State Route 159 (SR 159) is a east–west highway in 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 ...

, United States, providing access to Red Rock Canyon and serving as a thoroughfare in the

Las Vegas metropolitan area The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the 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 Statistical Area is ...

. A portion of the west end of the route is designated a

Nevada Scenic Byway The U.S. state of Nevada maintains a system of scenic byways throughout the state. Currently, there are 20 designated state scenic byways. Some of these state scenic byways have also been incorporated into national byway designations. State sce ...

Route description

State Route 159 has two distinct segments. The first segment is a rural two-lane highway that begins at its junction with SR 160. The highway proceeds northwest through the town of

Blue Diamond Blue diamond is a type of diamond which exhibits all of the same inherent properties of the mineral except with the additional element of blue color in the stone. They are colored blue by trace amounts of boron that contaminate the crystalline l ...

towards Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. From there, the highway curves northeast around Red Rock Canyon to the Las Vegas city limits west of the

Las Vegas Beltway The Las Vegas Beltway (officially named the Bruce Woodbury Beltway) is a beltway route circling three-quarters of the Las Vegas Valley in southern Nevada. The Las Vegas Beltway carries two numerical designations. Approximately of the highway, f ...

. This segment of SR 159 is known on maps and signs as ''Blue Diamond Road'' (assuming the name from SR 160), but is also referred to as ''Red Rock Canyon Road''. As SR 159 enters the city of Las Vegas, it transitions into Charleston Boulevard, a major east–west section line arterial bisecting the Las Vegas Valley. The highway crosses the

and runs through the planned community of

Summerlin Summerlin is a master-planned community in the Las Vegas Valley of Southern Nevada. It lies at the edge of the Spring Mountains and Red Rock Canyon to the west; it is partly within the official city limits of Las Vegas and partly within uni ...

. SR 159 continues east to intersect

Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border i ...

and then passes south of

Downtown Las Vegas Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming area was the primary gambling district of Las Vegas prior to the St ...

. From there, the highway ventures further east to intersect

Interstate 515 Interstate 515 (I-515) is a spur route of Interstate 15 in Nevada, I-15 in the US state of Nevada that runs from the junction of Interstate 11, I-11, Las Vegas Beltway, I-215, and Nevada State Route 564, State Route 564 (SR 564) ...

and U.S. Routes 93 and 95 before reaching its terminus at Nellis Boulevard ( SR 612). (Charleston Boulevard itself ends about three miles (5 km) east of Nellis Boulevard near

Frenchman Mountain Frenchman Mountain is a mountain located east of Las Vegas, Nevada. Made up of rocks similar to those found on the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Frenchman Mountain formed when Fault (geology), faulting elevated and tilted the rocks followed by e ...

History

A portion of Charleston Boulevard was previously designated U.S. Route 95 Alternate to bypass

. The designation began at

Fremont Street Fremont Street is a street in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada that is the second most famous street in the Las Vegas Valley – and Nevada – besides the Las Vegas Strip. Named in honor of explorer and politician John C. Frémont and located in the ...

( SR 582) and continued west to Rancho Drive ( SR 599), where it curved north to reconnect to US 95. The alternate route was discontinued in 1982. Approximately of SR 159 in Red Rock Canyon was designated a Nevada Scenic Byway on June 30, 1995.

Major intersections

Public Transport

Current RTC route 206 functions on this road.

References

External links

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159 Year 159 ( CLIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time in Roman territories, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Quintillus and Priscus (or, less frequently, year ...