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Nevada State Route 720 to Naval Air Station Fallon

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Nevada State Route 720 is rural state highway located near Fallon in Churchill County.  Nevada State Route 720 begins at US Route 95 (Schurz Highway) and extends 3.248 miles eastward to the main entrance of Naval Air Station Road.  Approximately 3 miles of Nevada State Route 720 are carried by Union Lane whereas the remaining 0.248 miles is carried by Pasture Road. 

Nevada State Route 720 was commissioned during July 1976 to serve the then new main entrance of Naval Air Station Fallon.  The prior main entrance was located along Berney Road (now Nevada State Route 119) which carried US Route 50 until 1959.




Part 1; the history of Nevada State Route 720

Much of Nevada State Route 720 is aligned over Union Lane and L2 Drain.  L2 Drain is one of the many irrigation ditches surrounding the city of Fallon which draws irrigation water from the Carson River.  The 1908 United States Geological Survey map of Carson Sink Displays Union Lane originating (marked with a blue pin) at what is now Schurz Highway (US Route 95) and extending approximately two miles east of Pasture Road into what is now Naval Air Station Fallon.  


Naval Air Station Fallon was commissioned and constructed in 1942 following the United States entering World War II.  Originally Naval Air Station Fallon was part of a defensive network of bases east of the Sierra Nevada range which was commissioned to repel a potential Japanese invasion.  After World War II the air station would be turned over to the Bureau of Indian Affairs between 1946-1951.  The facility would be reactivated as a Naval Auxiliary Air Station in 1951. 

Originally the main entrance to the Naval Air Station Fallon was located off of what was then US Route 50 along Berney Road.  This original entrance gate can be seen on the 1951 United States Geological Survey map of Carson Sink.  The same map displays Union Lane truncated to Pasture Road at the western air station boundary (marked with a blue pin).


The 1957-1958 Nevada Department of Highways Biennial reported as having conducted a study and contracted to realign US Route 50 north of Naval Auxiliary Air Station Fallon.  The purpose of the realignment was to permit runway expansion over Berney Road.  The project was requested and fully funded by the Navy.  



The new then new alignment of US Route 50 bypassing Naval Auxiliary Air Station Fallon was completed in 1959.  The new realignment followed Williams Avenue east from Maine Street in downtown Fallon and bypassed the air station to the north.  US Route 50 consolidated back in with the existing Austin Highway near Grimes Point east of the air station.  

The then new alignment of US Route 50 east of Fallon bypassing Naval Auxiliary Air Station can be seen on the 1960 Nevada Department of Highways map.  A portion of Nevada State Route 42 east of downtown Fallon was repurposed as part of the realignment US Route 50. 


On January 1, 1972, the Navy would upgrade the auxiliary status at Fallon to a full air station.  The recommissioned Naval Air Station Fallon would go through an expansion which would see construction of a housing annex and new main entrance near the intersection of Union Lane and Pasture Road.  

On July 1, 1976, the state would commission Nevada State Route 720 to serve the main entrance of Naval Air Station Fallon.  Nevada State Route 720 began at US Route 95 (Schurz Highway) and branched eastward to the main air station gate via Union Lane and Pasture Road.  Nevada State Route 720 has never been altered since being commissioned and is 3.248 miles in length. 



Part 2; a drive on Nevada State Route 720

Eastbound Nevada State Route 720 branches from US Route 95 along Union Lane.  The eastbound start of the highway is marked with a "begin" placard.  


Eastbound Nevada State Route 720 crosses over Nevada State Route 115 at Harrigan Road (the original alignment of US Route 50).  


As eastbound Nevada State Route 720 reaches the end of Union Lane where it makes a left-hand turn onto Pasture Road.  




The remaining balance of eastbound Nevada State Route 720 briefly jogs north to the main entrance of Naval Air Station Fallon.  Authorized traffic can access the main air station entrance in addition to the housing annex gate.



In 1996 the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) relocated from Naval Air Station Miramar to Naval Air Station Fallon.  Naval Air Station Fallon is largely known as a training base in modern times and often hosts visiting tenant commands.  Authorized visitors to the facility can access an outdoor museum comprised mostly of decommissioned Navy aircraft.  


















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