State Route 447 (SR 447) is a state highway in the U.S. state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the 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. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

. The highway is almost entirely within Washoe County but does for a brief time enter

Pershing County, Nevada Pershing County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,650. Its county seat is Lovelock. The county was named after army general John J. Pershing (1860–1948). It was formed from Humboldt County ...

. The highway connects the town of Gerlach to the remainder of the state via Wadsworth. Though passing through extremely remote and desolate areas of Nevada, the highway has recently gained fame as the primary route to access the

Black Rock Desert __NOTOC__ The Black Rock Desert is a semi-arid region (in the Great Basin shrub steppe eco-region) of lava beds and playa, or alkali flats, situated in the Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area, a s ...

, the site of the annual

Burning Man Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. The name of the event comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred ...

festival. The state maintained portion ends at Gerlach; however the highway continues as Washoe County Route 447 from Gerlach north to the

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...

state line near Cedarville. A portion of this highway, along with portions of SR 445 and SR 446, has been designated the Pyramid Lake Scenic Byway.

Route description

The route begins at a junction with Old US 40 in Wadsworth. The highway proceeds north following the path of the

Truckee River The Truckee River is a river in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river flows northeasterly and is long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 20, 2012 Th ...

, and passes along the east side of the river's terminus at Pyramid Lake near

Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

. The section of highway from Wadsworth to Nixon is named the Arthur S. Jackson Memorial Highway, Jackson was a Paiute who was a heavily decorated soldier in World War II. The highway continues north following the western edge of

Winnemucca Lake Winnemucca Lake is a dry lake bed in northwest Nevada that features the oldest known petroglyphs in North America. Located astride the border between Washoe and Pershing counties, it was a shallow lake until the 1930s, but was dried when a da ...

, a dry lake that once also was the terminus of the Truckee river. During this portion the highway straddles the Washoe/Pershing County line. The highway enters the

just before arriving at

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

, a city founded on processing

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywa ...

extracted from the desert. The highway ends north of crossing the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

's Feather River Route in Gerlach. Just past where the official designation ends is the turn off for former State Route 34, which is used to access the large playa of the Black Rock Desert and the site of the annual Burning Man Festival.

County Route 447

The State highway officially ends here, becoming CR 447 where the roadbed continues as a Washoe county road to the California State Line near the Lassen/ Modoc county line. This road is frequently called the Gerlach- Cederville Road. Some maps erroneously list this road as part of State Route 447.

History

Before 1978, the present-day highway was part of SR 34 from Gerlach to Wadsworth, and former SR 81 from Gerlach to the California state line (now CR 447).Nevada Department of Highways
Official Highway Map of Nevada
, 1978-79 Ten solar energy arrays, totaling 451 kilowatts, have been installed along Nevada 447 with the help of Burning Man-related not-for-profit Black Rock Solar and Nevada's "Solar Generations" rebate program. Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons issued an August 18, 2010 proclamation declaring the road "to be America's Solar Highway".

Major intersections

This major intersections table lists junctions for both State Route 447 and Washoe County Route 447. All junctions are located in Washoe County.

References

{{Black Rock Desert 447 447 Transportation in Washoe County, Nevada Transportation in Pershing County, Nevada

Route description

County Route 447

History

Major intersections

See also

References