For example, while State Routes 27 and 28 were designated along highways near Lake Tahoe in northwestern Nevada, State Route 29 connected to Death Valley in central Nevada and State Route 30 was connected to Utah in northeastern Nevada.

Additionally, several suffixed highways, branching from the original parent route, were also designated.

The numbering of state routes was designated in state laws by the Nevada Legislature (codified in the Nevada Revised Statutes in later years); this had the side effect of many routes not being fully owned or maintained by the state.

Other routes were immediately eliminated from the state highway system, while a select few retained their pre-1976 numbers on official state maps into the 1980s only to be later reassigned or decommissioned.

Prior designated routes that were not maintained by the highway department were removed from the state highway system, and routes were no longer legally defined in state law.