Interstate 80 (I-80) traverses the northern portion of the US state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. The freeway serves the Reno metropolitan area and passes through the towns of Fernley, Lovelock, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, Carlin, Elko, Wells and West Wendover on its way through the state. I-80 follows the historical routes of the

California Trail The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...

first transcontinental railroad America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...

and

Feather River Route The Feather River Route is a rail line that was built and operated by the Western Pacific Railroad. It was constructed between 1906 and 1909, and connects the cities of Oakland, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The line was built to comp ...

throughout portions of Nevada. Throughout the entire state, I-80 follows the historical routes of the

Victory Highway The Victory Highway was an auto trail across the United States between New York City and San Francisco, roughly equivalent to the present U.S. Route 40. It was created by the Victory Highway Association, which was organized in 1921 to locate and ...

, State Route 1 (SR 1) and US Route 40 (US 40). The freeway corridor follows the paths of the

Truckee Truckee is an incorporated town in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 16,180, reflecting an increase of 2,316 from the 13,864 counted in the 2000 Census. History Name Truckee's ...

and

Humboldt Humboldt may refer to: People * Alexander von Humboldt, German natural scientist, brother of Wilhelm von Humboldt * Wilhelm von Humboldt, German linguist, philosopher, and diplomat, brother of Alexander von Humboldt Fictional characters * Hu ...

rivers. These rivers have been used as a transportation corridor since the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

of the 1840s. The Nevada portion of I-80 has been designated as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Highway and Purple Heart Trail.

Route description

Truckee River

I-80 enters Nevada in the canyon 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 ...

, paralleling the

and

. Upon exiting the canyon, the freeway serves the

Truckee Meadows The Truckee Meadows is a valley in Northern Nevada, named for the Truckee River, which collects and drains all water in the valley. Truckee Meadows is also colloquially used as a name for the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area, even though the met ...

, a name for the urban area consisting of

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, recei ...

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

, and Sparks. The freeway passes north of downtown Reno in a depressed alignment before intersecting I-580/ US 395. The interchange with US 395 is the busiest portion, averaging 122,000 vehicles per day in 2006. The freeway passes through downtown Sparks via a viaduct over the casino floor of the

Nugget Casino Resort Nugget Casino Resort (formerly Dick Graves' Nugget and John Ascuaga's Nugget) is a casino hotel in Sparks, Nevada. It is operated by Century Casinos. The main portion of the casino consists of two 29-story towers nestled between Interstate 80 an ...

. After leaving the Reno metropolitan area, the freeway resumes following the Truckee River in a canyon to Fernley and passes the Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery to the north. Traffic volumes drop to 26,600 vehicles per day by Fernley and continue dropping to 8,400 by the time the freeway reaches the center of the state. The freeway exits the Truckee River corridor near

Wadsworth Wadsworth may refer to: People * Wadsworth (given name) * Wadsworth (surname) Places * Wadsworth, Illinois, United States, a village * Wadsworth, Kansas, United States * Wadsworth, Nevada, United States, a census-designated place * Wadswort ...

Lahontan Valley/Forty Mile Desert

Past Wadsworth, the freeway cuts across the

Lahontan Valley The Lahontan Valley is a basin in Churchill County, Nevada, Churchill County, Nevada, United States. The valley is a landform of the central portion of the prehistoric Lake Lahontan's lakebed of 20,000-9,000 years ago. The valley and the adjace ...

. The Lahontan Valley is a barren desert, sometimes called the

Forty Mile Desert The Lahontan Valley is a basin in Churchill County, Nevada, United States. The valley is a landform of the central portion of the prehistoric Lake Lahontan's lakebed of 20,000-9,000 years ago. The valley and the adjacent Carson Sink represent ...

, from the era of the

. The name comes from the

where the emigrants who came into the Lahontan Valley via the

Humboldt River The Humboldt River is the longest river in the northern and central part of Nevada. It extends in a general east-to-west direction from its headwaters in northern Nevada's Jarbidge Mountains, Jarbidge, Independence Mountains, Independence, and ...

. The travelers would have then to endure without usable water while crossing the valley, regardless of which of the two routes across the valley the travelers followed. I-80 closely approximates the path of the emigrants between the Humboldt and Truckee rivers. I80downtownreno

A marker stands at a

rest area A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, Limited-access road, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names ...

on the eastern edge of the valley, near the junction of I-80 and US 95, that honors travelers who suffered crossing the valley, thousands of whom abandoned possessions, animals, and even loved ones in the desert. Per the marker, this portion was the most dreaded portion of the California Trail. Between eastern Fernley and Winnemucca, the speed limit was raised from in 2017.

Humboldt River

For the next , I-80 follows the Humboldt River. Along the way, the freeway passes through the towns of Lovelock, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, Carlin, Elko, and Wells. At Winnemucca, I-80 is joined by the

; I-80 runs parallel to this railroad until the

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

state line. The freeway is within visual distance of the river for most of this run. However, there are portions where the freeway bypasses bends by cutting across or tunneling under mountains along the canyon walls. Between Winnemucca and Battle Mountain, the freeway bypasses bends via side canyons and

Golconda Golconda is a fortified citadel and ruined city located on the western outskirts of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The fort was originally built by Kakatiya ruler Pratāparudra in the 11th century out of mud walls. It was ceded to the Bahmani ...

Summit, . The highway also bypasses Palisade Canyon, between Beowawe and Carlin, via Emigrant Pass, . Just east of Carlin, I-80 passes through the Carlin Tunnel to bypass curves of the river in the Carlin Canyon (between the Carlin Tunnel and Elko).

Eastern Nevada

After Wells, I-80 departs the Humboldt River, first transcontinental railroad, and California Trail. From this point east, the freeway follows the routes of the

Hastings Cutoff The Hastings Cutoff was an alternative route for westward emigrants to travel to California, as proposed by Lansford Hastings in ''The Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California''. The ill-fated Donner Party infamously took the route in 1846. D ...

, Feather River Route, former US 40, and SR 1. The freeway cuts across two mountain ranges before arriving at the

Great Salt Lake Desert The Great Salt Lake Desert (colloquially referred to as the West Desert) is a large dry lake in northern Utah, United States, between the Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the ei ...

. The first is the Pequop Mountains via Pequop Summit, elevation —the highest point on I-80 in Nevada—and the second is the Toano Range via Silver Zone Pass at . After crossing these mountains, the freeway arrives at West Wendover where the freeway enters both

and the Great Salt Lake Desert at the

Bonneville Salt Flats The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah, United States. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land ma ...

Overlaps

Portions of I-80 run concurrently with three

US Route The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these h ...

s in Nevada: * US 95 Alternate (US 95 Alt), which runs concurrently with I-80 between Fernley and Trinity Junction near Lovelock. * US 95, which runs concurrently with I-80 between Trinity Junction and Winnemucca. * US 93 Alt, which runs concurrently with I-80 between the cities of Wells and West Wendover.

History

California Trail

The general route of I-80 was first used by California-bound travelers and was called the

. From the Utah state line west to the Humboldt River, I-80 follows a modified routing of a lesser used branch of the trail called

. The cutoff rejoins the main route of the trail in the Humboldt River canyon. Through this portion of Nevada, the main route of the California Trail ran north of modern SR 233. From Elko west to Lovelock, I-80 faithfully follows the California Trail. West of Lovelock, in the middle of the

Humboldt Sink The Humboldt Sink is an intermittent dry lake bed, approximately 11 mi (18 km) long, and 4 mi (6 km) across, in northwestern Nevada in the United States. The body of water in the sink is known as Humboldt Lake. The sink and i ...

, the California Trail again splits into two branches. These branches, the

Carson River The Carson River is a northwestern Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is long although the addition of the East Fork makes the total length , traversing five counties: Alpine Count ...

route and the

route, are named for the waterways that guide each branch up the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

. I-80 follows the Truckee route, the Carson route is approximated by US 95, US 50, US 395, and SR 88/

California State Route 88 State Route 88 (SR 88), also known as the Carson Pass Highway, is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. It travels in an east–west direction from Stockton, California, Stockton, in the San Joaquin Valley, to the Nevada state l ...

Transcontinental railroads

The route of modern I-80 was also previously used for the construction of two transcontinental railroads. The

, completed in 1869, closely follows the main line of the California Trail and I-80 west of Wells. The

was constructed in 1909 and generally follows the Hastings Cutoff through Eastern Nevada. It also runs parallel to I-80 in Nevada east of Winnemucca.

Highways

The first paved road across this portion of Nevada was the

, designated in Nevada as SR 1. With the formation of the US Numbered Highway System, this route was numbered US 40. From the formation of the

Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Hi ...

, the highway was gradually upgraded to

Interstate Highway standards Standards for Interstate Highways in the United States are defined by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in the publication ''A Policy on Design Standards: Interstate System''. For a certain highway t ...

and signed as I-80. In 1974, officials in Utah initiated meetings with officials in Nevada and California to truncate the route of US 91. By that time, US 91 was mostly redundant with

I-15 I15 may refer to: * Interstate 15, a north–south Interstate Highway in the United States of America * Polikarpov I-15, a Soviet fighter aircraft * I15 (band), a band * , of the Imperial Japanese Navy * Älvsborg Regiment The Älvsborg Regiment ...

. Nevada officials agreed and further suggested that both US 91 and US 40 be truncated. Nevada officials recommended the changes occur in 1975, when the last Nevada piece of I-15 was expected to be completed. The 1976 edition of the official highway map for Nevada was the first not showing the US 40 designation. Even though the US Route designation was removed, the freeway was not yet completed. The last piece of I-80 in Nevada to be finished was the Lovelock bypass which started construction in 1981. The 1982 Official Nevada Highway Map was the first to note I-80 as a contiguous freeway across the state. All of the

business loop A business route (or business loop, business spur, or city route) in the United States is a short special route that branches off a parent numbered highway at its beginning, continues through the central business district of a nearby city or t ...

s for I-80 in Nevada use the historical route of US 40. I-80 is also known in Nevada as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Highway after the former president of the same name and the Purple Heart Trail after such military decoration.

Future

There are plans to widen I-80 to three lanes in both directions from Vista Boulevard and Greg Street to SR 439 south (USA Parkway). This is due to the increase in traffic travelling between Reno and Sparks to the

Tahoe Reno Industrial Center The Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRI Center, or TRIC) is a privately owned industrial park, located in Storey County, east of Reno, Nevada, and south of Interstate 80. The center is the largest in the United States (third largest in the world), ...

built up on USA Parkway, thousands of people traverse I-80 through the Truckee River Canyon every day and that section is still 2 lanes in each direction and accidents on this stretch of Interstate have risen tremendously since the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center has opened.

Exit list

Notes

References

External links

Interstate 80 in Nevada @ AARoads
{{Good article 80 Nevada U.S. Route 40 California Trail 80 Transportation in Washoe County, Nevada Transportation in Storey County, Nevada Transportation in Lyon County, Nevada Transportation in Churchill County, Nevada Transportation in Pershing County, Nevada Transportation in Humboldt County, Nevada Transportation in Lander County, Nevada Transportation in Eureka County, Nevada Transportation in Elko County, Nevada