Early US 99 in Selma and Fowler

[Max Rockatansky]

Recently I've been doing some digging into the early alignments of US 99 and Legislative Route 4 in Fowler/Selma.  Very early US 99 used Front Street in Selma until a new bypass of downtown was built on Whitson Street.  Given Selma was incorporated 1893 State funds wouldn't have been available to build a bypass onto Whitson until after 1933.  Withing Fowler the original alignment of US 99/LRN 4 was on 8th Street which would have been forced there by Fowler's Switch which essentially was located on the northbound lanes of Golden State Boulevard.  8th Street shows up on some topographical maps as a four lane road between South Avenue and Adams Avenue, even in present configuration it definitely is wide enough for that level of traffic.  Fowler's Switch appears to have been removed at some point during the 1940s (I don't have an exact date) which led to US 99 being built up to expressway standards through the community on Golden State Boulevard.  I incorporated my road photos and map research into the pre-existing US 99 Fresno Surface blog which can be found below:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/09/hunting-for-forgotten-history-old-us-99.html