US-95 in Nevada is nuts (rolling road closure)!

[DemoTex]

After two 30 minute waits for follow-me trucks at lane closures on 2-lane US-95 between Fallon and Beatty (with another 30 minute wait lurking near Mercury Valley), and the hell that is US-95 going through Las Vegas, the surprise of the day was the rolling road closure that I encountered on my southbound travels between Goldfield and Beatty.

I was behind two empty flat-bed trucks doing a comfortable 72 mph. I had finally gotten around a couple of wide loads after the last 30 minute lane closure fiasco. Then I noticed that the flat-beds were tapping their brakes. I looked ahead (about 2 miles) and saw flashing red&blues with flashing headlights. Great - I thought - an accident. I started slowing with the rigs ahead of me.

Then I realized that the red&blues were coming toward us (northbound). It was six Nevada State Police cars, swerving from one side of the road to the other - in a daisy chain - with everything flashing and blaring. Then I thought - in fear - that it was a chase.

As the cops got closer the 18-wheel rigs ahead of me pulled completely off the road (difficult, because there is no shoulder on many a mile of US-95). I pulled over until my left wheels were just on the pavement. The cops came closer and closer, swerving insanely. I saw other vehicles behind them, but couldn't focus (Obama motorcade? The Gov?).

Then the cops were on me. Crazy on me. The first one dusted me off by inches. The second opened his window and pointed toward the ditch, so I moved completely off the road. Then I saw what they were leading: two gigantic construction machines, as wide as the highway (on huge trucks), followed by more swerving, light/sound spewing state police cars.

Insane. I watched in my rear-views as they ran all the traffic behind me off the road. I wonder what they did when they got to the south-bound wide loads?

WTF? Is this normal in Nevada?

Anyway, I'm on the way home. Fire season is over. The incident count when I took the lookout out of service for the 2011 season on Saturday (10/22) at 10 am was 910. It was a great season, and I'm on for 2012. I'll post a few more pics, then a best-of-the-season pic review.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My god, my dear DemoTex!

I can see what happened, you write it so vividly...

VERY scary. :scared:

I cannot even imagine what the situation would have been like if you'd been on a cliff...

I hope the rest of your trip is much less eventful.

And I'm looking forward to your pics, all of them!

:hi:

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. Drive safe man!

As far as those wide loads are concerned, keep in mind the number of mines in Nevada. There's a BUNCH.

Be careful. Taking the two lanes all the way home?

[DemoTex]

8. I'm on I-40 now (Gallup, NM, for the night)

I'll get off I-40 at Amarillo, cut down to Wichita Falls and across to Sherman and Greenville (to avoid Dallas), then down to I-20. Then I'll shoot across to the Alabama line, and then to Selma - Montgomery - and I-85. I'll work in from La Grange to Griffin, Georgia, where I need to deal with my dad's estate.

Then I'll swing up through Atlanta, before the final run to South Carolina.

Mac

[CreekDog]

10. only two roads in Nevada are more than 2 lane

and most are dirt.

and in Nevada, 2 lane highways have unpaved emergency lanes and shoulders.

take a look at how little pavement there is (google map link to just north of Beatty, NV):

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=beatty,+nv&hl=en&ll=37.080915,-116.787565&spn=0.001733,0.005493&geocode=+&hnear=Beatty,+Nye,+Nevada&t=k&z=18&vpsrc=6

[DemoTex]

12. Having just come from the Oregon hight desert wilderness ..

My rig was the dirtiest on the road in Nevada.

[stevedeshazer]

3. Jesus H. Christ!

Have a safe trip home, my friend.

+1

[stevedeshazer]

4. And just to add, as if you didn't already know,

Nevada is weird.

No, seriously, really freaking weird.

That can be good or bad.

I love Nevada. I hate it, too.

[DemoTex]

9. 10-4

I completely understand.

I got through hated Las Vegas, hoping to make Kingman (Az), but the gods put me in Henderson, Nv, which turned out great.

Mac

[MADem]

5. Wow--construction gear? Where were they going and what do you suppose they were building?

Were they common construction machines (like cranes and the like) or something unusual?

I enjoyed your pictures this year, again. Thank you for them!

[DemoTex]

13. It was probably gear for the big mines near Tonopah

Nye County, IIRC.

[MADem]

16. I imagine that kind of stuff would be rather enormous.

Drive safely! Look forward to your pictures next year.

[cherokeeprogressive]

6. I love US-95.

Thanks for what you do DemoTex!

Here's a sign that sits about a mile north of McDermitt on US-95... Next stop Jordan Valley, OR:

[DemoTex]

11. OMG! Great PIC!

I warn all that do not know better: DO NOT PASS A GAS STATION IN THE DESERT WITHOUT A REFILL!

Thanks!
Mac

BTW: I'm a great fan of US-95, too. I love Tonopah, Goldfield, and the big damn desert. But I hate the delays of the last three trips.

[cherokeeprogressive]

17. Hate to admit it, but been there, done that...

The sign in question USED to say 53 miles. At one time there was a gas station at Burns Jct. on the road north to Jordan Valley. It has since closed.

In the early 90's, after my Grandfather's funeral (may the Great Spirit rest his soul), we left Jordan Valley coming south with about 1/8th of a tank. It was about 1 a.m. when we left JV. I never even considered that the station at Burns Jct. might be CLOSED when I got there. At Burns, the wind was blowing, the temp was about 8 degrees, and it was snowing like crazy. We opted to drive to McDermitt. By the time we got there, the gas needle was more than a needle's width below the empty line.

As a side note, while I was gassing our rented AWD van, my sister walked across the street to the Casino, and won $800 on a quarter slot.

Maybe some day we'll cross paths in Fallon, and we can have a beer at The Nugget. It's one of my favorite places in all of NV.

Here's to YOU.

[DRoseDARs]

14. And us Nevadans hate US-95. Seriously, has to be one of the worst drives in the country.

~8hrs of horrid wasteland and blink-and-you-miss-it towns between Reno and Las Vegas. I can't begin to fathom driving the length of it through the rest of the state to the north. :P

[cherokeeprogressive]

18. I drive it from Hawthorne to east of Boise at least twice a year. Funny, but the part I don't like

is where it runs concurrent with I-80 from north of Fallon to Winnemucca.

[Gman]

7. I had something similar to that happen to me in Kenedy, TX

where they were hauling a huge (looked like) electrical switch box that was wider than the northbound 2 lanes side of US 181. They were hauling it out to an Eagle Ford Shale oil field site. Only it didn't have state police running interference. So I just weaved around it at the red light in town, cut in front of the escort truck and took off. All I got was a real dirty look from the escort driver to which he got my middle finger.

They acted like they owned the entire northbound side, both lanes, of the highway and it was their right to drive 25 in a 70 mph zone.

[DRoseDARs]

15. Well, given it's a mining state and you were on rural highways yes, probably normal.

As said elsewhere, likely equipment mine-bound. Given its size, the NHP had to follow procedure to get people moved completely out of the way to ensure safe passage. I suspect the weaving pattern is common in every state, you've just never seen it in person. I've seen footage of it from California, though I don't recall the context.