State Route 266 (SR 266) 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 ...

Esmeralda County Esmeralda County is a county in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 729, making it the least populous county in Nevada. Esmeralda County does not have any incorporated communities. Its ...

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 routing of

California State Route 266 State Route 266 (SR 266) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. The route traverses Fish Lake Valley, which is part in California and part in Nevada. The route connects two Nevada state routes that traverse the Nevada po ...

east to

U.S. Route 95 US Route 95 (US 95) is a major north–south 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 begins in San Luis, ...

(US 95) via the town of

Lida Lida ( be, Лі́да ; russian: Ли́да ; lt, Lyda; lv, Ļida; pl, Lida ; yi, לידע, Lyde) is a city 168 km (104 mi) west of Minsk in western Belarus in Grodno Region. Etymology The name ''Lida'' arises from its Lithuani ...

. Lida Road previously carried the southern end of

State Route 3 The following highways are numbered 3, H-3, PRI-3, AH3, E03 and R3. For roads numbered A3, see A3 roads. For roads numbered M3, see M3. For roads numbered N3, see N3. For roads numbered 3A, see 3A. International * Asian Highway 3 * Europea ...

Route description

State Route 266 begins at 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 about east of Oasis, California. From there, the highway makes its way east through the mountainous terrain and the Lida Summit (elevation ) to the community of Lida. Once it exits the town, the route continues east through the open desert. SR 266 reaches its eastern terminus at the Lida Junction, an intersection with US 95 south of Goldfield. On the south side of the highway is the Lida Junction Airport—which was originally built to provide more convenient access to the now defunct Cottontail Ranch, located immediately southwest of the highway junction. Lida Summit, looking west to the Sierra Nevada

Lida Summit, looking west to the Sierra Nevada

History

SR 266 originally began as the southernmost segment of State Route 3, one of Nevada's first four state highways designated with the creation of the

Nevada Department of Highways The Nevada Department of Transportation (Nevada DOT or NDOT) is a government agency in the U.S. state of Nevada. NDOT is responsible for maintaining and improving Nevada's highway system, which includes U.S. highways and Interstate highways within ...

in 1917. Maps dating back to 1917 show SR 3 curving northward a few miles east of Lida on its trek towards Goldfield and points further north. The eastern portion of the present-day route was constructed as a graded highway by 1937, with the new alignment replacing the unimproved northeast leg by 1940. The entire alignment was paved by 1960. SR 3 was officially eliminated from the state highway system as part of a mass renumbering of Nevada's state routes. State Route 266 was assigned to this former alignment of SR 3 on July 1, 1976. The resulting change in the highway's number was first seen on the 1978–79 edition of the official highway map.

Major intersections

References

{{Commons category, Nevada State Route 266

266 __NOTOC__ Year 266 ( CCLXVI) was a common 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 Gallienus and Sabinillus (or, less frequently, year 1019 ...

Transportation in Esmeralda County, Nevada

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References