Nevada State Route 266

State Route 266
Lida Road
Route information
Maintained by NDOT
Length:	40.3 mi[1] (64.9 km)
Existed:	1976 – present
Major junctions
West end:	SR 266 at CA state line near Oasis, CA
East end:	US 95 near Goldfield
Highway system
Highways in Nevada Interstate U.S. State pre-1976 Scenic ← SR 265 SR 267 →

State Route 266 (SR 266) is a 40.338-mile (64.918 km) state highway in Esmeralda County, Nevada, USA. It connects the routing of California State Route 266 east to U.S. Route 95 (US 95) via the town of Lida. Lida Road previously carried the southern end of State Route 3.

Route description

State Route 266 begins at the California state line about 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Oasis, California. From there, the highway makes its way east through the mountainous terrain and the Lida Summit (elevation 7,420 feet (2,260 m)) to the community of Lida.^[2]

View east from the west end of SR 266

Once it exits the town, the route continues east through the open desert. SR 266 reaches its eastern terminus at the Lida Junction, an intersection with US 95 14 miles (23 km) south of Goldfield. On the south side of the highway is the Lida Junction Airport—which was originally built to provide more convenient access to the now defunct Cottontail Ranch, located immediately southwest of the highway junction.

Looking west on SR 266 at the Lida Summit

History

SR 266 was a part of State Route 3 from 1917 to 1976.

SR 266 originally began as the southernmost segment of State Route 3, one of Nevada's first four state highways designated with the creation of the Nevada Department of Highways in 1917.^[3] Maps dating back to 1917 show SR 3 curving northward a few miles east of Lida on its trek towards Goldfield and points further north.^[4] The eastern portion of the present-day route was constructed as a graded highway by 1937,^[5] with the new alignment replacing the unimproved northeast leg by 1940.^[6] The entire alignment was paved by 1960.^[7]

SR 3 was officially eliminated from the state highway system as part of a mass renumbering of Nevada's state routes. State Route 266 was assigned to this former alignment of SR 3 on July 1, 1976.^[8] The resulting change in the highway's number was first seen on the 1978–79 edition of the official highway map.^[9]

Major intersections

The entire route is in Esmeralda County.

Location	mi[10]	km	Destinations	Notes
	0.00	0.00	SR 266 – Fish Lake Valley	Continuation beyond California state line
			SR 774 – Gold Point
	40.34	64.92	US 95 – Goldfield, Beatty
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

1. Nevada Department of Transportation (January 2008). "Nevada State Maintained Highways: Descriptions, Index and Maps". Retrieved 2009-01-12.
2. Official Highway Map of Nevada (Map) (2007-08 ed.). Nevada Department of Transportation. 2007. § E3.
3. "Nevada Highway Maps – 1917–2005". Nevada in Maps. Mary B. Ansari Map Library, University of Nevada, Reno. 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
4. State Highway System of Nevada (Map). Nevada State Highway Department. 1917. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
5. Official Road Map of the State of Nevada (Map). Nevada State Highway Department. 1937. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
6. Official Road Map of the State of Nevada (Map). Nevada State Highway Department. 1940. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
7. Official Highway Map of Nevada (Map). Nevada State Highway Department. 1960. § G3. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
8. Nevada State Maintained Highways: Descriptions, Index and Maps. Nevada Department of Transportation. January 2001. p. 104.
9. Official Highway Map of Nevada (Map) (1978-79 ed.). Nevada State Highway Department. 1978. § E2. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
10. Nevada Department of Transportation (May 2008). "Maps of Milepost Location on Nevada's Federal and State Highway System by County" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-01-12.