US Route 199

[Max Rockatansky]

In 2014 as well as 2016 I drove the entirety of US Route 199 while visiting Redwood National Park/State Park and Crater Lake National Park.  I was going to make a return visit this past weekend before "things" happened and forced my hand at changing plans.  While I don't have a huge photo stock from US 199 to share I did have enough historical information to write about the highway and for good measure I did add a route log with Google Street view images.  US 199 has origins in two early Stage Routes between Crescent City and the interior of Oregon that were built during the 19th Century.  The latter Stage Road was known as the Gasquet Toll Road and was incorporated into Legislative Route 1 on the California side during 1919.  The modern form of the route that would become US 199 opened in California in 1925.  US 199 would be improved upon over the decades and was planned to become a freeway in California.  The biggest change to US 199 occurred in 1963 when the Collier Tunnel replaced Oregon Mountain Road.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2020/04/us-route-199.html

[Max Rockatansky]

Ended up revisiting the US 199 blog and added about 200 behind the wheel photos from Grants Pass west to Crescent City. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2020/04/us-route-199.html

[nexus73]

One side of my family tree came over that stagecoach road in a Conestoga wagon, settled in Loleta CA for a bit, then moved north to Gold Beach OR, followed by going north to the Coos Bay-North Bend area.

199 is such a scenic route but it needs some improvements for STAA access.

Rick

[Max Rockatansky]

One side of my family tree came over that stagecoach road in a Conestoga wagon, settled in Loleta CA for a bit, then moved north to Gold Beach OR, followed by going north to the Coos Bay-North Bend area.

199 is such a scenic route but it needs some improvements for STAA access.

Rick

Really it's the California side that seems to be the problem spot for US 199 given the terrain on the Smith River.  Regionally it is a huge connector that requires a massive detour to CA 96 or OR 42 if something happens.  To that end I could see there being a real need to get the California side up to expressway standards (somehow) at least from Gasquet all the way to the Collier Tunnel.

[sparker]

One side of my family tree came over that stagecoach road in a Conestoga wagon, settled in Loleta CA for a bit, then moved north to Gold Beach OR, followed by going north to the Coos Bay-North Bend area.

199 is such a scenic route but it needs some improvements for STAA access.

Rick

Really it's the California side that seems to be the problem spot for US 199 given the terrain on the Smith River.  Regionally it is a huge connector that requires a massive detour to CA 96 or OR 42 if something happens.  To that end I could see there being a real need to get the California side up to expressway standards (somehow) at least from Gasquet all the way to the Collier Tunnel.

The southern end of US 199 has functionally the same issues as US 101 south of Crescent City and, to a lesser extent, north of Leggett -- any significant improvement would require realignment over new terrain -- environmentally (and by extension politically) problematic -- and extremely expensive as well.  In all likelihood something atop the adjacent ridges or up other canyons (like the Orick-Klamath US 101 realignment of the '80's) would be the available options; alternately, a direct mountain connector between Gasquet and US 101 near the Smith River crossing (certainly something that would appeal to Oregon drivers) -- equally problematic in the previous regards as a parallel US 199 replacement -- could be considered.  But right now US 101 south of Crescent City poses the more immediate problem; Caltrans will probably concentrate its efforts toward a remedy there well before giving even the most preliminary consideration to 199. 

[kkt]

I thought the point of allowing STAA trucks through Richardson Grove was to get freight to and from the Eureka-Arcata area.  If US 199 is modified to allow STAA trucks, then they don't need the Richardson Grove bypass as well, and if the Richardson Grove bypass is done, they don't need a bypass for 199 as well.

STAA 1982 was passed without sufficient thought about the cost, both financial and environmental, of modifying older highways to accomodate larger trucks.

[sparker]

I thought the point of allowing STAA trucks through Richardson Grove was to get freight to and from the Eureka-Arcata area.  If US 199 is modified to allow STAA trucks, then they don't need the Richardson Grove bypass as well, and if the Richardson Grove bypass is done, they don't need a bypass for 199 as well.

STAA 1982 was passed without sufficient thought about the cost, both financial and environmental, of modifying older highways to accomodate larger trucks.

The only way that US 199 affects Eureka/Arcata commercial traffic is for shipments directly to and from OR.  At present, every truck size (STAA and CA-legal) can and does use CA 299 from Redding -- at least until the Richardson Grove widening occurs.  But while Eureka and vicinity is the largest traffic generator/destination on CA's portion of the North Coast, it's not the only game in town; the extended dual-state populated area between Crescent City on the south and Brookings as the nominal north end (some metrics may extend the service area to at least Gold Beach) positions US 199, augmented by CA 197, as the main access to inland points.  So even though Eureka stands to gain some service efficiencies if Richardson Grove no longer poses an obstacle, upgrades to US 199 would principally benefit Del Norte County in CA and OR's Curry County -- independent of Eureka/Humboldt County conditions. 

STAA was a tip of the hat to truckers to attempt to "even the playing field" after the 1980 Staggers Act effectively deregulated the nation's railroads, leading to a number of large-scale mergers that created regional and/or quasi-national rail "giants".  The USDOT in the Reagan years wished to be viewed as friendly to all modes of private-sector transport; this was a way to curry favor from the trucking sector after Staggers, initiated by the Carter administration, relieved RR's of what was considered their more onerous operating restrictions.  The fact that the Reagan folks didn't prioritize environmental and logistical considerations invariably resulted in things like STAA being implemented; since then these industry "perks" have morphed into a "3rd rail" situation, where the reintroduction of restrictions, regardless of circumstances, constitutes a perceived attack on free enterprise and thus politically hazardous.