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 91-466 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.
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