California one-lane state highways

[J N Winkler]

I am writing to inquire about the current status of California's one-lane state highways.

The go-to webpage for them is Joel Windmiller's "One-lane Wonders" page, now long gone but still accessible through the Web Archive:

https://web.archive.org/web/20101215083028/http://home.pacbell.net/hywaymn/California%27s-one-lane-wonders.html

I have been trying to track down StreetView imagery of the one-lane sections since I will be routing through California on my way back from Seattle in the next month, and would like to try to drive some of them.  Here is an annotated version of Windmiller's list, where an asterisk (*) denotes roads for which I have not been able to find a section with the typical Caltrans one-lane striping treatment, which is white shoulder stripes with no yellow center stripe:

• *SR 3 near Peanut and at the Shasta-Trinity county line (StreetView shows two lanes in both locations.  Perhaps this road has been upgraded since 2000?)
• SR 4 Ebbetts Pass Highway
• SR 35 Skyline Drive
• *SR 36 Van Duzen River Highway
• *SR 39 San Gabriel Canyon Highway
• *SR 108 Sonora Pass Highway
• SR 146 either side of Pinnacles National Monument
• SR 153 in Coloma
• *SR 168 Westgard Pass Highway
• *SR 173 Lake Arrowhead Highway (supposedly long relinquished--but still postmiled?)
• SR 229 Creston-Webster Highway
• SR 236 Big Basin Redwoods State Park Highway

Can anyone help with the asterisked routes?

[oscar]

I recently drove all of CA 39 (except the short stub from CA 2), and CA 173.  I don't recall any of the open portions being one-lane.  Some closed (not "relinquished") parts I couldn't travel might be one-lane, including the unpaved part of CA 173.

I've also, a little less recently (2012?), driven the Westgard Pass segment of CA 168.  I recall it being twisty, narrow, and unpleasant (at least from being stuck behind a slow hay truck the whole way westbound), but I don't have a firm recollection of whether parts of it also lacked a center stripe or otherwise were just one lane.

[gonealookin]

SR 108/Sonora Pass and SR 168/Westgard Pass have center stripes for their entire length.  I know that's fairly new on 168, but 108 has had the double yellow for quite a while.  SR 4/Ebbetts Pass still has no center stripe for quite some distance.

Editing upon reviewing this thread:  My comment about CA 168 was per memory and incorrect as noted below.  I have driven that stretch since making this comment and the very short unstriped segment was still there.

[sdmichael]

168 still is one-lane for a short segment just west of the Bristlecone Pine turnoff. 39 was one-lane for a portion north of Coldbrook Camp but is no longer. 3 was widened. 173 is closed over the one-lane section (and also dirt). State 146 is one-lane only on the western end.

[MarkF]

Regarding CA 36, you might want to check this post from today:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=13375.0

[myosh_tino]

I can confirm that there are one-lane sections of CA-35 between CA-17 and Bear Creek Road.  While there are very few, if any, route shields posted along that stretch of Skyline Blvd, the post mile paddles do indicate it is CA-35.

[Kniwt]

Regarding CA 36, you might want to check this post from today:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=13375.0

Yes, part of CA 36 has the one-lane striping treatment. Here's a random Street View location from that part:
http://goo.gl/maps/QWJEM

[emory]

Most of Route 2 on Angeles Crest Highway is a 2-lane road, with the occasional passing lane.

[roadfro]

Most of Route 2 on Angeles Crest Highway is a 2-lane road, with the occasional passing lane.

I would like to invite you to re-examine the thread topic...

[J N Winkler]

My thanks to those who responded.  In the next day or two I propose to collate the responses into an updated list of one-lane state highways with StreetView links direct to the one-lane sections.

A couple of thoughts occurred to me:

*  Windmiller's list doesn't include a one-lane section of SR 172 in or near Lassen Volcanic National Park (which I have ridden on, but don't think has StreetView imagery).  Are there any others?

*  Does SR 9 in the general vicinity of Big Basin Redwoods State Park also have one-lane sections?

168 still is one-lane for a short segment just west of the Bristlecone Pine turnoff.

Do you have a map reference or StreetView link for this one-lane section?  I ask because I haven't been able to find it.  Google Maps satellite imagery suggests that the entire length of SR 168 between US 395 and SR 266 near the Nevada state line (the Westgard Pass segment of SR 168) now has a yellow center stripe.  Windmiller's photo of the one-lane segment shows the road going into what appears to be a keyhole between two sheer rock walls, and that might very well be a location about 11 miles east of Big Pine, but it is hard to tell--and there is a center stripe here anyway.  The only Google Maps search result for "Bristlecone Pine, CA" is an urban location in Big Pine near the southern US 395/SR 168 junction.

[myosh_tino]

*  Does SR 9 in the general vicinity of Big Basin Redwoods State Park also have one-lane sections?

I don't believe CA-9 has any one-lane sections.

[kkt]

*  Does SR 9 in the general vicinity of Big Basin Redwoods State Park also have one-lane sections?

It didn't back in the late 1980s, but there may have been some damage from the Loma Prieta earthquake.  I'd be surprised though, it's a pretty heavily traveled road.

[sdmichael]

My thanks to those who responded.  In the next day or two I propose to collate the responses into an updated list of one-lane state highways with StreetView links direct to the one-lane sections.

A couple of thoughts occurred to me:

*  Windmiller's list doesn't include a one-lane section of SR 172 in or near Lassen Volcanic National Park (which I have ridden on, but don't think has StreetView imagery).  Are there any others?

*  Does SR 9 in the general vicinity of Big Basin Redwoods State Park also have one-lane sections?

168 still is one-lane for a short segment just west of the Bristlecone Pine turnoff.

Do you have a map reference or StreetView link for this one-lane section?  I ask because I haven't been able to find it.  Google Maps satellite imagery suggests that the entire length of SR 168 between US 395 and SR 266 near the Nevada state line (the Westgard Pass segment of SR 168) now has a yellow center stripe.  Windmiller's photo of the one-lane segment shows the road going into what appears to be a keyhole between two sheer rock walls, and that might very well be a location about 11 miles east of Big Pine, but it is hard to tell--and there is a center stripe here anyway.  The only Google Maps search result for "Bristlecone Pine, CA" is an urban location in Big Pine near the southern US 395/SR 168 junction.

State 168 has a one-lane section near INY-PM 28.6.

[J N Winkler]

State 168 has a one-lane section near INY-PM 28.6.

Thanks for this--now found.  It is all but unfindable using Google Maps' satellite imagery since the entirety of the one-lane segment is in shadow deep enough to obscure pavement markings, and it is so short it is easy to miss when using peg man to sample.

[Max Rockatansky]

I know this topic is long dead but I had an encounter with a single lane segment of State Highway on CA 192 on the Sycamore Creek Bridge this week.  CA 49 on the Jersey Bridge in Downieville is a single lane.  CA 153 has been center striped in recent years it seems. 

[J N Winkler]

I know this topic is long dead but I had an encounter with a single lane segment of State Highway on CA 192 on the Sycamore Creek Bridge this week.  CA 49 on the Jersey Bridge in Downieville is a single lane.  CA 153 has been center striped in recent years it seems.

Just to thank you for this--I've been checking these out in Google Maps.  StreetView of SR 153 dates from 2012 and still shows it as one-lane with white shoulder stripes, but the new double yellow centerline is visible in (presumably more recent) satellite imagery.  SR 49 over the Jersey Bridge at one point had white shoulder stripes (as shown in a photo in the Wikipedia article), but current StreetView shows these removed or very badly faded.  And SR 192 is quite a find!

[Max Rockatansky]

I know this topic is long dead but I had an encounter with a single lane segment of State Highway on CA 192 on the Sycamore Creek Bridge this week.  CA 49 on the Jersey Bridge in Downieville is a single lane.  CA 153 has been center striped in recent years it seems.

Just to thank you for this--I've been checking these out in Google Maps.  StreetView of SR 153 dates from 2012 and still shows it as one-lane with white shoulder stripes, but the new double yellow centerline is visible in (presumably more recent) satellite imagery.  SR 49 over the Jersey Bridge at one point had white shoulder stripes (as shown in a photo in the Wikipedia article), but current StreetView shows these removed or very badly faded.  And SR 192 is quite a find!

To that end I've been hearing word that part of CA 3 is also one-lane (referenced above).  I'm hoping to get some confirmation one way or the other in October.  My photos of CA 153 are from 2017, the asphalt at the time appeared to be freshly laid. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/06/california-state-route-153-supposedly.html?m=1

I'm hoping to have something up regarding CA 192 and the one lane Sycamore Creek Bridge on Gribblenation this week.  Suffice to say I was quite surprised to see a one-lane bridge on a State Highway where I never had heard of one before.  I guess that goes to show that there is still oddities out there in the Highway System to be discovered still.