Old CA 41/46, Old CA 1, US 466, and for sake of obscurity CA 229

[coatimundi]

In regards to Cypress, that looked like that might be pretty tame (aside from the massive cliff face you encounter approaching Santa Road Creek Road) even for a car to attempt when dry.  I base that assumption that the road has a Road Open/Road Closed sign at Klau Mine Road and the GSV made it a good way uphill northbound in 2008.

No, the southern section that actually goes over the mountain is rutted and washboarded, with lots of blind curves and 100+' drop-offs. And because there are several ranches up there, you do have to watch for oncoming traffic. I've encountered people on it a couple of times. That "Road Closed" sign is still up though. It's been up for several years, and is more of a discouragement for people coming from the wineries and trying to get back to 46.
The northern section, that follows Spring Creek, is tamer though.

The 1947 62500 Adelaide quad shows it as medium-duty, though that's the unfortunate thing with these older topo maps, in that the lower projections often have more ambiguous legends since they were not intended as highway maps:
https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/Browse/CA/CA_Adelaida_287790_1947_62500.jpg

The larger projection somewhat ironically has a more detailed legend available compared to the 1959 (it's actually 1960) San Simeon at 24500. This is the '47 of SLO quad at 250000 (the largest available):
https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/Browse/CA/CA_San%20Luis%20Obispo_707586_1947_250000.jpg

That map indicates that 41 was paved for a couple of miles east of Cambria before losing its pavement. So it seems like, based on those two, Santa Rosa Creek was paved outside of Cambria, improved for much of its distance in 1947, but then somehow degraded around the Cypress Mountain Road intersection. And I would guess that's something to do with terrain. I recall Santa Rosa Creek going up a steep hill just before reaching Cypress Mountain Road.

There's additionally a 1961 available for that Adelaida 15-minute projection, but that was a new edition, with even less detail, and 41 had already been changed to 46.

I'm actually surprised Cambria was as developed as it was in the 40's. I had always thought it had popped up more in the 60's as a tourist town.

[Max Rockatansky]

To clarify, I mean passable dirt road bycar if there isn't a need for a high clearance and can be driven through in dry weather.  Generally wash boarding for me just means "go slower."  Is Cypress actually private property or that San Luis Obispo County throwing that "closed" sign up?

That giant hill on Santa Rosa Creek Road that intersects Cypress you're talking about is apparently known locally as the "The Wall."   Look back at replies 1 and 2, there are some pictures of the actual road grade.  That's actually where the pavement was by far the worst on Santa Rosa Creek Road.  West of the wall to Cambria it was pretty good while east of it was choppy.  If I had to venture a guess the pavement on the Wall and eastwards was done after the new 46 alignment was built in the early 1970s and hasn't been gone through a full repaving since.  West of the Wall there is a ton of ranch homes and pavement is much more recent.

The real oddity is that the 1947 topo map matches the build date of the bridges over Santa Rosa Creek.  Perhaps that's when Santa Rosa Creek Road/41 first received some major improvements?  I would imagine prior to 1947 cars would have to ford Santa Rosa Creek, it doesn't seem like there was much in the way of rural wooden bridges on state highway during the era.  It's strange that it took until the 1970s for the road to be realigned to the south after it became 46.  Cambria looks pretty sizable like you said for something out there on the coast in the 1940s and 50s. 

[coatimundi]

I meant to mention that, if you're concerned about the training activities on Fort Hunter-Liggett and not entirely trusting of the info they post online (I wouldn't be either), you can call the hotel. The hotel tends to fill up during those activities, so the people there tend to know when it's happening, and it's sometimes easier than trying to deal with the public affairs people.

[Max Rockatansky]

I meant to mention that, if you're concerned about the training activities on Fort Hunter-Liggett and not entirely trusting of the info they post online (I wouldn't be either), you can call the hotel. The hotel tends to fill up during those activities, so the people there tend to know when it's happening, and it's sometimes easier than trying to deal with the public affairs people.

They still have the phone line for exercise updates.  In general I've found that information to be a good deal more accurate when it comes to test ranges, although it's no guarantee.  I had plenty of issues with White Sands and U.S. 70 with surprise missile tests or something going wrong shutting the road down.  My plan this time around at least tentatively is to do the uphill slope on Nacimiento from 1 to the tree line and back.  The best view is where the road suddenly takes a western turn and starts to descend on a open cliff face to the coast.  The game plan is to bail out north near Monterey on G16 and possibly take G13 in addition to Coalinga Road to get back to San Joaquin Valley.  All comes down to timing with the rain and where my point of origin will be.

[coatimundi]

To clarify, I mean passable dirt road bycar if there isn't a need for a high clearance and can be driven through in dry weather.  Generally wash boarding for me just means "go slower."  Is Cypress actually private property or that San Luis Obispo County throwing that "closed" sign up?

No, Cypress Mountain Road is a county road. There are a few a-frame barricades stamped "SLO COUNTY" on it and it should be in their logs. The sign at its junction with Klug Mine actually reads "Road Closed to Thru Traffic". There's not actually a closure; they just want to keep people off of there who have no real business being on it. Mainly drunk Angelenos in luxury SUVs, too dumb and/or stubborn to turn around when they hit the bad part, as it starts going up the hill.
I drive a stick, so it may be easier in automatic. But there are a couple of sections where I just have to try and dodge the ruts and grip the wheel through the washboards because I need enough speed to get over a rise.

[hm insulators]

As usual, some fantastic pictures!

[Max Rockatansky]

As usual, some fantastic pictures!

Much obliged.  I'll be out in the area the first week of the New Year provided the weather isn't murky.  If everything turns out well I'm planning on G16 and part of the Nacimiento Road. 

[cahwyguy]

I'll just note that I'm working on the highway pages, and this was a helluva challenge to figure out for the page updates. I'll likely be updating the website somewere around the 31st. Please check the pages for 41, 46, and 466 to make sure that I got it right.

[Occidental Tourist]

As usual, some fantastic pictures!

Much obliged.  I'll be out in the area the first week of the New Year provided the weather isn't murky.  If everything turns out well I'm planning on G16 and part of the Nacimiento Road. 

I haven't commented on your posts yet, because I don't get up to Central California that often and I don't have anything substantive to add to them. But I wanted to let you know that I enjoy them and you're an asset to this forum.

[Max Rockatansky]

As usual, some fantastic pictures!

Much obliged.  I'll be out in the area the first week of the New Year provided the weather isn't murky.  If everything turns out well I'm planning on G16 and part of the Nacimiento Road. 

I haven't commented on your posts yet, because I don't get up to Central California that often and I don't have anything substantive to add to them. But I wanted to let you know that I enjoy them and you're an asset to this forum.

Thanks, yeah suffice to say a lot of the stuff I go do or research has a mountainous or rural tinge to it.  In the "Max's Roads" thread there was actually quite a bit of SoCal stuff out in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts in addition to stuff like Angeles Crest or the Ridge Route just to name a couple.  I kind of got the feeling that posting so many wildly different things from different areas was making the thread hard to follow. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Well looks like 41 north of Morro Bay got wiped out by a mudslide caused by the recent storms and will be out of service for the foreseeable future:

http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article125321394.html

[Quillz]

Well looks like 41 north of Morro Bay got wiped out by a mudslide caused by the recent storms and will be out of service for the foreseeable future:

http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article125321394.html

Happened a few days ago, I was visiting Pinnacles the day this happened. A small portion of CA-25 is out of commission, too.

[Max Rockatansky]

Well looks like 41 north of Morro Bay got wiped out by a mudslide caused by the recent storms and will be out of service for the foreseeable future:

http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article125321394.html

Happened a few days ago, I was visiting Pinnacles the day this happened. A small portion of CA-25 is out of commission, too.

Happen to be this slide?



That one was starting to go back in January of 2016, I drove by it on 25 to East Pinnacles when Caltrans just had a warning about an active slide up.  I guess that whole stub was re-routed around the problem hill.

BTW, next time you are out that way I would highly recommend Los Gatos Creek/Coalinga Road just for Laguna Mountain:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=19417.0

[Quillz]

So is there any intent to fix it? If it's been like that for more than a year now.

[Max Rockatansky]

So is there any intent to fix it? If it's been like that for more than a year now.

I kind of get the feeling that the fix is to obliterate the old route and bury it. 

[Quillz]

Ugh, at the very least they could make the detour look a bit "cleaner" if they intend to make it permanent. Make the curves a bit more gradual, get rid of the lights, etc.

[Max Rockatansky]

Ugh, at the very least they could make the detour look a bit "cleaner" if they intend to make it permanent. Make the curves a bit more gradual, get rid of the lights, etc.

I think that is the future intent of what they have in mind.  Once they clean up some of the old alignments asphalt and make a curve out of it I don't think it will be so bad or ugly looking.  Really it would be kind of keeping with the theme of the curvy nature of 25 anyways, plus gives me something to look at that probably will be forgotten in a year or two.  I mean it is 25 in San Benito County after all, not exactly a high priority I would imagine.

Now the really kicker was when I saw that Caltrans truck north of the Inn at the Pinnacles on West 146.  I really should have taken a photo, that had to be a rare sight indeed.

[Max Rockatansky]

Not quite. US 466 originally used the SR 41 corridor through Creston. It's not until 1959 that officials began clearly showing US 466 via Paso Robles.

Looks like you're right, here is the 1959 map showing US 466 going to Paso Robles:

Hopefully someone reading this has a more detailed map of San Luis Obispo County prior to 1959, I'd like to get that one correct on this thread.  Either way, it looks like modern 46 from Shandon to Paso Robles was paved way back even in 1934 when US 466 was first signed:

Here is a 1934 map that shows US 466 on LR 125: http://archive.org/stream/californiahighwa193436calirich#page/n275/mode/2up

1937 (map 7): http://research.archives.gov/id/5823159

And a 1956 Gousha: http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~235845~5510637:-South-half--Road-map-of-California

Just curious, do you have a copy or link that the map south of Kettleman showing 41 on that older road?  I'd love to see it if you got it handy.

http://historicaerials.com/?layer=1994&zoom=16&lat=35.888&lon=-120.046

In regards to US 466 and the Creston alignment I did some additional digging off of the former SSR 178 stuff I was looking at on this thread:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=19666.0

Anyways, according to NE2s resources US 466 didn't show a clear alignment to Paso Robles at least until 1959, but at minimum 1956.  What is interesting to me is that US 466 took a dirt alignment out of Creston from what is now CA 229 where the highway reduces to a single lane at the junction with Rocky Canyon Road.  Up ahead in this photo Rocky Canyon Road can be seen as a dirt track on the left just after the center stripe on CA 229 begins:



Basically the alignment of US 466 on Rocky Canyon Road is best illustrated on this 1935 map of San Luis Obispo County:

http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~247349~5515385:San-Luis-Obisbo-?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:california%2Bdivision%2Bof%2Bhighways;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=61&trs=160

Rocky Canyon Road can still be seen in full even on Google Maps to this day, but given some of the signage from the western turn-off from CA 229 I don't believe it can be traversed all the way to Atacadero today:

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4759587,-120.6091327,15.9z?hl=en

In fact it can only be used for 3 miles:

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4907898,-120.5421626,3a,15y,275.98h,89.52t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1scRzyLjOIcYviZPTktzFX8A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

From the definition of LRN 125 it is clear that it in fact traveled through Creston which means LRN 137 began originally at the junction above at modern CA 229 and Rocky Canyon Road.  What is really interesting is that the State Highway Maps tend to suggest like NE2 said that US 466 stayed on Rocky Canyon Road until 1959 when the alignment is clearly shifted north to Paso Robles via multiplex of CA 41:

1958 State Highway Map

http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239543~5511862:Road-Map-of-the-State-of-California?sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=39&trs=86

1959 State Highway Map

http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239540~5511860:Road-Map-of-the-State-of-California?sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=37&trs=86

From 1959 to 1962 LRN 125 stayed on Rocky Canyon Road passing through Creston in the process. 

1962 State Highway Map

http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239531~5511854:State-Highway-Map,-California,-1962?sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=31&trs=86

In 1963 LRN was shifted north onto the modern alignment that CA 41 has occupied since 1964.

1963 State Highway Map

http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239528~5511852:State-Highway-Map,-California,-1963?sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=29&trs=86

1964 State Highway Map

http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239525~5511850:State-Highway-Map,-California,-1964?sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=27&trs=86

And the modern alignment of CA 41 uses Creston-Eureka Road to reach what is now the north terminus of CA 41.  The newer alignment has a pretty huge wide grade to climb uphill:

IMG_3856 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_3857 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Meaning that this look south on CA 229 towards Creston from CA 41 was once US 466 from 1934 to 1959:

IMG_3858 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

And really I thought that was an interesting wrinkle to an already discussed puzzle with the final piece being Rocky Canyon Road.  Weird to think that even by the late 1950s that a somewhat significant US Route like 466 still had a dirt portion on it.  Even stranger to think that all those changes that Creston went through in being on a US Route, to an unsigned LRN, back to a signed state route during the 1964 renumbering.  Things get even stranger considering all the movement SSR 178 made to the south in 1956.

[Max Rockatansky]

Figured this topic needed a bump since I'm consolidating all the information here into a three part blog series and Photobucket screwed up the pictures that were linked over.  I just finished the CA 46 portion of US 466 and I'll repost the CA 41 in addition to CA 229 topics when I complete them here:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/04/legacy-us-route-466-part-1-california.html

[Max Rockatansky]

Finished up Part 3 in the US Route 466 Legacy Series.  This particular part covers the alignments of US 466 in San Luis Obispo County on what ultimately became CA 41 and CA 229.  The alignment of US 466 on Rocky Canyon Road between the Salinas River and Creston is interesting due to being on a dirt surfaced roadway.  I haven't seen any evidence to contradict US 466 shifting to CA 41/LRN 33 and US 101/LRN 2 from Shandon to Paso Robles before 1959.

https://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/12/legacy-of-us-route-466-part-3-morro-bay.html