State Route 160 (SR 160) is a
state highway
A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
in southern
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, United States. It connects the southern
Las Vegas Valley
The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Stat ...
to
U.S. Route 95
US Route 95 (US 95) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highways, US Highway in the western United States. It travels through the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho, staying inland from the Pacific Coast ...
(US 95) northwest of the city via the
Pahrump Valley
Pahrump Valley is a Mojave Desert valley west of Las Vegas and the Spring Mountains massif in southern Nye County, Nevada, and eastern San Bernardino County, California. Pahrump, Nevada, is in the valley's center and the Tecopa and Chicago Valley ...
. The southern part of the route sees heavy traffic, mostly due to
Pahrump's continued growth as a Las Vegas bedroom community.
The route is known as ''Blue Diamond Road'' within the Las Vegas area, with the remainder referred to as the ''Pahrump Valley Highway''.
The route was originally part of State Route 16 prior to 1978.
Route description
State Route 160 begins in the southern Las Vegas metro area at the intersection of
Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas Boulevard is a major road in Clark County, Nevada, United States, best known for the Las Vegas Strip portion of the road and its casinos. Formerly carrying U.S. Route 91 (US 91), which had been the main highway between Los Angel ...
(former
SR 604) and East Windmill Lane. It runs west-southwest towards the
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
The Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Clark County, Nevada, is an area managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of its National Landscape Conservation System, and protected as a National Conservation Area. It is about west o ...
and over
Mountain Springs Summit (elevation ) before turning northwest towards Pahrump. Outside of Pahrump, SR 160 heads more north-northwest to reach its western terminus at US 95.
History
![Nv-160 NW between Mountain Springs and Pahrump (freeway)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Nv-160_NW_between_Mountain_Springs_and_Pahrump_%28freeway%29.JPG)
SR 160 was originally part of SR 16 from Pahrump north to US 95. SR 16 was one of Nevada's original state highways dating back to the 1920s. It began at the Nevada–California border in an area of Pahrump Valley near
Cathedral Canyon
A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...
, part of the historic
Hidden Hills Ranch south of Pahrump, traveling north to Pahrump over Hidden Hills Ranch Road.
From there, it continued north over present-day SSR 160 to meet SR 5, which was absorbed into and redesignated US 95 on January 1, 1940.
By 1976, the section from Pahrump to US 95 was designated as part of the newly-created SR 160. The section from the California border to Pahrump remained as SR 16 until it was removed by 1982
and is now designated Old Route 16. However, satellite imagery indicates the former highway remains almost entirely unpaved
and even passes through the runway of an old airstrip built in 1941 by
Ronald Wiley, former owner of Hidden Hills Ranch and namesake of the
Ronald H. Wiley Archaeological Preserve
Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'', Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English '' Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised form o ...
.
In 2007, SR 160 was realigned slightly over
I-15
I15 may refer to:
* Interstate 15, a north–south Interstate Highway in the United States of America
* Polikarpov I-15, a Soviet fighter aircraft
* I15 (band)
"Soulja Girl" is the second single from American rapper Soulja Boy's studio album '' ...
in southern Las Vegas. The highway was moved a short distance to the south between Valley View Boulevard and Las Vegas Boulevard, realigning the southeastern terminus with East Windmill Lane at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard. The project also reconstructed the ramps of the aging interchange, allowing for better traffic flow to and from I-15. The unused section of roadway is still visible.
A section of SR 160 between Las Vegas and Pahrump was closed on the weekend of November 4–5, 2017, for the attempt of a world record for the
fastest production car
This is a list of the world's record-breaking top speeds achieved by street-legal production cars (as opposed to concept cars or modified cars). For the purposes of this list eligible cars are defined in the list's rules. This list uses a diff ...
. The
Koenigsegg Agera RS
Koenigsegg Automotive AB () is a Swedish manufacturer of high-performance sports cars based in Ängelholm, Skåne County, Sweden.
Company
The company was founded in 1994 in Sweden by Christian von Koenigsegg, with the intention of producing ...
broke the record at , surpassing the
Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car, designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and Bugatti and manufactured in Molsheim, France, by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti. It was named after the racing driver P ...
. The same section of SR 160 was closed again on October 10, 2020 for another attempt of a world record for fastest production car, this time for the
SSC Tuatara. Despite claims that the SSC Tuatara broke the record, the accuracy of this was subsequently challenged by various independent analysts.
Major intersections
:Note:
Milepost
A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...
s in Nevada reset at county lines; the start and end mileposts for each county are given in the county column.
See also
*
*
References
External links
* {{Commons category-inline
AARoads: Nevada 160Nevada DOT Historical Highway Maps
160
Year 160 ( CLX) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Atilius and Vibius (or, less frequently, year 913 '' Ab urbe condita''). ...
Streets in the Las Vegas Valley
Transportation in Clark County, Nevada
Transportation in Nye County, Nevada