Which U.S. highway is known as the "Loneliest Road in America"?

Which U.S. highway is known as the “Loneliest Road in America”? The answer is U.S. Route 50.

The nickname most specifically refers to US 50 across Nevada, where the highway crosses the Great Basin through long, sparsely populated stretches with few services. The route’s isolation became nationally famous after Life magazine used “The Loneliest Road in America” in a July 1986 article, drawing attention to the distance between towns and facilities.

Nevada officials turned the unflattering publicity into a tourism campaign. The state promoted the road’s desert scenery, mountain passes, mining history and small communities, even creating a themed survival guide and passport program for travellers. Today, the highway is a scenic alternative to Interstate 80 across Nevada.

US 50 itself is much longer than its Nevada segment. Established in 1926, it runs roughly 3,000 miles from West Sacramento, California, to Ocean City, Maryland. Thus, the broad answer is U.S. Route 50, while the nickname’s strongest association is with U.S. Route 50 in Nevada.