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Former US 99/CA 99 Athlone Expressway corridor

Started by Max Rockatansky, May 27, 2022, 12:35:22 PM

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Max Rockatansky

Slight cross post from Gribblenation regarding the last segment of former US 99/CA 99 between Wheeler Ridge-Sacramento that was an expressway:

Pictured in the Flickr below is a view on northbound Kahlon Road in southern Merced County near the site of Athlone siding between Chowchilla and Merced.  Kahlon Road today just appears to be a normal two lane frontage road of the California State Route 99 Freeway but it was once something more substantial.  Kahlon Road was part of original alignment of US Route 99 which was eventually widened to a four lane expressway.  The Chowchilla-Merced expressway corridor was inherited by California State Route 99 when US Route 99 was truncated to Ashland, Oregon during June 1965.  The Chowchilla-Merced corridor was the last expressway segment of California State Route 99 to be bypassed by a freeway in 2016.  After being bypassed the former Chowchilla-Merced expressway was narrowed to the two lane configuration seen on Kahlon Road and Doppler Road today.  Some evidence of US Route 99 and California State Route 99 can still be found such as the Caltrans spec bridge identification placard seen on Kahlon Road below at Deadman Creek.  The Deadman Creek bridge identification placard reads "99 MER R5.24."

https://flic.kr/p/2no3MjN

The Athlone corridor is interesting, it has a ton of Route 99 bridge stamping and placards still. The GSV still displays much of the Athlone corridor as a four lane expressway pre-road diet:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/151828809@N08/P6J6PD

For reference Athlone was a Southern Pacific Railroad siding between Chowchilla-Merced that was founded in 1881 and appears to have went defunct by the late 1930s.  The only real evidence of the community now is where Athlone Road now meets former US 99/CA 99.


ClassicHasClass

I was regularly making the So Cal-Sac'to run in those days and was soooo glad when the Athlone segment got upgraded.

Occidental Tourist

Some of the pindrop views on Google Maps still show both carriageways of the former expressway or at least show the road alignment while the four lane segments were being reconfigured to two.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: Occidental Tourist on May 29, 2022, 09:32:59 AM
Some of the pindrop views on Google Maps still show both carriageways of the former expressway or at least show the road alignment while the four lane segments were being reconfigured to two.

Vista Avenue to McHenry Road specifically.  What's interesting is the road that was left was the original two lane grade of US 99.  The first bridge by Merced Truck & Auto Plaza has a date stamp of 1926. 

TheStranger

I remember driving this back in 2008 on the way to Tulare, and seeing the construction in progress in 2013 en route to Camarillo from Sacramento.

Something I have always wondered:  was the old expressway so closely aligned to the railroad right-of-way that there was no possible way to directly upgrade it in-place to freeway? (i.e. using the pre-2016 carriageways between intersections, using the southbound 1926 alignment as southbound exit ramps, and then having the northbound carriageway deviate to provide room for the northbound ramps)
Chris Sampang

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: TheStranger on May 29, 2022, 07:09:27 PM
I remember driving this back in 2008 on the way to Tulare, and seeing the construction in progress in 2013 en route to Camarillo from Sacramento.

Something I have always wondered:  was the old expressway so closely aligned to the railroad right-of-way that there was no possible way to directly upgrade it in-place to freeway? (i.e. using the pre-2016 carriageways between intersections, using the southbound 1926 alignment as southbound exit ramps, and then having the northbound carriageway deviate to provide room for the northbound ramps)

Seemingly so, the lanes that survive were the southbound travel lanes of 99.  They generally very close to the tracks and had a substandard drainage grade even in the late 1930s. 

pderocco

I happened to drive the new northbound alignment in 2016 at the same time as the southbound traffic was still on the old alignment. There's something wistful about it. You have to go all the way up to Sankey Rd past Sacramento to be back on an "old road".

On a marginally related note, does anyone remember the last part of I-215 that was upgraded to full freeway back in the 80s? I have a vague memory of driving it then, and being surprised by the driveways. Was it between Perris and Edgemont?

Max Rockatansky

Blog I put together for the Athlone corridor.  I included before and after shots from my photos versus the GSV:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2022/06/former-us-route-99-through-athlone-and.html?m=1

ClassicHasClass

Quote from: pderocco on June 04, 2022, 11:35:16 PMOn a marginally related note, does anyone remember the last part of I-215 that was upgraded to full freeway back in the 80s? I have a vague memory of driving it then, and being surprised by the driveways. Was it between Perris and Edgemont?

Yes, the last section to be upgraded was that stretch (it was then CA 215) up to the Moreno Valley Interchange. I remember the 215 freeway abruptly downgrading to expressway when you got past D Street in Perris (also old US 395). The segment between Cactus and CA 60 was the first one to be updated because it was the most congested and I suspect that's where you saw those at-grade driveways, but the original road still survives as Old 215, and there's at least one old sign there last I looked. It's well marked with Historic Route 395 signage. The rest of it was an in-place upgrade; the residual frontage roads seem to be different construction. I think it finally converted over in the early 1990s.

cahwyguy

Quote from: ClassicHasClass on June 05, 2022, 02:35:56 PM
Quote from: pderocco on June 04, 2022, 11:35:16 PMOn a marginally related note, does anyone remember the last part of I-215 that was upgraded to full freeway back in the 80s? I have a vague memory of driving it then, and being surprised by the driveways. Was it between Perris and Edgemont?

Yes, the last section to be upgraded was that stretch (it was then CA 215) up to the Moreno Valley Interchange. I remember the 215 freeway abruptly downgrading to expressway when you got past D Street in Perris (also old US 395). The segment between Cactus and CA 60 was the first one to be updated because it was the most congested and I suspect that's where you saw those at-grade driveways, but the original road still survives as Old 215, and there's at least one old sign there last I looked. It's well marked with Historic Route 395 signage. The rest of it was an in-place upgrade; the residual frontage roads seem to be different construction. I think it finally converted over in the early 1990s.

That sounds about right. We're members out at Orange Empire (now Southern California) Railroad Museum, and we drove that stretch at least twice a year in those days. I remember the old expressway, and its slow conversion to the freeway, between Moreno Valley and Perris. The conversion occurred early to mid 1990s.
Daniel - California Highway Guy ● Highway Site: http://www.cahighways.org/ ●  Blog: http://blog.cahighways.org/ ● Podcast (CA Route by Route): http://caroutebyroute.org/ ● Follow California Highways on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cahighways

pderocco

Quote from: ClassicHasClass on June 05, 2022, 02:35:56 PM
Yes, the last section to be upgraded was that stretch (it was then CA 215) up to the Moreno Valley Interchange. I remember the 215 freeway abruptly downgrading to expressway when you got past D Street in Perris (also old US 395). The segment between Cactus and CA 60 was the first one to be updated because it was the most congested and I suspect that's where you saw those at-grade driveways, but the original road still survives as Old 215, and there's at least one old sign there last I looked. It's well marked with Historic Route 395 signage. The rest of it was an in-place upgrade; the residual frontage roads seem to be different construction. I think it finally converted over in the early 1990s.
Thanks for that info. Looking closely at Google Earth, I think perhaps what I remember was just north of Ramona Expy, along Wade Ave, because it was fairly crowded with lots of grimy stuff that you find in certain ag areas, and those junk yards that are still there look old enough. There were no traffic lights, and I don't think there were any left turns, just some driveways and side streets. I sorta miss that stuff, and sorta don't.

mrsman

I'm just trying to figure out the general timeline of this based on Max's article:

1917:  2-lane LRN 4 built through the area parallel to SPRR tracks

1937-1941:  This stretch is converted to expressway.  Current roadway slightly widened to become the southbound lanes of thenew expressway.  New northbound lanes are laid out to the east with a grass median separating the two roadways.

2016:  The expressway is bypassed and a new freeway is built significantly to the east.  The southbound lanes are converted to the two lane road and the northbound lanes are de-graded.

If the above is correct, does this mean that the current Kahlon Road is actually right on the same roadbed as the original 2-lane LRN 4 from 1917?

Max Rockatansky

Pretty much but the road bed that Kahlon was raised over time to mitigate flooding.  Some of the bridge structures on Kahlon have 1920s era year stamps painted on them.



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