CA 34

[Max Rockatansky]

The second highway around Ventura I completed this weekend was CA 34, my photo album is below starting eastbound from Rice Avenue:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/151828809@N08/GL1162

Interesting CA 34 definitely appears to be signed all the way west to former CA 1 on Oxnard Boulevard.  I didn't see any CA 1 reassurance shields on Rice Avenue but the CA 34 shield at 5th implies it continues to the west.  I'm to understand Caltrans won't accept Rice Avenue until a rai overpass at 5th Street/CA 34 is constructed.  Aside from the Rice Avenue interchange there wasn't much of note to CA 34 aside from a nice eastbound view of the Santa Monica Mountains entering Camarillo. 

[sparker]

The second highway around Ventura I completed this weekend was CA 34, my photo album is below starting eastbound from Rice Avenue:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/151828809@N08/GL1162

Interesting CA 34 definitely appears to be signed all the way west to former CA 1 on Oxnard Boulevard.  I didn't see any CA 1 reassurance shields on Rice Avenue but the CA 34 shield at 5th implies it continues to the west.  I'm to understand Caltrans won't accept Rice Avenue until a rai overpass at 5th Street/CA 34 is constructed.  Aside from the Rice Avenue interchange there wasn't much of note to CA 34 aside from a nice eastbound view of the Santa Monica Mountains entering Camarillo. 

Not surprising a rail overpass at that location is the sticking point for the formal adoption of Rice Ave., that line, the original SP Coast line, is one of Metrolink's more busy corridors, with commute trains buzzing through there at 70+ mph -- and Amtrak uses the line as well, with the "Coaster" service to Santa Barbara and SLO plus the daily Coast Starlight.  There's a smattering of UP freights as well, so those tracks see about 20 trains per day, most of which are high-speed (above 60); that would certainly warrant a grade separation.   Incidentally, the entirety of CA 34 closely traces that line from its NE terminus at CA 118 all the way to its (arguable) end in Oxnard, right next to the Metrolink station.

[Max Rockatansky]

The second highway around Ventura I completed this weekend was CA 34, my photo album is below starting eastbound from Rice Avenue:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/151828809@N08/GL1162

Interesting CA 34 definitely appears to be signed all the way west to former CA 1 on Oxnard Boulevard.  I didn't see any CA 1 reassurance shields on Rice Avenue but the CA 34 shield at 5th implies it continues to the west.  I'm to understand Caltrans won't accept Rice Avenue until a rai overpass at 5th Street/CA 34 is constructed.  Aside from the Rice Avenue interchange there wasn't much of note to CA 34 aside from a nice eastbound view of the Santa Monica Mountains entering Camarillo. 

Not surprising a rail overpass at that location is the sticking point for the formal adoption of Rice Ave., that line, the original SP Coast line, is one of Metrolink's more busy corridors, with commute trains buzzing through there at 70+ mph -- and Amtrak uses the line as well, with the "Coaster" service to Santa Barbara and SLO plus the daily Coast Starlight.  There's a smattering of UP freights as well, so those tracks see about 20 trains per day, most of which are high-speed (above 60); that would certainly warrant a grade separation.   Incidentally, the entirety of CA 34 closely traces that line from its NE terminus at CA 118 all the way to its (arguable) end in Oxnard, right next to the Metrolink station.

Functionally CA 1 has not only a signage gap but actual gap through Oxnard which is bizarre to say the least.  When I last drove CA 1 it directed me onto Rice Avenue and I don't recall seeing a single sign or anything to imply that it was the continuation (State maintained or not) of the highway, none of the current GSA views show CA 1 anywhere either.  Interestingly I did find confirmation that CA 34 is signed eastbound from Oxnard Boulevard:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1970054,-119.1773557,3a,75y,1.31h,78.84t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqjmOyxt5RJFPvFHt0bFrAA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

There is at least one reassurance shield on 5th Street immediately east of Oxnard Boulevard:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1977345,-119.176491,3a,28y,129.58h,87.14t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1SLnlTxbzD9QpTlMacOzrw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

Even CA 232 is still signed along Oxnard Boulevard:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.2250309,-119.1770245,3a,75y,41.84h,83.27t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sBL7rekuZpZgfLhknrnZs5w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

[kendancy66]

The business next to the 5th street CA 34 sign also has interesting signage.  I assume the business name is FACTORY DIRECT, but with the missing R, it almost turns it name into a Spanish sounding FACTO Y DIRECT...

[Max Rockatansky]

Finished up the blog post for CA 34 which turned out to be a very interesting route.  CA 34 has origins in Legislative Route 153 which was defined as running from Port Hueneme to Somis in 1933.  During the 1964 State Highway Renumbering the route of CA 34 assumed all of LRN 153.  In 1965 a planned freeway route for CA 34 was developed and the route from Port Hueneme to Oxnard appears to have been transferred temporarily to unbuilt CA 257.  Former CA 34 between Port Hueneme and Oxnard doesn't disappear off the State Highway Map until the 1975 State Highway map which makes me think the transfer to CA 257 was really actually a thing...granted I don't have the documentation to conclusively prove it from any legislative minutes.  CA 34 continues to be planned as a freeway even on the most modern State Highway maps but there doesn't appear that will ever be the case.  Interestingly CA 34 was truncated to Rice Avenue in 2013 (future CA 1) but the relinquishment agreement with Oxnard states that the highway remain signed west to Oxnard Boulevard.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/08/california-state-route-34.html

[cahwyguy]

Finished up the blog post for CA 34 which turned out to be a very interesting route.  CA 34 has origins in Legislative Route 153 which was defined as running from Port Hueneme to Somis in 1933.  During the 1964 State Highway Renumbering the route of CA 34 assumed all of LRN 153.  In 1965 a planned freeway route for CA 34 was developed and the route from Port Hueneme to Oxnard appears to have been transferred temporarily to unbuilt CA 257.  Former CA 34 between Port Hueneme and Oxnard doesn't disappear off the State Highway Map until the 1975 State Highway map which makes me think the transfer to CA 257 was really actually a thing...granted I don't have the documentation to conclusively prove it from any legislative minutes.

I was going through Tom's blog post, especially with respect to the "transfer to Route 257", as none of that shows legislatively. I think Tom got confused by some poor mapmaking at Caltrans, and the fact that a segment of legislatively relinquished highway remained on the map for many years.

I'm in the process of editing my pages (which aren't online yet: I do a bunch of edits and then generate and upload). Here's what I'm saying now:

In 1963, Route 34 was defined as the route "from Port Hueneme to Route 118 near Somis.". This included the routing along Hueneme Road and Saviers Road to Route 1.

In 1965, the portion from Port Hueneme to Route 1 was legislatively deleted, changing the definition to "from Route 1 between Point Mugu and the City of Oxnard Port Hueneme to Route 118 near Somis.". For the existing signed route, this technically removed the portion of the route on Hueneme Road and Saviers Road, truncating the route to start at Route 1 at 5th Street and Oxnard Boulevard¹. However, that deleted portion remained on the state highway maps until at least 1970, disappearing by the 1975 map. Quite likely, what happened is that it took until the early 1970s to relinquish the route to the local entities, and so it remained as signed Route 34, and was state maintained, even though it was no longer part of the official definition (think something along the lines of Route 34U). But the state highway maps since 1965 also show a new alignment (likely a freeway alignment) running from the curve in 5th Street near Pleasant Valley Road diagonally parallel to Lewis Road, Las Posas, and Hueneme Road to Point Mugu. That alignment (unbuilt) remained on the books until the the late 2000 relinquishments, and was officially deleted in the 2014 change in the legislative definition.²
(¹ Source: Gribblenation "California State Route 34" (Tom Fearer), 8/11/2019; ² DPF research triggered by Gribblenation)

I think I've found some USGS maps that show that segment as Route 34 into the 1970s ( https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/overlay/CA/CA_Oxnard_293830_1949_24000_geo.jpg ), although they are unclear on the date. But it is clear that unconstrucdted Route 257 never had a portion of Route 34 -- that appears to be a misreading.

I'll make sure this is clear in my next updates (I'm hoping to upload at the end of November; I'm still in August headlines); I'll leave it to Tom to update the blog post.

[sparker]

I think I've found some USGS maps that show that segment as Route 34 into the 1970s ( https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/overlay/CA/CA_Oxnard_293830_1949_24000_geo.jpg ), although they are unclear on the date. But it is clear that unconstructed Route 257 never had a portion of Route 34 -- that appears to be a misreading.

There was neither any adopted nor existing alignment for unbuilt CA 257; its general E-W section was well south of the 5th street extension that runs along the Metrolink tracks as part of CA 34.  From the state maps I've seen, 257 terminated at the then-future CA 34 alignment a couple of miles north of CA 1 north of Point Mugu, crossing CA 1's alignment near where the through route currently veers north onto Rice Avenue, continuing WNW from there to Port Hueneme before turning to parallel the coast before terminating at US 101 east of central Ventura between the CA 126 and CA 33 interchanges.  Clearly 257 was a "developmental" road, intended to serve the housing developments south of Camarillo as well as the coastal recreational area between Hueneme and Ventura.  The likelihood of that road ever being built are very, very slim and none.