Oh Where Oh Where Did California's U.S. Highways Go?

 Once upon a time, there developed a state called California.

At first, all California had going for it was a primitive ponzi scheme involving gold.

Then came the motion picture industry, which was thankfully silent at first until some wiseacre learned how to put sound in the films, and then came awards for these movies, bringing with them speeches more annoying than what they said in their films!

And then came a guy called Disney who had a dream, a dream to reshape old fairy tales into really bizarre meet-cutes and also give us a highly negative view of stepmoms that only Pornhub could reverse decades later. Disney had another vision: to open affordable theme parks that would charge its customers a mortgage payment for admission after he died.

Sometime between the gold scam and the movies, the U.S. Numbered Highway System grew to abundance in California, taking travelers to parts of the state they had never seen...and taking them back once they saw Fresno!

Oh yes, California at one time had 17 U.S. highways taking them through the state and allowing access to other states. Let's take a glance at them all because I am still on summer break, I have all of my teacher license renewal credits finished, plus I'm a geek and that was long established!

U.S. 6: stretching all the way from Massachusetts, 6 took travelers to the Sierra Nevadas, then wound south through vast empty desert into the Los Angeles Area, ending at Long Beach.

U.S. 40: From Atlantic City, New Jersey, 40 came in from Reno then crossed the Sierra Nevadas  and the Sacramento Valley to San Francisco.

U.S. 50: Coming all the way from Maryland, 50 passed south of Lake Tahoe, wound through the Sierra Nevadas into its foothills to Sacramento and then south to Stockton because apparently it had to show us an uglier presence than Fresno, then west to San Francisco.

U.S. 60/70: I have discussed these two before and 70 really did not have much of a presence of its own other than the Los Angeles area. Still, these two crossed the desert from Arizona, passed Palm Springs, and brought many Disney worshippers to him in droves.

U.S. 66: The Mother Road itself also crossed the desert from Arizona, passing Needles, Amboy, Ludlow, Barstow, Victorville, and then went through the Cajon Pass to enter the vast Los Angeles area, ending right at the beach practically.

U.S. 80: Also entering from Arizona, 80 crossed the southernmost deserts of the state before climbing and descending mountains to bring travelers to San Diego.

U.S. 91: U.S. 91 began in Long Beach, going north a bit before turning east to serve Riverside and San Bernardino and then hit the high desert on its way to Las Vegas. Not quite a border to border, 91 did end at the Canadian border in Montana.

U.S. 95: Another border to border highway, 95 skirted the eastern desert of California, staying close to the Colorado River without actually being in sight of it. It came in from Arizona and exited into Nevada.

U.S. 97: A fairly short highway coming in from Klamath Falls, Oregon, and ending in Weed...yeahhhh, Weed!

U.S. 99: This highway was a legend! Taking traveles from the Canadian border, it traveled south through western Washingon, Oregon, and all the way down through the heart and length of California, serving many of its major cities and providing access to others. At Los Angeles, it hooked up with 60 and 70 into the desert and went south to end at the Mexican border in Calexico...this highway is worth a study of its own...you know what is coming!

U.S. 101: Like 99, 101 is a true legend of a highway. Coming in from the coastal regions of Washington and Oregon, 101 was (and still is)  a beautiful road offering many ocean views in the northern portion of California. It also traversed forests and went right through the hearts of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego before ending at the Mexican border near Tijuana. Another worthy entry of its own!

And then we had some offshoots:

U.S. 395: A unique road in that it left California and re-entered....Nevada wanted partial custody because Reno and Carson City needed a nanny? 395 originated in downtown San Diego and went north to serve the Inland Empire towns of Riverside and San Bernardino before entering the high desert and the Sierra Nevadas. In the northern section, it provided access to more desert, mountains and valleys, along with Lassen and Modoc Forests before entering Oregon. Another unique thing about 395 was that it never crossed its "mother" 95.

U.S. 199: This was and is a fairly short road taking traveles from Crescent City, winding along the Smith River before entering Oregon.

U.S. 299: An often windy road in the mountains, 299 traveled from Arcata at U.S. 101 across to Alturas, ending at 395. 299 crossed its mother 99 in Redding.

U.S. 399: Starting in Ventura at 101, 399 traveled north to Ojai, crossed mountains, then wended through the southern portion of the San Joaquin Valley before ending at its mother 99 just south of Bakersfield proper.

U.S. 466:From Morro Bay, 466 crossed the coastal range and traversed the San Joaquin Valley and then corssing more mountains before reaching the desert. At Barstow it met U.S. 91 (but barely missing its parent 66) and then headed northeast to Nevada.

That was a lot of highways! 

So what happened to them?

Two things were the culprit:

First, the new Interstate Highways were starting to be built in the late 1950s, and those newer freeways were often an improvemnt on the old 2-lane highways, particularly in winding mountain areas and urban areas.

Second, there was a highways renumbering act in 1964 which wiped away or shortened many of those 17 routes, making them part of the Interstate system or turning them into state routes.

In memoriam as of 1964 or some years thereafter:

U.S. 299 became CA 299.

U.S. 399 became CA 33 and CA 119.

U.S. 466 became CA 46 and CA 58.

U.S. 66 ceased to exist once Interstate 40 was completed. There is a CA 66 in San Bernardino and eastern Los Angeles Counties, but most of it is now nonexistent as a route.

U.S. 70 was already redundant for the most part and disappeared completely.

U.S. 60 stuck around until Interstate 10 was completed. There is a CA 60 freeway running form Beaumont to downtown Los Angeles as an alternate to 10.

U.S. 99 became CA 99, but was truncated to serving only the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys and their communities. A 2-lane highway at first, 99 is very much a freeway from Interstate 5 to Sacramento.

U.S. 80 became Interstate 8 along with other main streets of the San Diego area.

U.S. 40 disappeared after Interstate 80 was completed.

And then are there the survivors, though a few were highly truncated.

U.S. 395 actually stuck around into the 1970s in the San Diego area before Interstate 15 was extended to there, now it ends just south of Victorville at Interstate 15.

U.S. 6 is now just a 40 mile stub between the Nevada state line and Bishop where it ends at 395.

U.S. 97 is intact.

U.S. 199 is intact.

U.S. 50 west of Placerville was upgraded to a freeway to end just west of Sacramento at Interstate 80.

U.S. 101, although truncated to end at Interstate 5 in downtown Los Angeles, was gradually upgraded to a freeway in many parts, although still a 2 lane road in much of northern California as well as a city street (several streets in fact) in much of San Francisco.

Other states have lost some of their U.S. highways as well, but not to this degree. Oh well, California always has to be different...like me!