The designation of Kings Canyon Road (former and current CA 180)

[Max Rockatansky]

Turns out this is a way bigger topic than I would have assumed initially in Fresno.  Part of Kings Canyon Road was redesignated by the city in 2023 (Cesar Chavez Boulevard) and seems to have incited a great deal of controversy.  There was a lawsuit to block the name change which was recently ruled in favor of the city:

"California State Route 180 was one of the original Sign State Routes designated in August 1934.  The highway east of Fresno originally utilized what was Ventura Avenue and Dunlap Road to reach what was then General Grant National Park.  By late year 1939 the highway was extended through the Kings River Canyon to Cedar Grove. 

In 1940 General Grant National Park would be expanded and rebranded as Kings Canyon National Park.  The Kings Canyon Road designation first appeared in publications circa 1941 when the California State Route 180 bypass of Dunlap was completed.  Kings Canyon Road ultimately would replace the designation of Dunlap Road from Dunlap to Centerville and Ventura Avenue west to 1st Street in Fresno. 

The Kings Canyon Road would remain largely intact until March 2023 when the Fresno Council designated Cesar Chavez Boulevard.  Cesar Chavez Boulevard was designated over a ten-mile corridor over what was Kings Canyon Road, remaining Ventura Avenue and California Avenue (from Peach Avenue west to Marks Avenue).  The designation was controversial, and a lawsuit was brought forth to block the name change.  Courts would rule in favor of the Fresno City Council in early 2025 which saw the corridor of Kings Canyon Road permanently truncated to Peach Avenue.

Pictured as the blog cover is the then new Kings Canyon Road in the Sierra Nevada above Dunlap as seen in the November 1941 California Highways & Public Works.  Said volume is the first documented appearance of the Kings Canyon Road name."

https://www.gribblenation.org/2025/02/when-was-ventura-avenue-east-of.html