I've touched on this a little bit a couple times but I finally got around to scouting out the original route of SSR 198 through downtown Hanford today, so I figure it is time to post a dedicated thread for the route alignment changes in Kings County. Really the photos from today are just at the West Lacey Blvd/Irwin Street Junction but I do have another album prepared for the entire original route through Kings County that I'll share tomorrow:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskQwg8v5So basically quoting what I put up in my album the gist of the original route of SSR 198 in Kings County west from Tulare County is as follows:
"The original 1934 alignment westbound followed the modern expressway from the Tulare County line to approximately 7th Avenue. SSR 198 used East Lacey Blvd to reach Hanford, 7th Street west, Irwin Street north to downtown, and west on West Lacey Blvd to exit the city. West of Hanford SSR 198 used West Lacey Blvd and south on 14th Avenue to reach Armona. From downtown Armona SSR 198 took Front Street west to Hanford-Armona Road to exit the city. SSR 198 continued west on Hanford-Armona bypassing Lemoore to the north to reach SSR 41 on 19th 1/2 Avenue. SSR 198 multiplexed SSR 41 south on 19th 1/2 Avenue to Jackson Avenue where it split west over the Kings River to roughly where the old alignment dead ends at the modern CA 198 expressway.
It would appear the above alignment largely stayed the same with the expection of a minor realignment in Hanford on 7th Street to Garner Avenue to reach West Lacey Blvd. It appears that the CA 198 expressway was partially completed west of Lemoore by 1964, with additional segments opened between Lemoore to 10th Avenue in Hanford in 1966, and the full modern alignment by 1967. The modern alignment was gradually improved over the years to almost a full freeway between 7th Avenue and 25th Avenue."
Map Links that show changes to 198:
1935 Kings County Map
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~247293~5515357:Kings-County-?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:california%2Bdivision%2Bof%2Bhighways;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=35&trs=1601963 State Highway Map
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239528~5511852:State-Highway-Map,-California,-1963?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=29&trs=861966 State Highway Map
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239519~5511846:State-Highway-Map,-California,-1966?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=23&trs=861967 State Highway Map
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239516~5511844:State-Highway-Map,-California,-1967?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=21&trs=86So with that in mind let's take a look at West Lacey Blvd eastbound looking towards Irwin Street:
IMG_4738 by
Max Rockatansky, on Flickr
There is still signage directing you south onto Irwin Street to reach 7th Street and West Lacey:
IMG_4741 by
Max Rockatansky, on Flickr
West Lacey/Irwin junction to the left of the old Fox Theater building:
IMG_4772 by
Max Rockatansky, on Flickr
I did the whole alignment during the whole Parkfield Grade saga in Max's Roads last year. Really the alignment changes in Kings County are really all over the place and varied. Kind of strange to see how much the route really has straightened out over the years as expressway/freeway was built. Really the last mystery I haven't been able to sort out is when/if 198 was realigned to stay west on 7th Street and Garner Avenue to West Lacey. The original alignment via Irwin Street is very apparent on the 1935 County Map of Kings County.
Edit: I wasn't planning on it but I took some detours on the way home today and hit the old alignments of 198 in Tulare County. I'll be uploading photos probably later this afternoon or this evening.