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Nevada State Route 120

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Nevada State Route 120 is rural state highway located near Fallon in Churchill County.  Nevada State Route 120 begins at US Route 95 (Schurz Highway) and extends 6.26 miles along Pasture Road to the original alignment of US Route 50 at Berney Road (now Nevada State Route 119).  Nevada State Route 120 was commissioned during July 1976 and serves to funnel traffic from US Route 95 to the original gate to Naval Air Station Fallon.  




Part 1; the history of Nevada State Route 120

Modern Nevada State Route 120 is aligned on Pasture Road eastward from US Route 95 in the vicinity of the shore of Carson Lake.  Nevada State Route 120 terminates at Nevada State Route 119 (formerly US Route 50 on Berney Road) near the entrance gates to 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 Pasture Road extending south on Berney Road to US Route 95 via a series of 90 degree turns near the Greenhead Duck Club. 


Pasture Road between US Route 95 and then US Route 50 at Berney Road can be seen straightened on the 1957 Nevada Department of Highways map of Churchill County.  The map displays the recently straightened segment of Pasture Road as Federal Aid Secondary Route 51. 


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 120 to serve the original entrance of Naval Air Station Fallon.  Nevada State Route 120 originated at US Route 95 and followed Pasture Road along Carson Lake to Nevada State Route 119 at Berney Road.  Nevada State Route 120 has never been altered since being commissioned and is 6.26 miles in length.



Part 2; a drive on Nevada State Route 120

Nevada State Route 120 begins along Pasture Road south of Nevada State Route 119 (Berney Road). 


Nevada State Route 120 curves softly to the west near the shore of Carson Lake.  


Nevada State Route 120 terminates at US Route 95. 


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