Boy, did we get taken to task over that slight boo-boo in the designation of national highways. We had no idea how many East Coasters were so proprietary about their very own interstate.
In the instance of our Today’s News item, that was written by our favorite Brit-Las Vegan, who comes from a country that has "A" roads, motorways, dirt tracks, and the like. Though brilliant (and beautiful) in every other way, she’s simply not familiar with freeways, interstates, highways, national routes, state roads, county roads, and as she quaintly puts it, "whatever else roads are called here."
As for the major media, it’s hard to say specifically why they make mistakes, but it’s easy to imagine that it’s some variation on our Brit’s unfamiliarity with route classifications -- and it seems like such a simple thing that they don’t even think to check whether it’s accurate or not.
Still, the road situation in Las Vegas Valley is confusing, so it’s easy to make mistakes with the designations.
For the record, Las Vegas has three interstates: I-15, the fourth-longest north–south transcontinental interstate highway, which travels from California through Nevada, (a tiny portion of) Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana. It comes into Las Vegas from the southwest, runs due north past the Las Vegas Strip, then veers a bit northeast just beyond Desert Inn Road.
Two north-south US highways also intersect central Las Vegas: US93 and US95. US95 runs into Nevada from California west of Laughlin; just below Railroad Pass, it joins US93, which comes in from Arizona over Hoover Dam. Together they run up to and through Las Vegas. In Henderson, US93/95 join up with Interstate 515 and the three routes share the same freeway right up to the Spaghetti Bowl in downtown Las Vegas, where I-215 ends, US93 cuts northeast (running along with I-15 for a ways), and US95 heads northwest.
Meanwhile, though, Interstate 215, part of the Bruce Woodbury Beltway, cuts off from US93/95/I-515 at West Lake Mead Drive in Henderson and runs east for 13 miles, crossing I-15 just north of Warm Springs Road right at Town Square.
But here’s where it gets even more confusing and contentious. At I-15, the officially designated I-215 loses its official interstate designation to become Clark County Route 215 (CC 215). No doubt some of you are already starting to email us that we’re wrong, but before you do, just read the rest of this.
The Bruce Woodbury Beltway itself is complete. It’s a 53-mile route that circles roughly 75% of the valley. However, from the I-15 interchange for the next 40 miles, it’s not -- yet -- an official interstate. The Beltway was planned, funded, and constructed entirely by Clark County. In fact, this is the first road in the history of the interstate-highway system where a county has overseen the construction of what, eventually, will become an interstate highway. But before that can happen, improvements need to be made to bring it up to interstate standards (and those are an answer for another question).
For anyone who still doubts that CC 215 west of I-15 isn’t an official interstate, here’s a photo of the road sign.
