Existed: 1976 – present East end: US 50 near Austin Constructed 1976 | West end: US 50 near Middlegate Length 93.57 km | |
State Route 722 (SR 722) is a state highway in Churchill County and Lander County in the U.S. state of Nevada. The highway is an old routing of U.S. Route 50 (US 50), and previously the Lincoln Highway. What is now route 722 crosses the Desatoya Mountains via Carroll Summit. The US 50 designation was removed from this alignment in favor of the modern route that traverses the Desatoya Mountains via New Pass Summit, which is 1,100 feet (340 m) lower and with an easier approach on both sides than Carroll Summit.
Contents
Map of NV-722, Nevada, USA
Route description
SR 722 deviates from US 50 near the roadhouse at Middlegate. It then crosses 2 summits, Eastgate at 5,110 feet (1,558 m), and Carroll Summit at 7,492 feet (2,284 m). There is a small settlement at Eastgate. On the west approach to Carroll is an old, unmaintained rest area. The highway then traverses a long desert valley named Smith Creek Valley and another summit, Railroad Pass at 6,431 feet (1,960 m), before entering the Reese River valley where the highway reunites with US 50 just west of Austin.
History
As a dirt road, the routing of the Lincoln Highway across Nevada changed several times. The original route of the Pony Express, from which the Nevada portion of the Lincoln Highway was based, crossed the Desatoya range at Basque Summit, at 7,452 feet (2,271 m). The route used an alignment that is now a dirt road called "Old Overland Road". At one time, the Lincoln Highway was routed on a route similar to the modern US 50 between Middlegate and Austin via New Pass.
The highway now numbered 722 was first constructed in 1924–1925 as part of improvements to the Lincoln Highway. The intent was to shorten the route by 15 miles (24 km). While the route over Carroll Summit and Railroad Pass was shorter and more scenic, efforts began to revert to the New Pass Route as early as the 1930s. The route over New Pass Summit was being paved by 1967 and US 50 was re-routed back over New Pass Summit once finished.
Major intersections
Note: Mileposts in Nevada reset at county lines.