State Route 163 (SR 163), often referred to as the Laughlin Highway, 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 Clark County,

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 ...

. The route connects the town of Laughlin to the rest of the state via

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). SR 163 and

Arizona State Route 95 State Route 95, also known as SR 95, is a north–south state highway along the western edge of Arizona that is split into two sections. Route description The southern segment begins in Quartzsite, Arizona, Quartzsite at its junction with U ...

provide the next closest public

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

crossing to

Hoover Dam Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on Se ...

. Due to the restriction of commercial vehicles over the dam following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

, SR 163 comprised part of the required detour for truck traffic traveling between the

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

and

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

metropolitan areas until October 2010, when the

Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

just downstream from the dam was opened to traffic. Prior to the renumbering of Nevada state routes in the late 1970s, SR 163 previously comprised the northern part of State Route 76 and all of State Route 77.

Route description

State Route 163 begins as a four-lane

divided highway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

at its junction with US 95 just north of the

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

state line. From there, the highway negotiates some fairly steep mountain grades as it loses elevation heading east toward Laughlin. Just outside Laughlin, the divided highway comes together and intersects Casino Drive before crossing the Colorado River and entering

Bullhead City Bullhead City is a city located on the Colorado River in Mohave County, Arizona, United States, south of Las Vegas, Nevada, and directly across the Colorado River from Laughlin, Nevada, whose casinos and ancillary services supply much of the em ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

History

State Route 77 first appeared on Nevada state maps in 1942 as an unimproved road. At that time, SR 77 had an eastern terminus near the Bulls Head Dam (later

Davis Dam Davis Dam is a dam on the Colorado River about downstream from Hoover Dam. It stretches across the border between Arizona and Nevada. Originally called Bullhead Dam, Davis Dam was renamed after Arthur Powell Davis, who was the director of the ...

) site and a western terminus at former State Route 76 (now an unnumbered road), which connected to US 95 north of the current US 95/SR 163 junction. By 1947, the west end of SR 76 was realigned and paved; along with a paved SR 77, this new pavement would eventually form the majority of SR 163. As of 1973, the southern part of SR 76 was removed from the state highway system and SR 77 was extended to US 95 along the paved alignment of the former SR 76. In 1976, Nevada's highway department began a project to renumber the state highway system. SR 77 was reassigned to State Route 163 during this process; this change was reflected on official state maps in 1978.

Major intersections

References

{{Reflist

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Transportation in Clark County, Nevada

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References