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[Max Rockatansky]

I didn't see a catch-all thread for California State Route 49 on this board so I figured it was time to create one given it traverses through Gold Country and ranks among the more scenic highways in the state.

That said, I spent some time out of CA 49 today updating my photos from CA 41 in Oakhurst north to Bear Valley at Signed County Route J16.  Essentially the goal is to update first part of this two part series to be in line with the second terms of traffic control photos.  Ultimately I want a complete highway guide in line with the format I've used since late 2016.

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/04/california-state-route-49-golden-chain.html

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/06/california-state-route-49golden-chain.html

So to that end I created a catch-all photo album with all the best stuff I've taken the last two years on CA 49.  So far I've done CA 41 north to the Merced River Canyon near Bagby.  I'll be working on CA 49 from CA 132 to CA 16 next:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmeoM3Ss

That said I do have various photo albums already in place that I'll be drawing from which can be viewed below:

CA 49 from CA 16 over Yuba Pass to CA 89
https://www.flickr.com/gp/151828809@N08/43Gv0y

CA 49 in the Merced River Canyon
https://flic.kr/s/aHskXDCEAE

2016 Golden Chain Highway Photo album
https://flic.kr/s/aHskRLdvj6

Challenger versus CA 49 in the Merced River Canyon
https://www.flickr.com/photos/151828809@N08/albums/72157676841809083

Kemble Road under the East Fork Chowchilla River Bridge
https://flic.kr/s/aHsm3cBXW3

New Melones Lake
https://www.flickr.com/photos/151828809@N08/albums/72157685467129855


I've noticed gogoldcountry49 has had some updates as well recently.  This was the project I had some involvement with earlier this year:

https://gogoldcountry49.com/

[Max Rockatansky]

Substantially updated my photos of CA 49 from Coulterville north to Sutter Creek.  I was able to capture all the junction shields and applicable mileage BGSs along 49.  I stopped at Railtown 1897 and picked up a ton of worthwhile photos.  So far the album below is at 912 photos from CA 49 with on the small section north of Sierraville to CA 70 left to go.  I'm anticipating finishing the route photos some time in early September:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmeoM3Ss

[Max Rockatansky]

I've started making historical alignment maps related to CA 49 from Oakhurst northward. The first two maps reference the right-of-way that pre-dated the late 1960s extension of CA 49 from Oakhurst to Mariposa. I based my maps off the 1935 County Map scans from the California Division of Highways which can be found on davidrumsey.com.

1Nipinnawasee by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

2EastForkChowchilla by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[Max Rockatansky]

Made some substantial changes based off some suggestions from Daniel at CAhighways.org.  Namely the maps will include Post Miles and contextual area maps showing the overall area location.  The only issue is that that I can't seem to get the modern CA Highway Spade to pull up on Kendrick.org, but I can always add those later.  Essentially I'm going for the following theme:

Green:  Denotes the current route of CA 49.
Red:  Denotes a former alignment that is confirmed.  I will add historic shields for roadways that were part of CA 49 or any other multiplexed highway.  In the examples below none of the roads were CA 49 but the pre-existing right-of-way before the 1960s extension to Oakhurst.
Blue:  Unconfirmed but likely former alignments of CA 49.
Yellow:  Unbuilt alignments of CA 49.

1Nipinnawasee by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

2EastForkChowchilla by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[cahwyguy]

Consider (if space permits) putting your color-code key on the map as appropriate (you can probably make one small file, and just paste it into each image.

In mapping project news (i.e., adding maps to cahighways), I completed 125 last night, although I need to fix some postmiling. I added a bit of extra history to 118, as it is the closest to my house.

[Max Rockatansky]

Consider (if space permits) putting your color-code key on the map as appropriate (you can probably make one small file, and just paste it into each image.

In mapping project news (i.e., adding maps to cahighways), I completed 125 last night, although I need to fix some postmiling. I added a bit of extra history to 118, as it is the closest to my house.

I’m looking at either adding those at the or doing them on cover page if there isn’t enough space.  I got the shields working on Kendrick this morning.  I’m pretty certain I’ll have everything done and drawn at some point tomorrow.

[Max Rockatansky]

So far I've made 15 maps and I'm almost done updating the first blog with the maps incorporated along with new photos.

1Nipinnawasee by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

2EastForkChowchilla by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

3Bootjack by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

4Mariposa by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

5MtBullion by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

6Coulterville by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

7Coulterville by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

8Jacksonville by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

9ChineseCamp by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

10YosemiteJunction by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

11Jamestown by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

12Sonora by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

13Melones by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

14SanAndreas by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

15MokelumneHill by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[Max Rockatansky]

I was able to confirm some alignments and changed some of my maps from yesterday:

3Bootjack by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

5MtBullion by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

7Coulterville by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

8Jacksonville by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

13Melones by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Plus add some new ones all the way to Placerville:

14SanAndreas by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

15MokelumneHill by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

16Jackson by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

17SutterAmador by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

18ElDorado by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

19Placerville by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[Max Rockatansky]

Finished all the remaining maps and update both Part 1/Part 2 of the CA 49 blog series.  Really all that's left is to take road photos of CA 49 between CA 89 north to CA 70 which is likely to happen next month.

20ForestHill by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

21GrassValley by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

22NevadaCity by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

23LRN233 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[sparker]

Outstanding work (as usual), Max -- this time you've outdone yourself -- and on a route worthy of the effort!  Obviously the LRN 233/CA 49 realignment never materialized -- probably hardly worth it, considering the relatively meager usage the longstanding facility gets -- and it's not really all that bad for a rural/mountain highway; gets the job done and is pretty damn scenic in the process!   

[Max Rockatansky]

Outstanding work (as usual), Max -- this time you've outdone yourself -- and on a route worthy of the effort!  Obviously the LRN 233/CA 49 realignment never materialized -- probably hardly worth it, considering the relatively meager usage the longstanding facility gets -- and it's not really all that bad for a rural/mountain highway; gets the job done and is pretty damn scenic in the process!

That's the thing, I've tried to keep the map drawings of former alignments limited to top tier highways where it really merited the effort.  That said, thanks largely to the input of Daniel I have a solid template that is workable and should be somewhat easy to do with increasing frequency in the future. 

In regards to the LRN 233 segment, I have no idea what the Division of Highways was smoking.  Those cuts would taken 49 through some pretty haggard terrain.  The existing road essentially stays at the bottom of a relatively flat valley which is why I ultimately suspect it was formally adopted.

[oscar]

Max, I've seen what looks like Caltrans signage pointing to separate historic CA 49 routes in San Andreas and Mokelumne Hill. In both places, the CA 49 mainline is signed "bypass".

Are there other officially-signed Historic CA 49 routes I missed? I drove CA 49 earlier this week from CA 132 in Coulterville to CA 88 in Jackson, and didn't see any others.

[Max Rockatansky]

Max, I've seen what looks like Caltrans signage pointing to separate historic CA 49 routes in San Andreas and Mokelumne Hill. In both places, the CA 49 mainline is signed "bypass".

Are there other officially-signed Historic CA 49 routes I missed? I drove CA 49 earlier this week from CA 132 in Coulterville to CA 88 in Jackson, and didn't see any others.

I believe Amador City and Sutter Creek have a Signed Historic Route on southbound 49 but I’ll confirm when I can. 

[TheStranger]

Max, I've seen what looks like Caltrans signage pointing to separate historic CA 49 routes in San Andreas and Mokelumne Hill. In both places, the CA 49 mainline is signed "bypass".

Would those be the only two signed "Bypass" routes in California?

I know at one point the Route 4 freeway east of Route 160 in Antioch was labeled as the Route 4 Bypass, but with the former surface street routing in Brentwood being removed from the state highway system, this is now just Route 4 mainline.

[Max Rockatansky]

Here are the actual photos I have of the signage.

In San Andreas the mainline points ahead as the bypass route while Main Street is shown as Historic:

IMG_8549 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Same thing up in Mokelumne Hill...granted the way the historic route takes to Main Street wasn't part of 49:

IMG_8574 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

I was wrong about Sutter Creek and Amador City, it doesn't have historic 49 signage but does carry the street name Old Route 49:

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.3819338,-120.8060237,3a,15y,315.84h,95.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1skbteJiee-4fKiE2CWjPt-g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

[Max Rockatansky]

Incidentally I made updates to both CA 49 blog posts regarding additional State Park information. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Made a recent update to the second CA 49 (the one with CA 16 to CA 89) which includes the new roundabout with CR E16 in Plymouth and clarifications to the highway alignment through Auburn:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2017/06/california-state-route-49golden-chain.html

[Max Rockatansky]

Made a return visit to CA 49 in the Merced River Canyon on the way to Yosemite this past week.  The new asphalt is a huge help, the roadway seems to have been slightly widened in places also.  Definitely felt way less haggard of a drive than years past with the improvements.  My personal take is that the Merced River Canyon is one of the more underrated segments of State Highway.  Put a fresh album together which can be found below (and is spliced into the Part 1 CA 49 Gribblenation blog):

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHLMKsC

[Max Rockatansky]

Put something together for Old CA 49 in San Andreas:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2022/10/former-california-state-route-49-on.html?m=1

[MrAndy1369]

I’ve grown up going on CA-49 more times than I could count (Downieville is such a beautiful gem of a town). I was an atlas/mapping freak as a kid, and for the strangest reason, I seem to remember poring over Rand McNally maps as a kid and seeing that 49 ended way south of its current terminus at Oakhurst, instead terminating at US-395. If I had to guess/remember, I’d say I remember CA-49 ending near the small town of Independence. This memory is vivid to me because I clearly remember CA-49 being a thin pink line, which was represented on Rand McNally maps as an ordinary (non-major) state highway.

Of course, there are no traversable paths for CA-49 to cross the Sierras and make it all the way over to US-395, and there were no “dotted lines” indicating future CA-49 routing at all, so it must have been a misremembering/mix up of sorts. Still find it oddly interesting.

[Max Rockatansky]

You’re thinking of CA 180 which was planned original to end at CA 7/US 395 in Independence.  The idea was to use Kings Canyon, Bubbs Creek, Kearsarge Pass and Onion Valley Road. 

[Quillz]

I've often wondered why CA-49's northern terminus wasn't extended to Frenchmen Lake. It ends at CA-70 in Loyalton, and about a mile or so later, there is CA-284 running to Frenchmen Lake. Seems like a pretty natural extension for CA-49, freeing up 284 for another use. I know that latter route came later, but they are so close together it seems like a very short concurrency would have been fine.

[TheStranger]

I've often wondered why CA-49's northern terminus wasn't extended to Frenchmen Lake. It ends at CA-70 in Loyalton, and about a mile or so later, there is CA-284 running to Frenchmen Lake. Seems like a pretty natural extension for CA-49, freeing up 284 for another use. I know that latter route came later, but they are so close together it seems like a very short concurrency would have been fine.

Isn't this kinda like how Route 115 and Route 7 near Holtville would naturally make one corridor, but are instead two separate numbered highways?  (Route 7 was designated decades later, to be fair)

[Quillz]

Yes, a similar case. Maybe it's partially because 284 doesn't fit the "character" of 49, which is a Sierra foothills route. (Which I think is partially the reason CA-1 was extended south onto what was original CA-3/former 101 Alt).

[Max Rockatansky]

Yes, a similar case. Maybe it's partially because 284 doesn't fit the "character" of 49, which is a Sierra foothills route. (Which I think is partially the reason CA-1 was extended south onto what was original CA-3/former 101 Alt).

I’d argue 284 does fit the character of 49, Frenchman Lake was named after a Gold Rush settler that came to the area in 1858:

http://frenchmanlake.lakesonline.com/