Former US 99 through Herndon over the San Joaquin River

[Max Rockatansky]

Recently while checking out old maps near Herndon in Fresno County I noticed that there was an older alignment of LRN 4 and early US 99 that went through Herndon on Weber Avenue and crossed the San Joaquin River.  While the Herndon Bridge is long gone the road leading up to it remains largely unchanged:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskPJRGpc

The right of way through Herndon can be seen on the 1926 State Highway Map.  The present bridging structure for the northbound lanes of CA 99 apparently is the replacement which was completed in 1928.  Interestingly on the Madera County side this makes the right of way of the High Speed Rail essentially the oldest of the US 99 corridors...too bad it was obliterated.

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239604~5511901:Map-Showing-State-Highway-System--C?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=79&trs=86

[Max Rockatansky]

I had a recent find of a largely forgotten early bridge structure along early US 99 at the San Joaquin River in Fresno County, California in Herndon.  The Herndon Bridge was located along what is now Weber Avenue in the Herndon neighborhood of north Fresno.  The Herndon Bridge was original alignment of US 99 before it was shifted to the west on the 1928 San Joaquin River Bridge.  The Herndon Bridge is long gone but the old approach via Weber Avenue offers plenty of evidence of an early Californian Highway.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/03/old-us-route-99-through-herndon-ca.html

[Max Rockatansky]

This alignment of US 99 actually picked up some interest on some of the California Highway Facebook pages.  That being the case I drafted a map showing the original alignment of US 99 through Herndon compared to the 1928 realignment:

Herndon by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

As much as I don't want to mention the High Speed Rail in all this it did wipe out part of the original alignment of US 99 which was on Road 33 north of the San Joaquin River in Madera County.  There is a short stub of Road 33 which can be seen near CA 99 on the right which is where the original route of US 99 would have crossed the UP tracks.

IMG_3675 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[Max Rockatansky]

Went back and added the map to the blog in addition to pictures of the 1928 alignment. 

[Kniwt]

The April 1927 edition of California Highways & Public Works has some good information about the old Herndon bridges, including a photo from 1903.

https://archive.org/details/california192427highwacalirich/page/n551

[Max Rockatansky]

The April 1927 edition of California Highways & Public Works has some good information about the old Herndon bridges, including a photo from 1903.

https://archive.org/details/california192427highwacalirich/page/n551

That's friggin awesome, I'll add that to the blog tonight (with citation of course).  That looks a lot like the 1889 Lanes Bridge which was up River on what became CA 41.