State Route 305 (SR 305) 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
Lander County
Lander County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,734. Its county seat is Battle Mountain.
History
Lander County was created in 1862 as the result of a mining boom on the Reese River along the ...
,
Nevada. It is the only state highway to connect the southern and northern areas of the county. It runs north from
U.S. Route 50
U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlanti ...
at
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
to
Battle Mountain, where it crosses
Interstate 80
Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...
and ends at
State Route 304.
Route description
State Route 305 begins just northwest of the town limits of Austin, Nevada.
From there, the route heads in a northerly direction through the
Reese River Valley
Reese may refer to:
Places Germany
* Reese, Germany, a hamlet in Lower Saxony on the River Aue United States
* Reese, Michigan, United States, a community east of Saginaw
* Reese, Pennsylvania, United States, a community in Blair County
* Reese, ...
, generally paralleling the
Reese River. The highway passes near many ranches and mining sites. After about , SR 305 curves slightly more westward, crossing through the
Shoshone Range.
The route continues northward, passing the Valley of the Moon along the trek through Reese River Valley.
As the route nears the vicinity of the
Battle Mountains, it curves northeast to head to the town of the same name. Along this stretch of highway, near milepost 110, are several dirt roads providing access to numerous mining sites.
Soon afterward, SR 305 enters
Battle Mountain along Broad Street, crossing over Interstate 80 and ending in the middle of the town at an intersection with Front Street (
SR 304/I-80 Business).
A five-mile section of SR 305 is the site of a yearly human-powered vehicle (HPV) speed record competition conducted by the IHPVA (International Human Powered Vehicle Association), with the record set to 89.59 mph (144.18 km/h) on September 17, 2016. During repaving in 2009, special attention was paid to the five mile stretch to make sure it was the flattest and smoothest road in the world. It is very slightly downhill, with an average slope of less than 2/3 of one percent, per IHPVA rules.
History
The road dates to back to at least 1929. At that time, it appeared on state maps one segment of the much longer
State Route 8A. At the time, it was an unimproved road in the state highway system, and the road approached Battle Mountain from a more southerly direction.
The northern end of the current highway alignment southwest of Battle Mountain, serving the present-day mining establishments near the town, was constructed by 1952, although SR 8A continued to follow the previous alignment according to maps.
The entire highway was paved by 1953,
and the SR 8A designation was moved onto the newer section near Battle Mountain by 1954.
On July 1, 1976, Nevada began
renumbering its state highways. In this process, the Austin – Battle Mountain Road segment of SR 8A was reassigned to a new State Route 305. This change was first seen on state maps in 1978.
The route has remained relatively unchanged since then.
Major intersections
The Shoshone Range, as seen from SR 305 near Battle Mountain
See also
Other segments of former
State Route 8A:
*
State Route 140, the northern segment that ran west from
U.S. Route 95 via
Denio to northwestern Nevada.
*
State Route 376, the southern segment that ran from near
Tonopah to near
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
.
References
{{Reflist
305
Year 305 ( CCCV) 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 Constantius and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1058 '' Ab urbe c ...
Transportation in Lander County, Nevada
