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Did Lompoc Ever Have Freeway Plans?

Started by Voyager, December 20, 2024, 04:22:22 PM

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Voyager

I was doing what I do best at work when I don't want to work, and started a little Google Map tour of the Central Coast. Lompoc struck me because its a fairly large city (40K people) and there's zero freeway access to it. Vanderburg Village has a single exit on Highway 1 north of the city, and then nothing until Orcutt/Santa Maria. I looked at some of the old David Rumsey atlases but nothing ever seemed to be planned around there. I think Hemet and Lompoc might be the two largest cities without any freeways, but Hemet definitely has better access.
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Max Rockatansky

#1
1 was planned to be converted to a freeway or expressway north of Lompoc as a bypass of the Harris Grade.  The corridor shows up as adopted on Division of Highways maps.  I would need to look into the CHPWs to get a specific adoption date. 

Ultimately the upgrade was cancelled and 1 was maintaince swapped with Santa Barbara County Route S20 (Casmalia Road) in 1988.  Interesting aside, Harris Grade Road was opened by the county in 1916.  The stretch is about five miles shorter than modern 1 is.  Most locals still use Harris Grade Road if they are heading north to Santa Maria.

Coincidentally I was just on Harris Grade Road on Monday.  Definitely was a spicy part in an otherwise boring segment of 1:

https://flic.kr/p/2qAhTx3

cahwyguy

Having been in Lompoc on business, I don't think there is sufficient traffic to justify a freeway within Lompoc, or the need for a bypass of Lompoc, and the location of US 101 would serve to handle the long-distance traffic in the area. The only significant driver of commerce in the area is farming and flowers (which doesn't generate that many trips that would justify a freeway), and VSFB, which also doesn't generate that much road traffic.
Daniel - California Highway Guy ● Highway Site: http://www.cahighways.org/ ●  Blog: http://blog.cahighways.org/ ● Podcast (CA Route by Route): http://caroutebyroute.org/ ● Follow California Highways on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cahighways

Max Rockatansky

Purisima Road effectively acts as a downtown bypass from 246 to 1. 

Max Rockatansky

#4
Since this is subject topical, I'd figure bumping this blog up as a priority would be appropriate.  I originally was going to release this next February:

"Harris Grade Road is an approximately eight-mile mountain roadway constructed in 1916 near Lompoc of Santa Barbara County.  The grade was the original alignment of California State Route 1 which served as part of the highway from 1934 through 1988.  Harris Grade Road was ultimately maintenance swapped with the far gentler Santa Barbara County Route S20.  The grade in modern times despite being accident prone is still in frequent use by those seeking a more direct route between Lompoc and Santa Maria."


https://www.gribblenation.org/2024/12/harris-grade-road-former-california.html

DTComposer

Starting in 1967 the Caltrans maps do have an 'determined' routing shown paralleling then Harris Grade route, even after CA-1 was moved off the Harris Grade alignment.

As Daniel said, there's not enough traffic to warrant it. Lompoc had 37,000 people in the 1990 census, and 30 years later it only gained 7,000 more.

Max Rockatansky

It probably would have gotten built if Santa Barbara County didn't extend Casmalia Road as an expressway in 1963.  Military interests were a huge driver of freeway and expressway development in the 1960s.  NAS Lemoore by me is still driving development of CA 41 to full four lane expressway standards from Lemoore-Fresno even now.

pderocco

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 21, 2024, 09:38:06 PMIt probably would have gotten built if Santa Barbara County didn't extend Casmalia Road as an expressway in 1963.  Military interests were a huge driver of freeway and expressway development in the 1960s.  NAS Lemoore by me is still driving development of CA 41 to full four lane expressway standards from Lemoore-Fresno even now.
Is it driving the development simply by producing traffic, or are they going beyond that and promoting development beyond what the AADT would normally justify? Looks like the AADTs are pretty high.

Max Rockatansky

#8
Quote from: pderocco on December 22, 2024, 02:49:16 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 21, 2024, 09:38:06 PMIt probably would have gotten built if Santa Barbara County didn't extend Casmalia Road as an expressway in 1963.  Military interests were a huge driver of freeway and expressway development in the 1960s.  NAS Lemoore by me is still driving development of CA 41 to full four lane expressway standards from Lemoore-Fresno even now.
Is it driving the development simply by producing traffic, or are they going beyond that and promoting development beyond what the AADT would normally justify? Looks like the AADTs are pretty high.

Drives development solely in Kings County on the CA 198 corridor but produces traffic to/from Fresno County.   The 198 freeway corridor was completely isolated from the base east to CA 43 for almost five decades.  If I recall correctly the 2010s four lane expansion to Visalia was spurred by safety concerns over traffic to/from the base. 

Lately the locals around Riverdale were weaponizing safety in the Excelsior-Elkhorn two lane expressway segment of 41.  They had a whole big "two lane death trap" campaign which pushed the expansion up D6's priority list.  I want to say they have it as a 2025-2026 Fiscal Year project (could be wrong on that) and were recently out doing surveys for the new northbound lanes of 41.  Originally the project was going to include turbo roundabouts but they got nixed in favor of retaining traffic lights. 

The base has requested Kings County look into making upgrades for road access for Fresno bound traffic to/from the northern annex a couple times over the years.  I'm not aware of the county ever reciprocating with an EIR.

mrsman

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 21, 2024, 09:23:12 PMSince this is subject topical, I'd figure bumping this blog up as a priority would be appropriate.  I originally was going to release this next February:

"Harris Grade Road is an approximately eight-mile mountain roadway constructed in 1916 near Lompoc of Santa Barbara County.  The grade was the original alignment of California State Route 1 which served as part of the highway from 1934 through 1988.  Harris Grade Road was ultimately maintenance swapped with the far gentler Santa Barbara County Route S20.  The grade in modern times despite being accident prone is still in frequent use by those seeking a more direct route between Lompoc and Santa Maria."


https://www.gribblenation.org/2024/12/harris-grade-road-former-california.html

This may also explain a lot of CA-1 traffic would still make its way through town (between VSB and Santa Barbara) as opposed to using 246 and Purisima.  Even with all the traffic signals on H and Ocean and the canyon-y section of CA-1 south of town, it is still 4 miles shorter than traveling by way of Buellton.

A full freeway CA-1 bypass is certainly not needed.  Perhaps improvements to certain intersections could be done, especially if more and more traffic for the base is expected.  Perhaps a grade separation at the two places where CA-1 makes a turn (just north of the base's main gate and at the CA-1/Harris Grade/Purisima intersection).  It is a shame that recent development now seems to make the possibility of a grade separation at Harris Grade more difficult. 

As stated by others, the real bypass is 101.  Traffic between Santa Maria and Santa Barbara would avoid Lompoc altogether, and the only traffic on the road in town is there to service the town or the base.

JustDrive

Technically the real bypass is 101-154 between Santa Maria and Santa Barbara, but that's just me nitpicking.

Lompoc has always been rather isolated in Santa Barbara County, and the fact that the only four-lane access to town is from Orcutt boosts the theory that military bases were the driving force behind highway construction

Max Rockatansky

Interesting aside, on the city tour held in Solvang they claim CA 1 through Lompoc used to be the favored route north to San Luis Obispo.  The argument is that US 101 north of Gaviota Pass had more traffic slow downs until the current freeways and expressways began to be developed.

TheStranger

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 25, 2024, 06:19:08 PMInteresting aside, on the city tour held in Solvang they claim CA 1 through Lompoc used to be the favored route north to San Luis Obispo.  The argument is that US 101 north of Gaviota Pass had more traffic slow downs until the current freeways and expressways began to be developed.

IIRC, the Santa Maria-San Alamo portion of 101 has existed in some form since the 1930s.  Wonder if that had been a two-lane road in its initial design.  (The early nature of the Orcutt bypass for 101 also explains the trajectory of Santa Maria Way/current Business US 101)
Chris Sampang

DTComposer

The c.1920 Auto Club strip map I have of the region shows the Buellton-Santa Maria via Los Alamos corridor (today's US-101 and CA-135)  as the primary route through the area. Las Cruces-Lompoc and the Harris Grade are shown as secondary roads.

That said, Buellton-Lompoc (today's CA-246) is shown as a primary route as well, so it could be that Buellton-Lompoc-Santa Maria was indeed faster, or at least less congested, than Buellton-Los Alamos-Santa Maria.

Map2 by Daniel Thomas, on Flickr

Max Rockatansky

#14
Quote from: TheStranger on December 25, 2024, 06:31:03 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 25, 2024, 06:19:08 PMInteresting aside, on the city tour held in Solvang they claim CA 1 through Lompoc used to be the favored route north to San Luis Obispo.  The argument is that US 101 north of Gaviota Pass had more traffic slow downs until the current freeways and expressways began to be developed.

IIRC, the Santa Maria-San Alamo portion of 101 has existed in some form since the 1930s.  Wonder if that had been a two-lane road in its initial design.  (The early nature of the Orcutt bypass for 101 also explains the trajectory of Santa Maria Way/current Business US 101)

Yes, it was called the Solomon Canyon Cut-Off.  It opened mid-year 1932 as the then new alignment of US 101.  The older highway (now CA 135) was retained as a spur of LRN 2 right up to the 1964 renumbering.

Even with the Solomon Canyon Cut-Off traffic on US 101 still had to contend with worsening traffic in Santa Maria north to Guadalupe.  CA 1 by comparison didn't require nearly as much development given there wasn't much out that way in terms of urban anything. 



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