Nevada is a large, empty state with comparatively few roads. Most of the main highways run north-south, along the many parallel basins between generally impassable mountain ridges of the Great Basin Desert, although there is only one direct road across the whole state - US 93, near the border with Utah. There are three roads that cross from east to west; I-80 to the north, the lonely highway US 50 across the centre, and US 6/NV 375 further south. As Nevada has few major natural landmarks, the reason for driving is generally to visit some of the many smaller sites - historic places, ghost towns, old mines, hidden side roads, or just to see the land itself.
A grand tour of the Southwest will generally involve a crossing of Nevada at some point along one of the highways listed above, and there are a variety of other scenic routes, including:
- NV 305 - a long, empty road along the Reese River Valley from Battle Mountain on I-80 to Austin on US 50, that passes no towns for 89 miles, just occasional mines and ranches, some long abandoned.
- SSR 167 - a 40 mile drive through a colorful rocky landscape near to the northwest shoreline of Lake Mead.
- US 95 - from Beatty to Tonopah - 95 miles of hypnotic desert scenery with wide plains and distant mountains, between Death Valley and the huge Nellis Air Force Base. Highway 95 continues north, merging with I-80 for one long stretch, and later enters Oregon and Idaho.
- NV 447 - a little-travelled route starting from I-80 east of Reno that leads past Pyramid Lake, the largest body of water in Nevada, and on into the most remote part of the state - a wild land of salt flats, dry lakes, mountains and scattered volcanic features. The road becomes unpaved at the small settlement of Gerlach, circles the Black Rock Desert and continues through more empty wilderness into California.
- NV 156/157 - a short diversion near Las Vegas; this scenic loop road climbs into the Spring Mountains towards Mount Charleston, one of the highest peaks in the state at 11,918 feet. En route there is a quick transition in vegetation zones, from desert to Alpine.
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More Information - Main Nevada Highways
I-80 - the main cross-state highway
US 50 - a lonely east-west route
US 93 - long drive from Lake Mead into Idaho
NV 375 - 'The Extraterrestrial Highway' |
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