CA 152

[Max Rockatansky]

Well..circumstance found me on CA 152 of all roads today heading over Pacheo Pass.  Given that I tend to avoid 152 like the plague I decided to complete the whole thing and stayed on it across Hecker Pass in the Santa Cruz Range to CA 1.  The only deviation I took was the original alignment in Gilroy on Monterey Road as opposed to the nonsensical multiplex on US 101.  I just finished my photo album which can be found here:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsm6kTMVq

I'll formulate my previous notes on 152 into a road blog this week.  I had previously done a whole thread about the alignment shift of Pacheco Pass and the San Luis Reservoir.  Hecker Pass sure is an odd bird and really a route that doesn't make a ton of sense given how many hairpins it has to take.  I'm not sure what the average traveler would ever take 152 over 129 to Watsonville, but then again that was reflected in the traffic volume.

[Max Rockatansky]

Finished the road blog on CA 152, pretty much included everything aside from when the expressway in San Joaquin Valley was built:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/10/california-state-route-152.html

[Henry]

Just wondering, what has become of the erroneous I-152 sign? I remember seeing a pic of that on Kurumi's website, and he even had an entry on it.

[Max Rockatansky]

Just wondering, what has become of the erroneous I-152 sign? I remember seeing a pic of that on Kurumi's website, and he even had an entry on it.

I'll have to look and see if I can match it up.  It certainly wasn't present heading westbound.

[myosh_tino]

From Kurumi's website...

The sign in question is located before the Santa Nella exit on southbound I-5.  I suspect the erroneous sign, which I believe Caltrans corrected, is long gone and has since been replaced with a reflective one (GMSV: https://goo.gl/maps/NcPEnH4MEp92).

[sparker]

Finished the road blog on CA 152, pretty much included everything aside from when the expressway in San Joaquin Valley was built:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/10/california-state-route-152.html

Well..circumstance found me on CA 152 of all roads today heading over Pacheo Pass.  Given that I tend to avoid 152 like the plague I decided to complete the whole thing and stayed on it across Hecker Pass in the Santa Cruz Range to CA 1.  The only deviation I took was the original alignment in Gilroy on Monterey Road as opposed to the nonsensical multiplex on US 101.  I just finished my photo album which can be found here:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsm6kTMVq

I'll formulate my previous notes on 152 into a road blog this week.  I had previously done a whole thread about the alignment shift of Pacheco Pass and the San Luis Reservoir.  Hecker Pass sure is an odd bird and really a route that doesn't make a ton of sense given how many hairpins it has to take.  I'm not sure what the average traveler would ever take 152 over 129 to Watsonville, but then again that was reflected in the traffic volume.

The Hecker Pass segment of CA 152, along with county road G8 extending north into western San Martin and up to the Almaden Valley, hosts quite a number of small wineries; the Santa Cruz wine-production district, extending from the Pajaro River (essentially CA 129) north to about CA 84 is its own recognized appellation.  Hecker Pass and the upper Almaden Valley is a sub-region within that district.  Back in the early 1980's I conducted and/or participated in a number of wine-tasting tours of the area; there was one tiny establishment right at the 152/G8 junction back then that was making a very good semi-dry sauterne-style white out of common Thompson Seedless grapes.  Since due to health issues I've been functionally "dry" since 1988, I haven't done such activities in the last few decades (don't know if specific wineries are still around).  Nevertheless, CA 152 serves as more a recreational access road than a through route over the range; virtually all commercial traffic uses CA 129.

The multiplex of 152 over US 101 was actually requested by the City of Gilroy, which wanted to reconfigure Monterey Street into the "road diet"-style facility it is today and basically wanted Caltrans out of the picture in order to do so.  The result was the convoluted (and poorly signed, per District 4 habit) alignment of 152 through the west side of town.   

[Max Rockatansky]

Finished the road blog on CA 152, pretty much included everything aside from when the expressway in San Joaquin Valley was built:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/10/california-state-route-152.html

Well..circumstance found me on CA 152 of all roads today heading over Pacheo Pass.  Given that I tend to avoid 152 like the plague I decided to complete the whole thing and stayed on it across Hecker Pass in the Santa Cruz Range to CA 1.  The only deviation I took was the original alignment in Gilroy on Monterey Road as opposed to the nonsensical multiplex on US 101.  I just finished my photo album which can be found here:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsm6kTMVq

I'll formulate my previous notes on 152 into a road blog this week.  I had previously done a whole thread about the alignment shift of Pacheco Pass and the San Luis Reservoir.  Hecker Pass sure is an odd bird and really a route that doesn't make a ton of sense given how many hairpins it has to take.  I'm not sure what the average traveler would ever take 152 over 129 to Watsonville, but then again that was reflected in the traffic volume.

The Hecker Pass segment of CA 152, along with county road G8 extending north into western San Martin and up to the Almaden Valley, hosts quite a number of small wineries; the Santa Cruz wine-production district, extending from the Pajaro River (essentially CA 129) north to about CA 84 is its own recognized appellation.  Hecker Pass and the upper Almaden Valley is a sub-region within that district.  Back in the early 1980's I conducted and/or participated in a number of wine-tasting tours of the area; there was one tiny establishment right at the 152/G8 junction back then that was making a very good semi-dry sauterne-style white out of common Thompson Seedless grapes.  Since due to health issues I've been functionally "dry" since 1988, I haven't done such activities in the last few decades (don't know if specific wineries are still around).  Nevertheless, CA 152 serves as more a recreational access road than a through route over the range; virtually all commercial traffic uses CA 129.

The multiplex of 152 over US 101 was actually requested by the City of Gilroy, which wanted to reconfigure Monterey Street into the "road diet"-style facility it is today and basically wanted Caltrans out of the picture in order to do so.  The result was the convoluted (and poorly signed, per District 4 habit) alignment of 152 through the west side of town.   

The weird thing is (and I even notated it in the road blog) that I didn't see any signage in Gilroy directing 152 traffic on to US 101.  I could have simply missed it as I know it was there last year (its on the GSV) but it was just a really small BGS.  I kind of got the idea that at some point Gilroy wanted to do the whole "town square" thing with Monterey Road given that it has copious parking like two of the lanes were converted, weird the city requested the relinquishment. 

What I found even stranger is over at the western terminus at CA 1.  Not only is there not an END placard for 152 on Main Street but traffic can only continue northbound onto 1 and not south.  152 traffic would either have to use Green Valley Road or take the 1 freeway up to Airport Boulevard to go back south.

[sparker]

Welcome to Caltrans Districts 4 & 5; 5 is marginally better than 4 when it comes to signage.  152 in Watsonville is an exception; I don't recall there being an "END 152" sign assembly at the western terminus even back in the 1980's when I was down there quite a bit.  Signage directing one from WB 152 to SB 1 is essentially nonexistent; there is some trailblazer smaller green signs directing 152 traffic over to 129; I believe that particular sign is shown in one of the pictures.  I don't recall if, once that street (old CA 1) reached CA 129, if there were any CA 1 trailblazers present or not.  It seems as if D5 assumes that WB traffic on 152 will be aiming at the Santa Cruz area rather than south to Castroville and the Monterey area.  Why this is so is perplexing; their signage of the 1/156/183 "complex" near Castroville is more than adequate, providing precise directions from all approaches.  The saving grace is that D5 generally doesn't have a rash of fugly shields like District 4 seems to crank out on a regular basis! 

[Max Rockatansky]

Our feature on California State Route 152 was originally published in late 2017.  That being the case the blog was due for a being updated with California Highways & Public Works materials.  In addition to the CHPWs I took the opportunity to expound upon the history of Pacheco Pass and update the photo log of CA 152.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/10/california-state-route-152.html

[SeriesE]

Interesting how 152 was never rerouted onto Leavesley Road+Ferguson Road. On the map it looks more logical than the current route with many 90 degree turns and a 1 exit concurrency with US-101.

[sparker]

Interesting how 152 was never rerouted onto Leavesley Road+Ferguson Road. On the map it looks more logical than the current route with many 90 degree turns and a 1 exit concurrency with US-101.

Back in the late '60's and early '70's when I was a student at UCR and made several trips per year up to San Jose and Stanford to visit friends, the Leavesley/Ferguson ad hoc bypass was the normal way to bypass the slog through downtown Gilroy (pre-freeway).  The only problem with it was it was incredibly narrow; the lanes were no more than 10 feet wide and there were deep ditches (looked like irrigation facilities) on each side.  Trucks were plentiful; obviously they had discovered the shortcut early on.  The curve from NB Ferguson to WB Leavesey had obviously been built not too long before I started frequenting the route; probably Santa Clara County's acknowledgement of the fact that it was being used as a Gilroy bypass (I would imagine that there were traffic incidents at the former 90-degree intersection of the two roads, the remnants of which were just to the north of the curve itself).  But sharing the road with a steady stream of semis and agricultural vehicles was always an adventure!

[Max Rockatansky]

What's interesting about G9 (Leavesley/Ferguson) is that the County Sign Route was assigned in 1963.  I'm assuming it probably just continued into Gilroy on Leavseley to US 101 on Main Street.  Given how wild the rail crossing on Old Gilroy Street/CA 152 appears to be I can see why trucks favored G9.

[sparker]

What's interesting about G9 (Leavesley/Ferguson) is that the County Sign Route was assigned in 1963.  I'm assuming it probably just continued into Gilroy on Leavseley to US 101 on Main Street.  Given how wild the rail crossing on Old Gilroy Street/CA 152 appears to be I can see why trucks favored G9.

Before the US 101 freeway was constructed ('72) and the portion of Leavesley Road from the freeway to Monterey Highway was transferred to the state as a reroute of CA 152, the RR crossing there was as "wild" (read a narrow 2 lanes with a decided "hump" over the tracks which large trucks had to traverse quite gingerly) as Old Gilroy to the south.  Also, there was a lot more rail traffic over the then-SP Coast Route than there is presently, so the gates were down quite a bit.  While Leavesley did avoid the downtown slog for San Jose-Pacheco Pass traffic, it really wasn't the most modern or even wide road around.  But it certainly got used for commercial traffic, even before I-5 opened south of CA 152 in late '71; as the South Bay's status as a technical growth area started growing in the mid-60's -- and after the San Luis Reservoir expressway bypass went into service -- traffic on 152 coming from CA 99 (still signed as US 99 up to mid-1966) kept on increasing as years passed -- and Ferguson/Leavesley's share of that increased right along with it.   

[dbz77]

One thing I have wondered is why there are no signs on southbound 101 in Gilroy directing Los Angeles-bound traffic to use 152 east.

[Max Rockatansky]

One thing I have wondered is why there are no signs on southbound 101 in Gilroy directing Los Angeles-bound traffic to use 152 east.

Considering how bad traffic gets east of Gilroy it might just be a better bet to stick to 101 when the Ag trucks are running.  That eastbound jog through Old Gilroy at G9 is infamous for causing huge backups. 

[jrouse]

One thing I have wondered is why there are no signs on southbound 101 in Gilroy directing Los Angeles-bound traffic to use 152 east.

I think 46 is faster and more direct. 

[Max Rockatansky]

One thing I have wondered is why there are no signs on southbound 101 in Gilroy directing Los Angeles-bound traffic to use 152 east.

I think 46 is faster and more direct.

198 probably is faster on some days with the backups in Gilroy.

[Max Rockatansky]

Made a stop at Dinosaur Point today on the way home.  The level of San Luis Reservoir is pretty low and about a solid quarter mile of old CA 152 is now visible:

0 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[kkt]

Yes, it's low.  There was a story about Coalinga, which gets its water from the San Luis Reservoir, being a couple of months away from being too low to supply any water and how much alternative sources would cost.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/10/10/drought-california-water-levels/