Alps' Roads - California/US 99 update

[Alps]

I normally don't post site updates outside the Photos/Videos page, but in this case I am especially seeking comments and corrections for my newest update. All 1,440+ photos are from California, and over 1,000 of them are from/of historic US 99. The centerpieces are the dry Shasta Lake bed and my guided tour of the Ridge Route. Please take a look, please enjoy, and please definitely let me know if there's anything to add or fix on my pages!


https://www.alpsroads.net/roads/ca


(Please write me at webmaster@alpsroads; I'll try to remember to check this board but it's not one of my usuals.)

[Max Rockatansky]

One I noticed glancing at things was the Jiboom Street Bridge.  That actually was never part of US 99 but rather very late game CA 24 and the pre-freeway CA 99/CA 70.  US 99 split into E/W alignments from Sacramento.  This map illustrates when US 99/99E/99W and CA 99 were all present in Sacramento:

http://www.davidrumsey.com/ll/thumbnailView.html?startUrl=%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2Fluna%2Fservlet%2Fas%2Fsearch%3Fos%3D0%26bs%3D10%26lc%3DRUMSEY~8~1%26q%3DCALTRANs%25201966%26sort%3DPub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&r=0&xywh=5769%2C605%2C1424%2C2333

I'll have a look around this week and I'll email you if I notice anything else.

[Alps]

One I noticed glancing at things was the Jiboom Street Bridge.  That actually was never part of US 99 but rather very late game CA 24 and the pre-freeway CA 99/CA 70.  US 99 split into E/W alignments from Sacramento.  This map illustrates when US 99/99E/99W and CA 99 were all present in Sacramento:

http://www.davidrumsey.com/ll/thumbnailView.html?startUrl=%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2Fluna%2Fservlet%2Fas%2Fsearch%3Fos%3D0%26bs%3D10%26lc%3DRUMSEY~8~1%26q%3DCALTRANs%25201966%26sort%3DPub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&r=0&xywh=5769%2C605%2C1424%2C2333

I'll have a look around this week and I'll email you if I notice anything else.

Oh that's bizarre - it was 99 but not US 99. I had no idea that was even a thing!

[Max Rockatansky]

One I noticed glancing at things was the Jiboom Street Bridge.  That actually was never part of US 99 but rather very late game CA 24 and the pre-freeway CA 99/CA 70.  US 99 split into E/W alignments from Sacramento.  This map illustrates when US 99/99E/99W and CA 99 were all present in Sacramento:

http://www.davidrumsey.com/ll/thumbnailView.html?startUrl=%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2Fluna%2Fservlet%2Fas%2Fsearch%3Fos%3D0%26bs%3D10%26lc%3DRUMSEY~8~1%26q%3DCALTRANs%25201966%26sort%3DPub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&r=0&xywh=5769%2C605%2C1424%2C2333

I'll have a look around this week and I'll email you if I notice anything else.

Oh that's bizarre - it was 99 but not US 99. I had no idea that was even a thing!

Speculative deduction (by me) is that the Division of Highways wanted to resolve the US 99 split by adopting Legislative Route 232 in 1949.  Ultimately Legislative Route 232 was finished between Marysville-Sacramento (via the Jiboom Street Bridge) by 1957 but was initially unnumbered.  I would imagine favoring US 99E would have been pretty unpopular given that US 99W was a more established corridor.  Ultimately Legislative Route 232 became the new CA 24 alignment by 1960 which was soon swapped for CA 99/70 during the 1964 Renumbering.  US 99 was pushed out of California by AASHO approval in 1965 so there was short period of time when US 99 existed alongside it's successor CA 99 north of Sacramento. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Regarding Red Bluff the I-5 Business Route follows the original definition of US 99 which was on Main Street.  The 99W/99E split didn't become a thing until the AASHO approved it in June or 1928.  Essentially what became 99W was the original route of US 99 south to Sacramento.

[sparker]

One I noticed glancing at things was the Jiboom Street Bridge.  That actually was never part of US 99 but rather very late game CA 24 and the pre-freeway CA 99/CA 70.  US 99 split into E/W alignments from Sacramento.  This map illustrates when US 99/99E/99W and CA 99 were all present in Sacramento:

http://www.davidrumsey.com/ll/thumbnailView.html?startUrl=%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2Fluna%2Fservlet%2Fas%2Fsearch%3Fos%3D0%26bs%3D10%26lc%3DRUMSEY~8~1%26q%3DCALTRANs%25201966%26sort%3DPub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&r=0&xywh=5769%2C605%2C1424%2C2333

I'll have a look around this week and I'll email you if I notice anything else.

Oh that's bizarre - it was 99 but not US 99. I had no idea that was even a thing!

Speculative deduction (by me) is that the Division of Highways wanted to resolve the US 99 split by adopting Legislative Route 232 in 1949.  Ultimately Legislative Route 232 was finished between Marysville-Sacramento (via the Jiboom Street Bridge) by 1957 but was initially unnumbered.  I would imagine favoring US 99E would have been pretty unpopular given that US 99W was a more established corridor.  Ultimately Legislative Route 232 became the new CA 24 alignment by 1960 which was soon swapped for CA 99/70 during the 1964 Renumbering.  US 99 was pushed out of California by AASHO approval in 1965 so there was short period of time when US 99 existed alongside it's successor CA 99 north of Sacramento. 

What tied the whole thing together and made a continuous "99" possible (as a potential US corridor as well as the eventual state route) was the adoption and construction of LRN 245, the diagonal connector from (then) LRN 232/SSR 24 and LRN 87/Alternate US 40, completed circa 1962.  The DOH, and D3 in particular, wanted to remove as much through N-S traffic as possible from the then-current US 99E alignment, which entered Marysville from the south, crossed the Yuba River into Yuba City coincident with SSR 20, then turned north again toward Gridley and Chico (all part of LRN 3).  Placing a composite "99" route on the new roadway would accomplish just that -- which leads me to wonder if DOH had plans to eliminate the E-W split on US 99 prior to the decision to renumber the entire system -- with I-5 simply subsuming the US 99W route from Woodland to Red Bluff.  What they would have done with US 99E from Roseville to Marysville is a matter for pure conjecture; my guess is that such a decision hadn't yet been made but was eventually supplanted by the comprehensive renumbering effort.