| 140 |
7/1/76; 1/22/79 |
From U.S. 95 northwest via Quinn River Crossing and Denio Junction to the Oregon State Line en route to Adel, Oregon. Nevada 140 follows the historic Winnemucca-to-the-Sea Highway, which starts at an eight-foot diameter redwood tree trunk in downtown Winnemucca (at the corner of Winnemucca Boulevard and Melarkey Street). Nevada 140 used to also begin at this point, then turn north with U.S. 95 to meet its current eastern terminus. The Winnemucca-to-the-Sea Highway follows Nevada and Oregon Routes 140, then terminates at Crescent City via U.S. 199.
Although Nevada 140 comes suspiciously close to the former routing of U.S. 40 and connects to Oregon 140, Nevada 140 was never commissioned or signed as U.S. 140. The real U.S. 140 has had two routings: in the mid- to late-1920s, U.S. 140 was located in New Jersey along modern New Jersey 540, and between the 1930s and 1960s, U.S. 140 ran from Baltimore, Maryland, northwest to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, via Maryland 140 and Pennsylvania 97. U.S. 140 does not exist today.
When Nevada 140 and Oregon 140 were commissioned in the mid-1960s, Nevada 140 began in Winnemucca at a junction with Old U.S. 40. It was cosigned with U.S. 95 north to about 16 miles north of Winnemucca, where it split off toward Klamath Falls, Oregon. In the mid-1970s, Nevada 140 signs were removed along the section of U.S. 95 with which it is concurrent, so it was separated from its "parent," U.S. 40. Of course, U.S. 40 itself was slowly being absorbed by modern Interstate 80 during this time frame.
A little map research shows that in 1938, Oregon 140 was signed Oregon 66. Nevada 140 was signed Nevada 8A (one of about four discontinuous stretches of road to carry this designation). In 1965, we still had the same numbering situation (Ore. 66 and Nev. 8A). In 1967, ORE-140 was commissioned, but there was still NV-8A. In 1968, the Hwy 140 numbering was in both states. Highway 140 was likely commissioned to create more contiguous east-west routes for the southern part of Oregon and to provide access into the sparsely populated northwestern Nevada region. Note that Nevada 140 has been paved and well maintained since the late 1960's.
Dan Stober writes, "If you want confusion, you can always look at 140 in Nevada and Oregon. It used to go into Winnemucca (to meet U.S. 40). This highway came up about six months ago, and, apparently the Nevada section was numbered 8A until 1979." |
HU |
110.112 |
Business Loop I-80; East Second Street; Central Winnemucca Boulevard; Historic U.S. 40; Denio-Adel Road |
