Unbuilt CA 179

[Max Rockatansky]

Back in 2017 I stumbled across Pleasant Valley Road while descending CA 128 from Monticello Dam.  Pleasant Valley Road is part of the traversable route of unbuilt CA 179 which was intended to run from CA 128 in Yolo County south to I-80 in Solano County.  Unbuilt CA 179 is notable given that it is fun road to drive through the hills on but also has a unique concrete bridge from 1907 known as the "Edward R. Thurber Bridge."  Suffice to say the path of unbuilt CA 179 was a substantial change of pace compared to the likes of the Bay Area Freeways I had been driving most of the earlier hours of the day. 

https://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2019/02/unbuilt-california-state-route-179.html

My photo set for unbuilt CA 179 can be found here:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskRJHR2y

[bing101]

Never knew that a local road was going to be part of CA-179 though and its a cool scenic drive.

[Max Rockatansky]

Never knew that a local road was going to be part of CA-179 though and its a cool scenic drive.

I didn't even know until I got to my hotel in Vacaville in 2017.  At least back then I knew that the Thurber Bridge was very old since I stopped to look at it. 

[sparker]

The CA 179 corridor dates back to LRN days; it was first delineated back in '59 with the first iteration of the California Freeway & Expressway program.  I'd always wondered about the need for that particular corridor -- seems like back then Lake Berryessa was intended to be much more a recreational destination than it is today; the corridor was simply to provide direct access from I-80 to CA 128 near the dam, and from there around the lake to the various beaches, boat ramps, and the like.  Since that time, the lake purpose has been revisited; while there are some boat ramps and shoreline recreational areas, those are primarily near the lakehead some 20 mile NW of the dam area and not really readily accessible from the south end except by twisting county roads -- the easiest access is actually from Middletown in Lake County, NW of the lake itself.  Most of the lakeshore remains undeveloped -- and will almost certainly remain such.  Without that sort of demand, there's no rationale for improvement of the erstwhile CA 179 corridor.