Based off the success of the recent Fresno Road Meet I wanted to see what interest is out there for a Bakersfield Road Meet on May 4, 2024? The Centennial corridor on CA 58 will be open by then and certainly be a hot item interest in the road community. The rough 3-4 hour tour I have in mind is:
- Meet in Buttonwillow off I-5 exit 257 at one of the many restaurants.
- Follow the new alignment of CA 58 on Stockdale Highway, the West Side Parkway and Centennial Corridor to CA 204.
- Clinch CA 204 (post-1934 US 99 and CA 99 Business).
- See the Bakersfield Sign which was part of US 99 when it was on Union Avenue (now on Sillect Avenue).
- Visit Garces Circle and Chester Avenue. Chester Avenue and 19th Street were pre-1934 alignment of US 99 in Bakersfield. Garces Circle was opened in 1934 as part of the realignment of US 99.
- Take CA 178 to the eastern end of Alfred Harrell Highway.
- Visit Hart Park, the Gordon’s Ferry plaque (of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road) and drive the entirety of Alfred Harrell Highway westbound. Alfred Harrell Highway west of Hart Park is a Kern County maintained freeway and probably the strangest limited access road I can think of.
- Follow CA 178 east through Kern Canyon to Lake Isabella.
- Follow Caliente-Bodfish Road south to modern CA 58. This is one of the best mountain roads in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains and passes through the original Kern County seat of Havilah.
- Follow Old US 466 along Woodford-Tehachapi Road to the Tehachapi Loop.
Worth noting, the date can certainly be played with and I know this is a pretty early posting. In theory May would be past most of the potential weather related issues typically seen in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
