Old CA 41 in Southern Fresno County and the ghost Expressway Stub

[Max Rockatansky]

I've been looking into a ghost expressway stub just north of Elkhorn Avenue on CA 41.  For those who don't know there is a four-lane expressway on CA 41 between Fresno south to Lemoore.  Between the six miles from Elkhorn Avenue south to Excelsior Avenue the expressway drops back down to two-lanes.  The ghost stub in question can easily be observed heading northbound on CA 41 directly past Elkhorn Avenue:

0 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Turns out there is something of an odd history regarding the alignment of CA 41 from Excelsior to Elkhorn.  Originally northbound CA 41 would have used the following route with tons of 90 degree turns north of the Kings County line heading northward towards Fresno:

-  Elm Avenue
-  Excelsior Avenue
-  Elm Avenue
-  Elkhorn Avenue
-  Elm Avenue

The original alignment can be seen here on this 1935 Division of Highways Map from Fresno County:

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~247281~5515351:Fresno-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=32&trs=163

Sometime between 1964 and 1965 CA 41 was straightened onto the current two-lane expressway alignment between Excelsior and Elkhorn.  CA 41 would have used Elm Avenue to cross south of Elkhorn and would have met the two-lane expressway on a road grade that no longer exists. 

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239525~5511850:State-Highway-Map,-California,-1964?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=27&trs=86

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239522~5511848:State-Highway-Map,-California,-1965?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=25&trs=86

At present moment I'm working out when the four-lane CA 41 expressway north of Elkhorn to CA 99 was constructed.  The map 1990 below shows the proposed alignment.  CA 41 runs to on Elm Avenue north to Jensen Avenue where it multiplexed CA 99 briefly:

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239483~5511824:State-Highway-Map,-1990-?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=1&trs=86

I'm planning on getting a blog entry going on this some time this week.  The open question is when was the CA 41 four-lane expressway between Elkhorn north to CA 99 completed?

[Max Rockatansky]

Finished up a blog entry today:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/06/old-california-state-route-41-in.html

I linked over the alignment history of CA 41 in Kings County and the surface alignments in Fresno which I wrote about previously.  Looking at the construction history of the CA 41 freeway Fresno led to some oddities that I might have to cover in another topic.