State Route 342 (SR 342) is a short

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 ...

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 is a loop route of State Route 341, running north through the communities of Silver City and

Gold Hill Gold Hill may refer to: Canada * Gold Hill, British Columbia United Kingdom * Gold Hill, Shaftesbury, Dorset, a steep street used in Hovis commercial United States ;Alabama * Gold Hill, Alabama ;California * Gold Hill, El Dorado County, C ...

before returning to State Route 341 near

Virginia City Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Virginia City developed as a boom ...

. This highway is a historic route, dating back to the

Comstock Lode The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Virginia City, Nevada (then western Utah Territory), which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the United ...

of the 1860s. The highway loosely parallels, and crosses, the route of the

Virginia and Truckee Railroad The Virginia and Truckee Railroad is a privately owned heritage railroad, headquartered in Virginia City, Nevada. Its private and publicly owned route is long. When first constructed in the 19th century, it was a commercial freight railroad ...

. Prior to renumbering in the 1970s this route was known as State Route 80.

Route description

SR 342 is the original and shorter of the two routes between Silver City and Virginia City. However, trucks are required to use newer alignment (SR 341) due to 15%

grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also ref ...

s and

hairpin curve A hairpin turn (also hairpin bend or hairpin corner) is a bend in a road with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180° to continue on the road. It is named for its resemblance to a bent metal hai ...

s. The route begins just south of Gold Hill, at the junction with SR 341. Both routes have Virginia City listed as the first

control city A control city is a city, locality, or other location posted on a series of traffic signs along a particular stretch of road indicating destinations on that route. Together with route numbers and cardinal directions, these focal points aid the mo ...

, however all trucks are directed to use SR 341 instead of SR 342. The highway runs through narrow Gold Canyon for its entire length. This highway serves as the main street of Gold Hill and Silver City. While in Silver City the highway crosses the

, now a

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

that once served as a primary route to transport silver from the mines in Virginia City.

History

This highway was the principal highway between Virginia City and

Carson City Carson City is an Independent city (United States), independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the List of cities in Nevada, sixth largest ...

and has been in use since the

of the 1860s. The highway has appeared on Nevada highway maps since at least as far back as 1919 and was first numbered part of Nevada State Route 17 (modern State Route 341) sometime in the 1920s. The 1937 edition of the official Nevada Highway Map was the first to show both routes between Virginia City and Silver City, with both routes numbered 17. The 1949 edition showed separate numbers for the two routes, with the older route now numbered 80. It retained the 80 designation at least to 1979, before being renumbered route 342.

Major intersections

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 are given in the county column.

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline
Nevada State Route 342 @ AARoads
342 Transportation in Lyon County, Nevada Transportation in Storey County, Nevada

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References

External links