CA 180

[Max Rockatansky]

Recently I spent some time updating the blogs pertaining to CA 180 on Gribblenation.  Given that several important documents pertaining the full scope of what was intended for CA 180 have come to light I figured it was time to consolidate everything as best as I could.

The first update was on Signed County Route J1/Old CA 180 on Panoche Road which I revisited this month.  I recently attempted to complete the dirt segment of Old CA 180 on Panoche Road but was stopped by a flooded ford at Panoche Creek.  Since the original J1 was article was published I found several additional maps showing CA 180 signed via locally maintained Panoche Road from CA 25 east to CA 33:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/11/signed-county-route-j1.html

The segment of CA 180 from CA 33 in Mendota east to CA 99 in Fresno was covered on the blog below:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/12/california-state-route-180-from-ca-99.html

The below article was one of the early features on Gribblenation which maps out the former surface alignments of CA 180 and CA 41 in Fresno.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/09/old-ca-180-and-ca-41-surface-alignments.html

A 1934 Department of Public Works guide shows CA 180 intended to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains to CA 7.  This is reflective on a 1935 Goshua Highway Map of California which shows the planned highway emerging somewhere near Onion Valley Road.  It seems that General Grant National Park being reorganized into Kings Canyon National Park stopped at plans of a Trans-Sierra CA 180.  More can be found on the below blog when I drove CA 180 east through Kings Canyon to Cedar Grove.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2018/01/california-state-route-180-east-of.html

[Max Rockatansky]

Completely forgot to post the article with the early CA 180 alignment on Dunlap Road:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/04/old-california-state-route-180-on.html?m=1

[Max Rockatansky]

Finished out the last segment of CA 180 that was never covered in a Gribblenation blog before; the Kings Canyon Expressway and Sequoia-Kings Canyon Freeway.  Presently the third phase of the Kings Canyon Expressway is being built as a bypass of Minkler and Centerville.  Centerville in particular has always been a place of interest to me given that it dates back to the era of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road, so in a sense I'm kind of glad that traffic will shortly be routed off it.  Most of the Sequoia-Kings Canyon Freeway is fairly recent construction with some segments being less than a decade old.  Suffice to say the expressway and freeway portions of CA 180 might not be the most exciting parts of a highway that was once planned to cross the Diablo Range in addition to the Sierra Nevada Mountains but they do make a fitting end to the series.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/06/california-state-route-180-kings-canyon.html

[Max Rockatansky]

CA 180 east of Grant Grove closes on the 16th and had a clearing in the weather after the snow last week.  I took the opportunity to drive all the way east to Road's End in Cedar Grove this morning.  Kind of intriguing to consider that Road's End as the bird flies isn't far from Kearsarge Pass and the planned route of CA 180 over Onion Valley Road:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmS7Y57M

[dbz77]

Recently I spent some time updating the blogs pertaining to CA 180 on Gribblenation.  Given that several important documents pertaining the full scope of what was intended for CA 180 have come to light I figured it was time to consolidate everything as best as I could.

The first update was on Signed County Route J1/Old CA 180 on Panoche Road which I revisited this month.  I recently attempted to complete the dirt segment of Old CA 180 on Panoche Road but was stopped by a flooded ford at Panoche Creek.  Since the original J1 was article was published I found several additional maps showing CA 180 signed via locally maintained Panoche Road from CA 25 east to CA 33:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/11/signed-county-route-j1.html

The segment of CA 180 from CA 33 in Mendota east to CA 99 in Fresno was covered on the blog below:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/12/california-state-route-180-from-ca-99.html

The below article was one of the early features on Gribblenation which maps out the former surface alignments of CA 180 and CA 41 in Fresno.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/09/old-ca-180-and-ca-41-surface-alignments.html

A 1934 Department of Public Works guide shows CA 180 intended to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains to CA 7.  This is reflective on a 1935 Goshua Highway Map of California which shows the planned highway emerging somewhere near Onion Valley Road.  It seems that General Grant National Park being reorganized into Kings Canyon National Park stopped at plans of a Trans-Sierra CA 180.  More can be found on the below blog when I drove CA 180 east through Kings Canyon to Cedar Grove.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2018/01/california-state-route-180-east-of.html

Building a highway through an 11709-foot high pass to connect Fresno and Independence.

https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=GNISPQ:3:::NO::P3_FID:262085

I can see why it was not completed.

[Max Rockatansky]

Recently I spent some time updating the blogs pertaining to CA 180 on Gribblenation.  Given that several important documents pertaining the full scope of what was intended for CA 180 have come to light I figured it was time to consolidate everything as best as I could.

The first update was on Signed County Route J1/Old CA 180 on Panoche Road which I revisited this month.  I recently attempted to complete the dirt segment of Old CA 180 on Panoche Road but was stopped by a flooded ford at Panoche Creek.  Since the original J1 was article was published I found several additional maps showing CA 180 signed via locally maintained Panoche Road from CA 25 east to CA 33:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/11/signed-county-route-j1.html

The segment of CA 180 from CA 33 in Mendota east to CA 99 in Fresno was covered on the blog below:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/12/california-state-route-180-from-ca-99.html

The below article was one of the early features on Gribblenation which maps out the former surface alignments of CA 180 and CA 41 in Fresno.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/09/old-ca-180-and-ca-41-surface-alignments.html

A 1934 Department of Public Works guide shows CA 180 intended to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains to CA 7.  This is reflective on a 1935 Goshua Highway Map of California which shows the planned highway emerging somewhere near Onion Valley Road.  It seems that General Grant National Park being reorganized into Kings Canyon National Park stopped at plans of a Trans-Sierra CA 180.  More can be found on the below blog when I drove CA 180 east through Kings Canyon to Cedar Grove.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2018/01/california-state-route-180-east-of.html

Building a highway through an 11709-foot high pass to connect Fresno and Independence.

https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=GNISPQ:3:::NO::P3_FID:262085

I can see why it was not completed.

Seems crazy but there was also planned highways for Piute Pass and Mulky Pass.  In the case of Mulky Pass what is now Horseshoe Meadows Road got really close and tops over the 10,000 foot elevation mark (Rock Creek Road is the only paved road that is higher in California).  Even Kearsarge Pass was mostly built up from Owens Valley by way of Onion Valley Road.  Onion Valley Road actually was a haul road to the Kearsarge Mining District. 

The Forest Service eventually did get their Trans-Sierra Highway but it was over the much lower Sherman Pass near the Kern River Fault. 

[Max Rockatansky]

I overhauled the existing California State Route 180 from Minkler to Cedar Grove article.  Said article now includes all the major parts of the construction of the Kings Canyon Highway between Grant Grove through Kings Canyon to Cedar Grove.  The article now includes over 250 new pictures to better illustrate the epic drop from Grant Grove eastward into Kings Canyon.  If you have the means tomorrow is the last day before CA 180 between Grant Grove and Cedar Grove closes for the winter.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2018/01/california-state-route-180-east-of.html