Skip to main content

Paper Highways: Proposed US Route 66 Alternate to Las Vegas, Nevada

By

During February 1956 the State of Nevada in concurrence with the States of California and Arizona submitted a request to the American Association of State Highway Officials to establish US Route 66 Alternate to Las Vegas.  The proposed US Route 66 Alternate would have originated from mainline US Route 66 in Kingman Arizona and followed a multiplex of US Routes 93-466 to Las Vegas, Nevada.  From Las Vegas, Nevada the proposed US Route 66 Alternate would have multiplexed US Routes 91-466 back to mainline US Route 66 in Barstow, California.  The request to establish US Route 66 Alternate was denied during June 1956 due to it being completely multiplexed with other US Routes.  This blog will examine the timeline of the US Route 66 Alternate proposal to Las Vegas, Nevada.


The history of the proposed US Route 66 Alternate to Las Vegas, Nevada

On February 15, 1956, the Nevada State Highway Engineer in a letter to the American Association of State Highways Officials (AASHO) advising that six copies of an application to establish US Route 66 Alternate to Las Vegas had been submitted.  The Nevada State Highway Engineer noted the State of California agreed to sign US Route 66 Alternate if approved and they were anticipated to submit their own like request to the AASHO Executive Committee.  



The actual submission to by the Nevada State Highway Engineer was made on February 27, 1956.  As noted in the intro, the proposed US Route 66 Alternate would have originated from mainline US Route 66 in Kingman Arizona and followed a multiplex of US Routes 93-466 to Las Vegas, Nevada.  From Las Vegas, Nevada the proposed US Route 66 Alternate would have multiplexed US Routes 91-466 back to mainline US Route 66 in Barstow, California.  The rationale for US Route 66 Alternate being established was that it was desired by the communities along the prospective highway to obtain access to an alternative alignment of US Route 66.  





Below the proposed routing of US Route 66 Alternate can be seen on a sketch map. 


Below a description of proposed US Route 66 Alternate can be observed.  Proposed US Route 66 Alternate is stated to be 259 miles long. 


The Arizona State Highway Engineer affirmed concurrent agreement with the US Route 66 Alternate proposal to the AASHO Executive Secretary in an undated Western Union telegram.  



The AASHO Executive Commitee considered US Route 66 Alternate during the June 27, 1956, meeting and ultimately denied the request.  The AASHO Executive Committee noted the rationale for not approving US Route 66 Alternate was that it was completely concurrent with existing US Routes.  It is unclear if truncation of US Route 466 in favor of US Route 66 Alternate would have swayed the AASHO Executive Committee given it already served function being sought by California, Nevada and Arizona.  The AASHTO would abolish the adoption of split alignments US Route alignments in 1996. 

Labels:

Comments

unclevito said…
Barstow, Arizona? You mean Barstow,CA
10:16 AM
Challenger Tom said…
Yes, California. I miss the typo on the proof read, but it’s corrected now.
10:41 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

By
  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Abandoned Fowler Avenue in Clovis, California

By
Originally Fowler Avenue in the city of Clovis had a brief discontinuation approaching Herndon Avenue.  Fowler Avenue traffic heading northbound was required to detour briefly onto westbound Herndon Avenue.  During 2001 this discontinuation was removed when Fowler Avenue was reconfigured to access the Sierra Freeway (California State Route 168) via an interchange.  This led to a segment of the original alignment of Fowler Avenue just south of Herndon Avenue to be abandoned.  Despite a shopping center opening over part of the original Fowler Avenue alignment in 2016 much of the abandoned roadway remains.   The history of the abandoned original alignment of Fowler Avenue in Clovis The original alignment of California State Route 168 departed downtown Clovis eastbound along Tollhouse Road.  This original alignment did not interact with Fowler Avenue at the Herndon Avenue intersection.  Fowler Avenue north of Tollhouse Road ran north to Herndon Avenue...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hot Springs Drive (Tulare County Mountain Road 56)

By
Hot Springs Drive is an approximately twenty-mile rural highway in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Tulare County.  The Hot Springs Drive corridor begins at Old Stage Road at Fountain Springs and extends eastward to Parker Pass Road near California Hot Springs.  Hot Springs Drive is carried by Tulare County Mountain Road 56 and acts as an extension of Avenue 56 (Tulare County Route J22).   What is now California Hot Springs originated as the Deer Creek Hot Springs Resort in 1882.  The resort on Deer Creek was originally served by a Control Road which required traffic alternate at different times of the day.  The modern California Hot Springs resort would incorporate in 1905 following an ownership change.  The Control Road corridor was replaced by Hot Springs Drive around 1915 which intended to serve increasing amount of automotive traffic to California Hot Springs.  Much of the resort would later burn in 1968 but was rebuilt in the 1980s. ...
Post a Comment
Read more