Nevada

[ClassicHasClass]

I thought it was because the feds were getting on their case about outline shields on freeway signs and they decided they'd rather make the spades green than the freeway shields white.

That was my understanding.  FHWA told CalTrans that they couldn't use outlines of shields on guide signs for US and state routes anymore (IIRC they were already using shields for interstates), so they changed the state route shield to green so the outline and the "shield" would be the same.

I'll find the CHPW volume from 1964 I'm referencing tonight.  It talked about the shield color change fairly extensively.  I don't recall anything about the Federal government being mentioned at all. 

Of course, that could also have been, "well, we were going to do it anyway, so there."

[gonealookin]

Also someone asked me how visible the "inverted US 50 shield was" Here's what my dash cam recorded today.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/moabdave/55277593670/in/dateposted-public/

Heh, you went right past my house there.  I'm not in the new places that have the fence signage and flags, which are going for $1.5M-$2M, but I'm in the older subdivision to the right on that same hillside.  That's why I'll know exactly when the white-on-black US 50 shield disappears.

I think Max wants to look at CHPW March-April 1964, page 11 for the California shield discussion.  They considered blue and gold, similar to county route shields, but thought white-on-green provided better visibility.

[Max Rockatansky]

Yes, that's the correct volume.  It has a signage swap out from US 101A to CA 1 on Pacific Coast Highway on the cover.

I had the cover photo on our Facebook page a couple years ago:

https://www.facebook.com/100063655972258/posts/pfbid0217fapxZB2BiH4AeSvZvaPnibmUZJHBzzaJ1ybXdh82xBQv6VJVNMpuSkyvzNiS53l/?fs=e&mibextid=wwXIfr&fs=e

[Max Rockatansky]

The March/April 1964 CHPW article hitting on the green spade can be found on Page 11.  The article goes over the State Highway Renumbering also:

https://archive.org/details/californiahighwa196465calirich/page/n83/mode/2up

FWIW, I do think the green spade does stand out pretty well in Tule Fog:

99CA1 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[moabdave]

Reaction seems a bit extreme for that 207 shield.

Oh just having a bit of fun. Exploiting the stereotype that Nevadans are fighting the foreign invaders. Scott said it best, we were so worried about California taking over, we forgot about New Jersey.

[Scott5114]

Reaction seems a bit extreme for that 207 shield.

Oh just having a bit of fun. Exploiting the stereotype that Nevadans are fighting the foreign invaders. Scott said it best, we were so worried about California taking over, we forgot about New Jersey.

I'm just amused you were annoyed enough by that sign to gain several thousand feet of elevation about it so you could take that picture.

[Max Rockatansky]

I started digging into the history of Kyle Canyon Road (NV 157).  As part as I can tell the earliest iteration of the Kyle Canyon Road was constructed to reach the Keil Sawmill by the early 1880s. 

Kyle Canyon Road first appears on 1907-1908 USGS maps connecting from Las Vegas Valley to the Charleston Forest Preserve.  By 1905 the Griffith campground was plotted in Kyle Canyon and was connected to the Tonopah & Tidewater Tule Station via Kyle Canyon Road.  The Griffith campground was a success and was expanded into the original Mount Charleston Lodge in 1915. 

The 1932-1934 Nevada Department of Highways Biennial announced that 17.62 miles of Kyle Canyon Road from Nevada State Route 5 west to the National Forest boundary was being graveled.  An additional 3.66 miles within the Forest Service boundary were also being graded to Charleston Park.  The project corridor was awarded by the Bureau of Public Roads via Federal Land and Forest Service funds. 

The 1934-1936 Nevada Department of Highways Biennial announced Kyle Canyon Road was surfaced and completed to State Highway standards.  The corridor was subsequently brought into the Nevada State Highway System as Nevada State Route 39.  Three Redwood timber bridges were constructed as part of the modernization of Kyle Canyon Road. 

[Max Rockatansky]

I started working on NV 158 (Deer Creek Road) tonight.  The first map I can find displaying Deer Creek Road is the 1935 Department of Highways map.  The 1937 Department of Highways map for Clark County shows the southern half of Deer Creek Road running through Telephone Canyon.

The 1952 Department of Highways map of Clark County shows Deer Creek Road bypassing Telephone Canyon onto the alignment NV 158 now uses.  The 1968 Clark County map shows Deer Creek Road assigned as FAS 812 along with modern Telephone Canyon Road having been reopened by the Forest Service. 

I ran through the entire library of Biennial Reports and could find no mentions of what was going with Deer Creek Road.  What I know for sure is that NV 39 (Kyle Canyon Road) and NV 52 (Lee Canyon Road) were given State Highway designations during the 1932-1934 Biennium.  As I noted in my previous post Kyle Canyon Road in particular had a bunch of improvements via Bureau of Public Roads funding in the 1932-1934 Biennium.  Lee Canyon Road wouldn't get similar opinions until the mid-1950s after Deer Creek Road was realigned. 

Does anyone know where I can find more information on FAS 812 as it was in Nevada for the early 1950s?  I suspect that might have some answers regarding what was going on with the corridor being realigned.  Robbers Roost Cave and Deer Creek Camp seemed to have gained some popularity by the 1950s era from what I'm seeing on the Clark County maps.

[moabdave]

Playing with the new dashcam again. This is US-50 descending from Spooner Summit into the Lake Tahoe Basin. I've driven this dozens of times and will never tire of when Lake Tahoe first comes into view. Also quite easy to tell who is a regular and who is a novice on this descent from the brake lights. Spooner by David from Moab, on Flickr

[gonealookin]

An issue with the segment of westbound US 50 shown in Dave's video is that there's almost no room for bicycles outside the right traffic lane.  For most of it, it's literally a few inches between the fog line and the guardrail or concrete barrier.

About 7 or 8 seconds into the video you can see where the pre-1970 alignment of US 50 splits off.  It's a gated USFS road now, closed to cars but open to walkers or bicyclists.  It runs along the opposite side of the canyon from the modern highway.  However, once you get down to Glenbrook you run into barricades.  Glenbrook is one of those "enclaves" for the super-rich; if your net worth is under $25 million don't ever bother asking about it.  And they are zealous about guarding their private property rights and making sure there's no trespassing by the lowly riffraff.  So that road is a dead end.

There's a longstanding dream to build an entirely off-highway paved bicycle path down the east side of the lake from the north state line to the south state line.  It would logically use that old alignment of US 50, but then there's the matter of getting around Glenbrook.  It will probably require some expensive right-of-way acquisition and extensive construction, because there's no way the rich people are going to allow bicyclists to use the existing streets through their community.

This Sunday, June 7, we have "America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride", with a couple thousand registered riders and who knows how many unregistered doing the 60-plus mile clockwise loop of Lake Tahoe.  For that, NDOT cones off the right lane of US 50 all the way from the SR 28 intersection to Stateline, which takes the danger out of that stretch of road for one day.  It's a very good day not to try to drive around Tahoe because SR 89 and the two states' SR 28s don't have a second lane to cone off so motorists have to contend with all the bicyclists.

[cl94]

That stretch of US 50 is consistently one of the deadliest stretches of road in the state, particularly Glenbrook - Spooner Summit and "dead man's curve" at the south end of Zephyr Cove. Typical fatality scenario here is that someone is going too fast down the hill into Glenbrook/ around one of the sharper curves and they either lose control or cross into the opposing lanes. Every time something is suggested to try and make it safer, the NIMBY brigade comes out. Residents along that stretch of road from Zephyr Cove north are very, um, politically connected and they want nothing do to with that bike path proposal or anything that could prevent them from driving well over the speed limit (while demanding tourists and Californians all get tickets for 2 MPH over) or making blind left turns into their side streets.

(personal opinion strongly emphasized)

[gonealookin]

That stretch of US 50 is consistently one of the deadliest stretches of road in the state, particularly Glenbrook - Spooner Summit and "dead man's curve" at the south end of Zephyr Cove. Typical fatality scenario here is that someone is going too fast down the hill into Glenbrook/ around one of the sharper curves and they either lose control or cross into the opposing lanes....

That "typical fatality scenario" also is more than likely to involve alcohol.  This gentleman here just got 13 years to life after crossing over the center line last year.  He had a BAC of .192 when he was tested a couple hours after the 7 a.m. crash, which was a bit above Glenbrook on the part of US 50 we're talking about.  He was returning to Reno after being "in Stateline having a breakfast of sliders, a beer and a shot of tequila. He was asked to leave after he nodded off at the bar."

Incidents like that one have happened repeatedly since I've lived here.  As cl94 alludes to, NDOT proposed a road diet for much of US 50 between Stateline and Glenbrook as part of the renovation project which is ongoing over the 2025-2026 construction seasons, and it was shot down by the locals with support from the Douglas County Commissioners.  At the time, I posted in the "Running Commentary" on the Record-Courier site linked above that I supported the road diet, and the response came back, "Wow, you're the first person I've heard supporting it."  I drive the road regularly, and if I'm making a pass I'm in that left lane for as short a time as possible, and quickly get back to the right lane to give myself those extra feet between me and the double yellow.

[Max Rockatansky]

I had a breakthrough with the history of Lee Canyon Road (now NV 156) in the Spring Mountains tonight.  Below are the important parts I wrote for an upcoming blog on Gribblenation:

"In 1893 John Thomas McWilliams was working at the mines of Goodsprings in southern Clark County.  During his time in Goodsprings he met Noah Clark who owned a sizeable sawmill in Clark Canyon in the Spring Mountains.  Clark advised McWilliams of a large unclaimed swath of trees found above the crest of Lee Canyon.

In 1894 McWilliams ascended the Spring Mountains via Lee Canyon in search of the forest described by Clark.  McWilliams thought the forest land would be better suited for recreational purposes and staked a claim to 1,300 acres.  The claims of McWilliams were highly contested by lumber interests which sought to exploit the land atop Lee Canyon for commercial use.

In 1906 the land claims of McWilliams were ordered to be cancelled by Federal politicians.  The exact politicians who sought to cancel the McWilliams claims were never named but it is generally suspected that Montana senator William A. Clark had involvement.  William Clark held a large amount of stock in the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad and was known for controlling much of the early development of Las Vegas Valley. 

During 1906 McWilliams would respond to the cancellation of his claims at Lee Canyon by directly writing then President Theodore Roosevelt.  Roosevelt would ensure the validation of the McWilliams land claims within four days of the letter being written. 

Lee Canyon Traction Road can be seen on the 1908 United States Geological Survey map of Las Vegas as part of Charleston National Forest.  The Lee Canyon Road is displayed as spanning the McWilliams land holdings east to Owens siding on the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad.  The Charleston Forest Reserve was designated over 149,165 acres by the Forest Service on November 5, 1906.  The reserve was designated as a National Forest on March 4, 1907.  Charleston National Forest would later become a detached annex of Dixie National Forest.

During the 1930s John McWilliams would become acquainted with Claude Mackey who was the local Works Progress Administration (WPA) head.  McWilliams offered the WPA 10 acres of his land in Lee Canyon to construction of a public playground to serve southern Nevada residents.  Mackey would ultimately ask for an additional 110 acres of land to build campgrounds, recreational areas and a ski course atop Lee Canyon.  The WPA would also fund improvements to Lee Canyon Road so that it would be more accessible to modern automotive traffic.

Kyle Canyon Road first appears as Nevada State Route 39 on the 1935 Nevada Department of Highways map.  The same map displays the upper part Lee Canyon Road as being designated as Nevada State Route 52.  Early Nevada State Route 52 is shown to diverge north from Lee Canyon Road via the now defunct Macks Canyon Road to Nevada State Route 5 at Indian Spring.

In 1937 Camp Lee Canyon opened in Nevada National Forest.  The campground was a WPA project which was built upon seventeen acres of land that was granted by McWilliams in 1936.  The majority of the campground structures were wood-frame designs with gable roofs.  These structures are generally considered to be common during the WPA era.

The 1937 Nevada Department of Highways map displays Nevada State Route 52 having been realigned onto the modernized Lee Canyon Road.  The highway is shown to have a western segment originating in Clark Canyon which extended through Pahrump in Nye County to California State Route 178 at the California state line.

The 1937 Nevada Department of Highways map would display the scale of Nevada State Route 52 in greater detail.  Nevada State Route 52 is displayed originating at Nevada State Route 5 and following Lee Canyon west into the Spring Mountains.  The highway is shown to be discontinuous from Lee Canyon west to Clark Canyon.  The map displays no implied routing between the two segments, and it isn't fully clear if the WPA ever planned to bridge them.  The original alignment of Nevada State Route 52 in Macks Canyon is shown to no longer exist.

The 1955-1956 Nevada Department of Highways Biennial reported on improvements to Lee Canyon Road.  5.07 miles of the eastern segment of Nevada State Route 52 were rebuilt during the biennium.  On October 1, 1957, Nevada National Forest was transferred fully to Toiyabe National Forest.

In 1963 the Lee Canyon ski area was established at the western terminus of the Lee Canyon Road segment of Nevada State Route 52.  The site now offers all-year recreational areas which include 250 acres of hiking trails which are accessible via three chair lifts.

The 1963 Nevada Department of Highways map displays the segment of Nevada State Route 52 west of Pahrump as Federal Aid Secondary 677.  The highway east of Pahrump towards Clark Canyon is shown to lack a Federal Aid designation. 

The Lee Canyon Road portion of Nevada State Route 52 is displayed as Federal Aid Secondary 547 on the 1968 Nevada Department of Highways map of Clark County.  The Clark Canyon portion of western Nevada State Route 52 is shown not to have a Federal Aid designation.

During 1976 the wider Nevada State Highway renumbering took place.  The eastern segment of Nevada State Route 52 along Lee Canyon Road was reassigned as Nevada State Route 156.  The segment of Nevada State Route 52 from Clark Canyon to Pahrump was dropped from the state highway system.  The decommissioned segment is now part of Wheeler Pass Road and Clark Canyon Road.  The segment of Nevada State Route 52 west of Pahrump to California State Route 178 was reassigned as Nevada State Route 372."

[moabdave]

2nd time is the charm. For the 2nd time this year, I attempted to drive to Vya, to clinch NV-8A. This time I succeeded.For those that don't know Vya, Nevada is a ghost town, located at the junction of former state routes NV-8A and NV-34.  It has minor fame from the fact that about every few years someone has to be rescued, stranded while using maps/GPS and thinking this would be a good way to cross Nevada. From a map NV-8A looks like a fairly good path across the state. The most recent rescue was maybe 5 years ago, so we're due. Once such incident was made into a TV movie. 

Here's some general notes:
Vya isn't a true ghost town anymore. There's 5 or 6 new ranches and dude ranches and bed and breakfasts built since the last time I was in Vya. It's become hip.
LOTS of Antelope there. Antelope are solitary animals and easily spooked, it's hard to get a picture of them. I did get 3 pictures but they all sucked.
The roads are in good shape for dirt roads. They are all pretty hard packed. There's spots where you can do 45MPH comfortably on them, but key word spots. Despite that, only a moron would attempt these roads in any kind of weather without wilderness survival preparations, there's 3 or 4 mountain passes with 10 MPH curves, and if there was any kind of ice or snow you'd end up over a cliff without 4WD and/or chains.
Both NV-34 and NV-8A were fairly well trafficked. Neglecting semis, I saw as much traffic on NV-8A as I did on NV-140.
My apologies for the dust on the lens. Fighting dust was not easy between the desert and my 4 legged furry companion hopping in and out of the car at every chance.
Here's the photo and dash cam video collection. I'll post some individuals below. https://www.flickr.com/photos/moabdave/albums/72177720334098896

Of interest:
Signage at the 5 level clover-stack interchange between NV-8A and NV-34
IMGP9647 by David from Moab, on Flickr

Surburban sprawl and gentrification of Vya IMGP9666 by David from Moab, on Flickr

BGS at the North Vya Trumpet Interchange IMGP9668 by David from Moab, on Flickr

Signage at the NV-8A NV-34A interchange IMGP9703 by David from Moab, on Flickr

Signage at the northern terminus of NV-292 in the Denio Metropolitan Area IMGP9726 by David from Moab, on Flickr

This was the biggest surprise that I did not know existed until now. The eastern descent from 1000 Creeks Summit along NV-140 is a serious grade. I was impressed. NV140Thousandcreeksummit by David from Moab, on Flickr

And just for good measure, dashcam video of the Lovelock Viaduct along I-80.I80lovelockviaduct by David from Moab, on Flickr