas stations in Fallon, (111 miles to) Austin, (70 miles to) Eureka, (78 miles to) Ely, (63 miles to) Border Inn and continuing into Utah, (88 miles to) Delta.

IIRC, the 167 miles to next gas sign is on US 6, not US 50. US 6 is the real loneliest road in Nevada (and the lower 48, but there are lonelier roads in Alaska and Canada).

[gonealookin]

Regarding the "Loneliest Road" article (not California, but cahwyguy can post whatever content he wants):

A road sign warns that the next gas station is 167 miles away.

I don't recall any such sign, and it wouldn't be true.  There are open gas stations in Fallon, (111 miles to) Austin, (70 miles to) Eureka, (78 miles to) Ely, (63 miles to) Border Inn and continuing into Utah, (88 miles to) Delta.

IIRC, the 167 miles to next gas sign is on US 6, not US 50. US 6 is the real loneliest road in Nevada (and the lower 48, but there are lonelier roads in Alaska and Canada).

That does make more sense.  It's 167 miles from Ely to Tonopah.  The westbound sign, leaving Ely:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/UgYwyeJo1RCJhYs3A

[pderocco]

Regarding the "Loneliest Road" article (not California, but cahwyguy can post whatever content he wants):

On to the fourth sentence.

You can drive for hours on this blacktop connecting Nevada to California and Utah on either side and never see another car.

Perhaps if the hours are 1am to 5am on a Sunday.