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US 299 and CA 299

Started by Max Rockatansky, November 05, 2018, 08:20:13 PM

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Max Rockatansky

Back in 2016 I took CA 299 along the former US 299 alignment from US 101 in Arcata to I-5 in Redding.  Essentially the route was full of curves, gold rush town, and ghost towns.  I wanted to cover the trip on Surewhynotnow in the Summer but the Carr Fire broke out which made it somewhat inappropriate.  I'm fairly certain what was left of Whiskeytown is gone and probably parts of Shasta as well:

https://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/11/adventure-us-route-299-california-state.html


nexus73

Just wait until you drive SR 96 Max.  It will surprise anyone who has never driven it for how great a road it is!  299 is so curvy but most of 96 just flows and rolls as wide 2-lane with many modern bridges added in.  The scenery is off the charts as 96 follows the Klamath River for a considerable distance.  For E/W travel between I-5 and the coast in NW California, 96 is by far the finest route.

If you are lucky you will meet Bigfoot too.  There is a festival celebrating the legendary creature of the woods held in Willow Creek during the spring.

Rick
US 101 is THE backbone of the Pacific coast from Bandon OR to Willits CA.  Industry, tourism and local traffic would be gone or severely crippled without it being in functioning condition in BOTH states.

paulthemapguy

Hey!  Look at all the things I could have seen in October 2017 if my gf and I weren't cut off from using CA-299 because of fire damage!  We were supposed to go from Crescent City to Redding via US101 and CA-299 but CA-99 was closed...so we had to go all the way up to Grants Pass, OR via US199, then south on I-5.  We love the area and the Redwoods, so we will go back someday.  CA-96 and CA-299 both look exhilarating, thank you
Avatar is the last interesting highway I clinched.
My website! http://www.paulacrossamerica.com Now featuring all of Ohio!
My USA Shield Gallery https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwJRZk
TM Clinches https://bit.ly/2UwRs4O

National collection status: 361/425. Only 64 route markers remain

Max Rockatansky

Regarding CA 96 I've only driven a small segment from I-5 in the past.  I gave CA 3, CA 96, CA 169, CA 197, US 199, and some others on my short list for blog posts next year.  I'll probably return really as soon as I can convince my wife of the merits of Redwood and Crater Lake National Parks.

Regarding CA 299, I think what's left of Whiskeytown was wiped out by the Carr Fire along with possibly some of the structures in Shasta.  I thought Helena was in oddly prestine condition but it probably has a lot to do the remote location.   Really the whole Trinity River Canyon is a beautiful drive but it's a long haul that probably is best suited to a swift car. 

Max Rockatansky

I recently took drive on CA 299 from CA 139 near Canby west to Redding.  This would cover much of the original corridor of US 299 that I would have missed up thread.  Below a photo tour of the corridor can be found along with some photos from Burney Falls:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWrywGh

The Ghostbuster

Maybe CA 299 should have remained US 299. Was the downgrade to a state highway really necessary?

jdbx

Quote from: The Ghostbuster on August 18, 2021, 04:56:50 PM
Maybe CA 299 should have remained US 299. Was the downgrade to a state highway really necessary?

299 doesn't cross outside of the state of California, you'll note that the only remaining US routes within the state of California continue to points outside of the state.

Max Rockatansky

#7
Quote from: jdbx on August 18, 2021, 05:10:59 PM
Quote from: The Ghostbuster on August 18, 2021, 04:56:50 PM
Maybe CA 299 should have remained US 299. Was the downgrade to a state highway really necessary?

299 doesn't cross outside of the state of California, you'll note that the only remaining US routes within the state of California continue to points outside of the state.

I would note though that 299 between Arcata and Alturas is probably the only real true freight corridors that traverses the entire width of the state that far north.  Yes, it didn't quite hit 300 intrastate mile mark between Arcata-Alturas but it certainly connected US Routes to I-5 to merit it's existence in my opinion.  Really it is hard to convey how important that highway is unless you've experienced it in person, US 199 has a similar vibe.  Then again, my opinions on the value of truncating the US Routes in 1964 are well known.  Note; I'm not counting the segment of CA 299 east to NV 8A since that was never part of US 299.

Alps

Quote from: The Ghostbuster on August 18, 2021, 04:56:50 PM
Maybe CA 299 should have remained US 299. Was the downgrade to a state highway really necessary?
ask US 130 and US 46 their opinions

sparker

Quote from: Alps on August 18, 2021, 07:21:57 PM
Quote from: The Ghostbuster on August 18, 2021, 04:56:50 PM
Maybe CA 299 should have remained US 299. Was the downgrade to a state highway really necessary?
ask US 130 and US 46 their opinions

I've always wondered why US 299 wasn't just renumbered in '64 back to a semblance of what it was in the early days, with the portion west of Redding being an extension of CA 44 and the eastern portion something new (maybe a relocated CA 48).  But then, that renumbering effort seemed to be largely a mixture of randomness and partial "clustering" (like a lot of the 80's being in the Bay Area and the even 50's down in San Diego County).  One of those "go figure" situations!

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: sparker on August 18, 2021, 08:24:28 PM
Quote from: Alps on August 18, 2021, 07:21:57 PM
Quote from: The Ghostbuster on August 18, 2021, 04:56:50 PM
Maybe CA 299 should have remained US 299. Was the downgrade to a state highway really necessary?
ask US 130 and US 46 their opinions

I've always wondered why US 299 wasn't just renumbered in '64 back to a semblance of what it was in the early days, with the portion west of Redding being an extension of CA 44 and the eastern portion something new (maybe a relocated CA 48).  But then, that renumbering effort seemed to be largely a mixture of randomness and partial "clustering" (like a lot of the 80's being in the Bay Area and the even 50's down in San Diego County).  One of those "go figure" situations!

Or even bring back CA 440 and put 44 back on it's original corridor inherited by 299.  To that end I always thought it was odd how 399 and 466 got totally shit canned during the Renumbering but 299 was allowed to remain with the same number.

sparker

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on August 18, 2021, 08:26:44 PM
Quote from: sparker on August 18, 2021, 08:24:28 PM
Quote from: Alps on August 18, 2021, 07:21:57 PM
Quote from: The Ghostbuster on August 18, 2021, 04:56:50 PM
Maybe CA 299 should have remained US 299. Was the downgrade to a state highway really necessary?
ask US 130 and US 46 their opinions

I've always wondered why US 299 wasn't just renumbered in '64 back to a semblance of what it was in the early days, with the portion west of Redding being an extension of CA 44 and the eastern portion something new (maybe a relocated CA 48).  But then, that renumbering effort seemed to be largely a mixture of randomness and partial "clustering" (like a lot of the 80's being in the Bay Area and the even 50's down in San Diego County).  One of those "go figure" situations!

Or even bring back CA 440 and put 44 back on it's original corridor inherited by 299.  To that end I always thought it was odd how 399 and 466 got totally shit canned during the Renumbering but 299 was allowed to remain with the same number.

To me, the renumbering was a missed opportunity to refine the original SSR numbering scheme into a more precise format.   Since even numbers divisible by 4 started in Stockton and marched north, redesignating Alternate US 40 as its pre-1953 SSR 24 number would seem a no-brainer; progressing farther north, the 44 and possibly 48 concept for 299 would seem rational, seeing as how 44 had been extended east to Susanville only two years previously.  One of these days, if free time becomes available, I may devise an alternate '64 plan as I would have done it (I was all of 14 when it happened!) and post the results. 

Actually, the demise of US 399 and US 466 is not surprising, considering (a) the diminished importance of the former route as a conduit from the Valley to the Ventura/Santa Barbara coastal zone (never a vital commercial route; that would take US 99 south to CA 126 and then west or even 166 over to Santa Maria to address the northern part of Santa Barbara county), and (b) the consecutive multi-state multiplexes of the latter with US 93 and US 91; when the latter became I-15, the die was completely cast.  But the choice of the former LRN, 58, as the number was to me the height of mental laziness on the part of DOH; I would have opted for one of the lower numbers made available by Interstate usurpation or route rationalization.  If it were my decision, SSR 178 would have been retained west of Bakersfield to the coast as CA 178, while the number 46 would have been applied to 466 from Barstow to Bakersfield, with the inverse "64" applied to Cambria-Famoso; i.e., maintaining the original 466 integers in a modified format.  The "network" (or lack thereof) devised in 1964 just wasn't anywhere near intuitive for navigational purposes.  Something tells me that the original concept to eliminate multi-route multiplexes sitting atop Interstate corridors transformed into a general renumbering sometime in 1963, and DOH was up against a self-imposed deadline to complete the task and be ready to field-post the changes by New Years' 1964, so the haphazard result reflected a rushed process.   

Max Rockatansky

I went through the California Highway Bulletins, CHPWs and AASHO database pertaining to US 299 for a blog update.  Suffice to say there is a lot of good stuff which really highlights why US 299 was important.  The Winnemucca to the Sea reference is probably the biggest fine as illustrated in the CA 299 State Line thread:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2018/11/adventure-us-route-299-california-state.html?m=1

Bickendan

So the idea that Winnemucca to Sea following 140 and 199 to Crescent City is inaccurate then?

Edit: Saw the relevant response in the other thread.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: Bickendan on October 18, 2021, 06:17:56 PM
So the idea that Winnemucca to Sea following 140 and 199 to Crescent City is inaccurate then?

Edit: Saw the relevant response in the other thread.

Interestingly the actual US 140 proposal during the 1960s is in the AASHTO database.  The reason for rejection in my opinion (mainly low traffic count) is kind of lame considering NV 140/OR 140 was a brand new corridor.  There appears to never have been an actual AASHO proposal for a NV 8A-US 299 variant of the Winnemucca to the Sea Highway.  Considering how it was plugged in a CHPW and the effort that went into LRN 28 east of Alturas it lends me to believe that the California DOH was invested in the concept.



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