{{Short description|State highway in Nevada, United States}} {{Use American English|date=April 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox road |state=NV |type=SR |route=156 |alternate_name=Lee Canyon Road |map=Nevada 156 map.svg |map_notes=Nevada State Route 156, highlighted in red |map_alt=Nevada State Route 156 runs southwest from <!--I-11/-->US 95 to the Spring Mountains. |length_mi=17.544 |length_round=3 |length_ref=<ref name="NDOT_Log">{{cite web|title=State Maintained Highways of Nevada: Descriptions and Maps|author=Nevada Department of Transportation|author-link=Nevada Department of Transportation|url=http://www.nevadadot.com/doing-business/about-ndot/ndot-divisions/planning/roadway-systems/state-maintained-highways-descriptions-index-maps|date=January 2020|accessdate=April 26, 2020}}</ref> |established=July 1, 1976 |direction_a=West |terminus_a=Dead end in Lee Canyon |junction={{Jct|state=NV|SR|158|name1=Deer Creek Road}} in Spring Mountains National Recreation Area |direction_b=East |terminus_b={{jct|state=NV|Future|11|US|95}} southeast of Indian Springs |county=Clark |previous_type=SR |previous_route=147 |next_type=SR |next_route=157 }} '''State Route 156''' ('''SR 156'''), also known as '''Lee Canyon Road''', is a state highway in Clark County, Nevada. The road is one of two highways connecting <!--Interstate 11 (I-11)/-->U.S. Route 95 (US 95) to the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and Spring Mountains area northwest of Las Vegas and its entire length is designated a Nevada Scenic Byway.

thumb|left|View from the east end of SR 156 looking westbound in 2015 When first created in the 1930s, the highway followed a slightly different path that formed '''State Route 52'''. The SR 52 designation was later realigned and extended west to the California state line via Pahrump, but was discontinuous through the national forest. The route was ultimately split into separate highways in the 1970s.

==History== 45px|thumb|left|SR 156 was originally part of State Route 52 The road now known as State Route 156 has origins dating to at least 1933. At that time, it was an unimproved county road that ran from State Route 5 (now US 95) at Indian Springs to the northern border of what was then called the Nevada National Forest.<ref name=Map1933>{{cite map |publisher=Nevada State Highway Department |title=Official Road Map of Nevada |url=http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/hmaps,461 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121205004930/http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/hmaps,461 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 5, 2012 |date=1933 |accessdate=2010-01-08 }}</ref> By 1935, this road had been designated as State Route 52, and apparently extended through the national forest (along what may now be State Route 158) ending at State Route 39 (now SR 157) east of Charleston Peak.<ref name=Map1935>{{cite map |publisher=Nevada State Highway Department |title=Official Road Map of Nevada |url=http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/hmaps,465 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121211152024/http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/hmaps,465 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 11, 2012 |year=1935 |accessdate=2010-01-08 }}</ref>

The routing of SR 52 had been changed by 1937. The highway was moved to the current alignment of Lee Canyon Road, beginning on State Route 5 several miles southeast of Indian Springs and ending in Lee Canyon. Around the same time, the highway designation was extended further west. SR 52 now traveled southwest through the national forest lands, crossing State Route 16 (now SR 160) in Pahrump to end at the California state line (on what is now California State Route 178) ''en route'' to Shoshone, resulting in approximately {{convert|47|mi|km}} of unimproved highway.<ref name=Map1937>{{cite map |publisher=Nevada State Highway Department |title=Official Road Map of the State of Nevada |url=http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/hmaps,469 |date=1937 |accessdate=2010-01-08}}</ref> By 1940, the eastern end of the route between US 95 and the Nevada National Forest had been fully paved. However, a gap now existed between the paved portion of the highway within the national forest and the unimproved road southwest of the western forest boundary.<ref name=Map1940>{{cite map |publisher=Nevada State Highway Department |title=Official Road Map of the State of Nevada |url=http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/hmaps,473 |date=1940 |accessdate=2010-01-08}}</ref> A trail through the Spring Mountains would connect the two segments of State Route 52 in later years.<ref name=Map1950>{{cite map |publisher=Nevada Department of Highways |title=Official Highway Map Nevada |url=http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/hmaps,487 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121215044053/http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/hmaps,487 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 15, 2012 |date=1950 |section=I5, I6 |accessdate=2010-01-07 }}</ref> While improvements were made to the western portion of the route in the 1950s and 1960s,<ref name=Map1956>{{cite map |publisher=Nevada Department of Highways |title=Official Highway Map Nevada |url=http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/hmaps,501 |date=1956 |section=I5 |accessdate=2010-01-08 }}</ref><ref name=Map1968>{{cite map |publisher=Nevada State Highway Department |title=Official Highway Map Nevada |url=http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/hmaps,519 |date=1968 |section=I6 |accessdate=2010-01-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the trail through Clark Canyon was never improved to a full roadway.

On July 1, 1976, Nevada began the process of renumbering all of the state's numbered highways. The Lee Canyon Road portion of SR 52 was redesignated as State Route 156, while the portion between Pahrump and the California state line was renumbered to State Route 372.<ref name=NDOTlog2001>{{cite book |title=Nevada State Maintained Highways: Descriptions, Index and Maps |date=January 2001 |publisher=Nevada Department of Transportation}}</ref> The remainder of the route, from Pahrump to the Toiyabe National Forest, was removed from the state highway system. The changes in route numbering were reflected on official state highway maps beginning in 1978.<ref name=Map1978>{{cite map |publisher=Nevada State Highway Department |title=Official Highway Map of Nevada |url=http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?/hmaps,535 |edition=1978-79 |date=1978 |section=F5 |accessdate=2010-01-08 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150122214240/http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/u?%2Fhmaps%2C535 |archivedate=2015-01-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

By 2017, the first {{convert|0.627|mi|km}} of SR 156 at the Lee Canyon ski area had been removed from the routing.<ref name=NDOT_Log/>

The Nevada Department of Transportation designated State Route 156 as a Nevada Scenic Byway in July 1998. The "Mount Charleston/Lee Canyon Road" scenic route encompasses the entire {{convert|17.5|mi|km}} of highway.<ref name=NVscenic>{{cite web |title=Nevada's Scenic Byways |author=Nevada Department of Transportation |url=http://www.nevadadot.com/pub_involvement/scenicbyways/the-byways.asp |accessdate=2010-01-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090726045057/https://www.nevadadot.com/pub_involvement/scenicbyways/the-byways.asp |archivedate=2009-07-26 }}</ref>

==Major intersections== thumb|right|The former end of SR 156 in Lee Canyon in 2005 {{Jcttop|state=NV|county=Clark|length_ref=<ref name=NDOT_Log/>}} {{NVint |location=Lee Canyon |lspan=2 |mile=0.000 |road=Lee Canyon Ski Area |notes=Loop; Lee Canyon Road continues {{convert|0.627|mi|km|abbr=on}} to a dead end }} {{NVint |mile= |road={{Jct|state=NV|SR|158|dir1=south|name1=Deer Creek Road|city1=Mount Charleston|city2=Las Vegas}} |notes=Northern terminus of SR 158 }} {{NVint |location_special=Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument |mile=17.544 |road={{Jct|state=NV|Future|11|US|95|city1=Las Vegas|city2=Tonopah|city3=Reno}} |notes=Proposed interchange; eastern terminus }} {{Jctbtm}}

==See also== * {{Portal-inline|Nevada}} * {{Portal-inline|U.S. Roads}}

==References== {{Commons category|Nevada State Route 156}} {{Attached KML|display=inline,title}} {{Reflist}}

156 Category:Spring Mountains 156