2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 7; Former Nevada State Route 40 on Valley of Fire Highway and Valley of Fire State Park

Following spending a night at The Stratosphere I headed north on I-15 the following morning to Valley of Fire Highway which was once part of Nevada State Route 40.

This blog entry is the 7th in the 2016 Fall Mountain Trip Series, Part 6 can be found here:

2016 Mountain Trip Part 6; Las Vegas from the Stratosphere

Valley of Fire Highway is an approximately 18.6 mile route connecting I-15 east through Valley of Fire State Park to NV 169. Valley of Fire Highway was originally designated NV 40 and first appears on the 1935 Nevada State Highway Map.

1935 State Highway Map

During the 1976 Nevada State Highway renumbering NV 40 and NV 12 were combined into the new NV 169. Ultimately it seems NV 169 was never applied in the field to Valley of Fire Highway and the route appears without a designation first on the 1982 State Highway Map.

1982 State Highway Map

From I-15 Valley of Fire Highway begins at exit 75.

Valley of Fire Road heads directly east towards the Muddy Mountains.

The Muddy Mountains largely consist of sand stone ridges. As Valley of Fire Highway approaches the Muddy Mountains it descends a sweeping grade east through a canyon.

At the boundary of Valley of Fire State Park the routing of Valley of Fire Highway is signed as a Nevada Scenic Byway.

Valley of Fire State Park is Nevada's oldest State Park having been created in 1935 along with the NV 40 designation. Valley of Fire State Park largely consists of Aztec Sandstone formations endemic to the Muddy Mountains. The sandstone formations were formed from shifting sand dunes 150 million years ago. Valley of Fire State Park is a popular hiking destination for Las Vegas Valley and was most notably featured as a set piece in the original Total Recall.

Probably the best road side views of Valley of Fire State Park are located just off of Valley of Fire Highway on Mouse Tank Road.

Emerging through the Muddy Mountains on Valley of Fire Highway the Lake Mead Recreation Area can be seen to the eastbound the sandstone bluffs.

Leaving the Scenic Byway portion of Valley of Fire Highway I encountered a Bighorn Sheep. I would shortly find myself at the Lake Mead Recreation Area near Old St. Thomas Road which was part of NV 12.

Part 8 of this blog series can be found here:

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 8; Former Nevada State Route 12 on Old St. Thomas Road

Comments

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

Massena Center Suspension Bridge

The Massena Center Bridge, also known as the Holton D. Robinson Bridge, has had quite the tumultuous history. Situated on the Grasse River just east of Massena, New York in the hamlet of Massena Center, the Massena Center Bridge is a reminder of the efforts the community has made in order to connect over the river. The first and only other known bridge to be built at Massena Center was built in 1832, but that bridge was never long for this world. During the spring of 1833, the Grasse River dammed itself due to an ice dam, flooded and lifted the bridge off its foundation, destroying the bridge in the process. The floods were frequent in the river during the spring, often backing up the river from Hogansburg and past Massena Center, but not to nearby Massena. After the first bridge disappeared, local residents had to resort to traveling seven miles west to Massena to cross the next closest bridge, and that was no easy task for a horse and buggy. However, it was many decades befo...

The Dead Man's Curve of Interstate 90 and Innerbelt Freeway in Cleveland

"Dead Man's Curve" refers to the transition ramp Interstate 90 takes between Cleveland Memorial Shoreway onto the Innerbelt Freeway in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Said curve includes a sharp transition between the two freeways which is known for a high rate of accidents. Currently the curve (not officially named) has a 35 MPH advisory speed and numerous safety features intended to mitigate crashes. When the Interstate System was first conceived during 1956, Interstate 90 was intended to use the entirety Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and connect to the Northwest Freeway through Lakewood. The Innerbelt Freeway was initially planned as the northernmost segment of Interstate 71. The extension of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway west of Edgewater Park was never constructed which led to Interstate 90 being routed through the Innerbelt Freeway. Part 1; the history of Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway and Deadman's Curve The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signe...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog