Old CA 58 North Barstow

[Max Rockatansky]

Old Highway 58 is a relinquished portion of what was once US Route 466 in the North Barstow area.  US Route 466 served the North Barstow area from 1933 until it was truncated to Baker during June 1964.  The segment would become the easternmost portion of California State Route 58 which remained as an active highway until 1996 when freeway south of downtown Barstow opened.  Old Highway 58 has numerous remaining Caltrans signs and more or less functions as an alternative northern bypass of downtown Barstow. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2024/04/legacy-of-us-route-466-part-5-old.html?m=1

[The Ghostbuster]

It probably would have been impractical to renumber all of former US 466 west of Barstow to CA 466, since the US 466 designation continued to exist (along with US 91) between Baker and the California/Nevada state line until 1971. Thus, old US 466 became CA 41, La Panza Rd., and CA 58.

[Max Rockatansky]

Kinda, what was US 466 west of Creston through Rocky Canyon was maintenance swapped with SLO County in 1958.  Rocky Canyon Road was never paved and eventually eroded away.  It now mostly exists as a trail. 

[TheStranger]

It probably would have been impractical to renumber all of former US 466 west of Barstow to CA 466, since the US 466 designation continued to exist (along with US 91) between Baker and the California/Nevada state line until 1971. Thus, old US 466 became CA 41, La Panza Rd., and CA 58.

I recall a time (mid-1960s) where CA 99 and US 99E/99W co-existed in Sacramento, as part of the transition out of the pre-1964 numberings and routings.

Not sure if this was true of CA 60/US 60, CA 66/US 66, and CA 91/US 91 though.

[Max Rockatansky]

It probably would have been impractical to renumber all of former US 466 west of Barstow to CA 466, since the US 466 designation continued to exist (along with US 91) between Baker and the California/Nevada state line until 1971. Thus, old US 466 became CA 41, La Panza Rd., and CA 58.

I recall a time (mid-1960s) where CA 99 and US 99E/99W co-existed in Sacramento, as part of the transition out of the pre-1964 numberings and routings.

Not sure if this was true of CA 60/US 60, CA 66/US 66, and CA 91/US 91 though.

The CA 99 portion north of the city was referenced as "new US 99" in a CHPW volume.  The US Route signage seemingly mostly stayed in place until the connecting Interstate segments were complete.  Shields like that were well documented on former US 66 segments while I-40 was being constructed.

[ClassicHasClass]

Not sure if this was true of CA 60/US 60, CA 66/US 66, and CA 91/US 91 though.

Pretty sure that was never the case for those; the CA versions came in after the Great Renumbering.

[mrsman]

The article linked above did a really nice job with some of the history of US 466 and CA-58.

There are some interesting takeaways:

As we are familiar with a wide out map where it seems like 66-466 makes a straight line from Kingman - Barstow - Bakersfield, but if you zoom in, you see that Main Street through Barstow is part of the straight line of Kingman-Barstow-San Bernardino.  You actually have to turn onto 1st Ave and then onto Irwin and then onto "Old Hwy 58" to make the turn toward Bakersfield.  And in connection with the above, Las Vegas-Barstow-San Bernardino was not a straight line either (as it seems like in this day via I-15), but also follows "Old 58" and then 1st Ave and then a turn onto Main Street to continue this path.

And it is also true that in the freeway era, we did not have a direct way of going from Kingman to Bakersfield before 1996, becuase hte intersection of 15 and 58 was north of the 15 and 40 junction.

[pderocco]

Well, it was still easier to jog off US-66 in Barstow to get to US-466, than to jog all the way up to las Vegas.

It is kind of interesting that US-466 got so close to US-66 (but no cigar) part way through its journey off in a very different direction.

[The Ghostbuster]

That is probably why US 466's eastern terminus was at Kingman, AZ instead of Barstow, CA. Since US 66 and US 466 just missed each other, it would have been impractical to end 466 in Barstow.

[pderocco]

That is probably why US 466's eastern terminus was at Kingman, AZ instead of Barstow, CA. Since US 66 and US 466 just missed each other, it would have been impractical to end 466 in Barstow.

Yeah, it would have been really rough to route US-466 over the bridge in Barstow.

[Max Rockatansky]

Worth noting, when US 64 was proposed to be extended to California it multiplexed US 66 from Arizona to Barstow.  From there it would have took the path US 466 eventually did to Morro Bay.  US 466 was the compromise AASHO developed to get California the US Route corridor it wanted west of Barstow.  The US 66A proposal in the 1950s would have met US 66 via the Barstow Overhead multiplexed on US 91.