US Route 6 to San Francisco via Tioga Pass

[Max Rockatansky]

Interestingly this almost happened or at least was initially a serious proposal in 1935.  Borrowing from the post I just did on Gribblenation:

"In a historic context it is well known that US Route 6 was extended from Greeley, Colorado to Long Beach, California during February of 1937.  What is little known is that the original proposal for the extension of US Route 6 to California during June of 1935 included an alternative route which would have had the highway end in San Francisco via Tioga Pass of Yosemite National Park.  Pictured below is a map dated June 1935 depicting the alternative path of US Route 6 following; California State Route 120 west from Benton towards Tracy via Tioga Pass, US Route 50 from Tracy over Altamont Pass towards Hayward, California State Route 92 from Hayward over the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge to San Mateo and US Route 101 from San Mateo to San Francisco.

Ultimately the extension of US Route 6 to Long Beach was selected as a recommended addition in the 1936 AASHO Minutes.  US Route 6 was formally extended to Long Beach California on February 8th, 1937 by the AASHO Executive Committee.  The City of Merced petitioned the AASHO during September-October 1937 to add the Tioga Pass-San Francisco proposed alignment as US Route 6 Alternate.  The US Route 6 Alternate proposal was rejected on October 18th, 1937 by the AASHO Executive Secretary.  The AASHO Executive Secretary stated in his reply to the City of Merced that Alternate US Routes were no longer being created."

I snipped the applicable documents from the AASHO Database (which were totally out of order) and uploaded them to Flickr below:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmX2Qh9T

[bing101]

Wow but at the same time I figured the route may have not been viable to go through Yosemite given equipment to build a road at the time. But the western half I can see the current routes of CA-120, I-205, I-580, I-238 the current alignment for CA-92 San Mateo Bridge and US-101 covered here.


Or Could that be a case of I-238 to I-380 proposed southern crossing to US-101 in this proposal from 1935 too for the then proposed US-6 until the final route went to Owens Valley to Los Angeles as the now historic US-6 in some areas.

[pderocco]

That would have been a more logical path for US-6 to take. It was always odd that a low even numbered route ended up in SoCal.

On the other hand, it's been a pleasure living for 10 years within a few miles of the eastern end of US-6, and for over 15 years about 30 miles from the western end. And I've driven more than half of it. That road plays a significant part in my life.

[NE2]

Wow but at the same time I figured the route may have not been viable to go through Yosemite given equipment to build a road at the time. But the western half I can see the current routes of CA-120, I-205, I-580, I-238 the current alignment for CA-92 San Mateo Bridge and US-101 covered here.


Or Could that be a case of I-238 to I-380 proposed southern crossing to US-101 in this proposal from 1935 too for the then proposed US-6 until the final route went to Owens Valley to Los Angeles as the now historic US-6 in some areas.

What the fuck are you on about? There already was a road: http://www.monobasinresearch.org/data/tiogapass.php

[Max Rockatansky]

Wow but at the same time I figured the route may have not been viable to go through Yosemite given equipment to build a road at the time. But the western half I can see the current routes of CA-120, I-205, I-580, I-238 the current alignment for CA-92 San Mateo Bridge and US-101 covered here.


Or Could that be a case of I-238 to I-380 proposed southern crossing to US-101 in this proposal from 1935 too for the then proposed US-6 until the final route went to Owens Valley to Los Angeles as the now historic US-6 in some areas.

What the fuck are you on about? There already was a road: http://www.monobasinresearch.org/data/tiogapass.php

For full context the Tioga Road opened to cars during the summer of 1915.  Suffice to say it has been around for quite awhile:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/07/the-tioga-pass-road.html?m=1

All the roads present on Tioga-San Francisco US 6 proposal were constructed and open to traffic.  The original San Mateo-Hayward Bridge was completed in 1929.

[bing101]

Wow but at the same time I figured the route may have not been viable to go through Yosemite given equipment to build a road at the time. But the western half I can see the current routes of CA-120, I-205, I-580, I-238 the current alignment for CA-92 San Mateo Bridge and US-101 covered here.


Or Could that be a case of I-238 to I-380 proposed southern crossing to US-101 in this proposal from 1935 too for the then proposed US-6 until the final route went to Owens Valley to Los Angeles as the now historic US-6 in some areas.

What the fuck are you on about? There already was a road: http://www.monobasinresearch.org/data/tiogapass.php

For full context the Tioga Road opened to cars during the summer of 1915.  Suffice to say it has been around for quite awhile:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/07/the-tioga-pass-road.html?m=1

All the roads present on Tioga-San Francisco US 6 proposal were constructed and open to traffic.  The original San Mateo-Hayward Bridge was completed in 1929.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_190
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_168
Ok then this is where I ended up getting mixed up with US-6 proposed alignment with to reach San Francisco.

[Max Rockatansky]

Wow but at the same time I figured the route may have not been viable to go through Yosemite given equipment to build a road at the time. But the western half I can see the current routes of CA-120, I-205, I-580, I-238 the current alignment for CA-92 San Mateo Bridge and US-101 covered here.


Or Could that be a case of I-238 to I-380 proposed southern crossing to US-101 in this proposal from 1935 too for the then proposed US-6 until the final route went to Owens Valley to Los Angeles as the now historic US-6 in some areas.

What the fuck are you on about? There already was a road: http://www.monobasinresearch.org/data/tiogapass.php

For full context the Tioga Road opened to cars during the summer of 1915.  Suffice to say it has been around for quite awhile:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/07/the-tioga-pass-road.html?m=1

All the roads present on Tioga-San Francisco US 6 proposal were constructed and open to traffic.  The original San Mateo-Hayward Bridge was completed in 1929.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_190
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_168
Ok then this is where I ended up getting mixed up with US-6 proposed alignment with to reach San Francisco.

CA 190 was basically planned to follow the conceptual Lone Pine-Porterville High Sierra Road which wasn't even originally a State concept.  The highway was intended to climb over the Sierra Nevada Mountains via Mulky Pass and descend into Owens Valley via Horseshoe Meadows Road.  Despite the most difficult part of the road (Horseshoe Meadows Road) being built as part of CA 190/LRN 127 the highway never crossed the Sierra Nevada.

CA 168 was intended to cross the Sierra Nevada via the planned Piute Pass Highway.  The concept of the Piute Pass Highway was I believe inherited from the Midland Trail and picked up by the National Forest Service.  In 1940 General Grant National Park was expanded north over the planned Piute Pass Highway as Kings Canyon National Park which killed the planned highway.  Similarly the Forest Service was planning on building a connecting segment of CA 180 from Cedar Grove east on Bubbs Creek to Kearsarge Pass/Onion Valley.

[Max Rockatansky]

Put this to blog format given it was interesting enough to do so:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2021/11/paper-highways-us-route-6-to-san.html