U.S. Route 99 (US 99) was the main north–south
United States Numbered Highway on the
West Coast of the United States until 1964, running from
Calexico, California, on the
Mexican border to
Blaine, Washington
Blaine is a city in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. The city's northern boundary is the Canada–U.S. border; the Peace Arch international monument straddles the border of both countries. The population was 5,884 at the 2020 census. ...
, on the
Canadian border. Known also as the "Golden State Highway" and "The Main Street of California", US 99 was an important route in
California throughout much of the 1930s as a route for
Dust Bowl immigrant farm workers to traverse the state. It was assigned in 1926 and existed until it was replaced for the most part by
Interstate 5 (I-5). A large section in the
Central Valley is now
State Route 99
International
* European route E99
Australia
* Springbrook Road, Queensland
Canada
* British Columbia Highway 99
* Ontario Highway 99 (former)
* Saskatchewan Highway 99
China
* G99 Expressway
India
* National Highway 99 (India)
I ...
(SR 99).
Route description
Mexico to Los Angeles
The highway started at the border with
Baja California in
Calexico, California. It then continued north along the western shore of the
Salton Sea. The stretch is now known as
SR 86. US 99 continued along present-day
SR 111 through
Coachella Coachella may refer to:
* Coachella, California
* Coachella Canal, in California
* Coachella (festival), an annual music and arts festival in California
* "Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind
"Coachella – Woodstock In My Mind" is a song by Ame ...
to its intersection at Dillon Road with another major US route signed as both
US 60 and
US 70.
Now signed as US 60/US 70/US 99, the highway continued north through
Indio and turned west through the
San Gorgonio Pass toward
Los Angeles paralleling the route of modern
I-10
Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...
. In
Beaumont, US 60 split off on its own westward trek to Los Angeles. The highway through Banning and Beaumont (known as Ramsey Street in Banning and Sixth Street in Beaumont) was bypassed by the new superhighway version of US 60/US 70/US 99 that would later become part of I-10. The edges of the old US 60 shield at the replacement interchange's overhead sign are clearly visible today underneath the
SR 60 shield that covers it up. Prior to the construction of the superhighway, US 99 entered Los Angeles on
Valley Boulevard
Valley Boulevard is a street in Southern California, running east from Los Angeles to Pomona, where it becomes Holt Boulevard, and a continuation from Fontana to Colton. It generally parallels Interstate 10 (I-10) and State Route 6 ...
, multiplexed with US 70.
US 70 ended in downtown LA while US 99 turned north once again more or less following the route of today's
I-5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...
(
San Fernando Road in the
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...
before the construction of I-5), up and over the
Tehachapi Mountains to the
San Joaquin Valley. US 99's original alignment over the rugged Tehachapi Mountains was known in its earliest days as the
Ridge Route, the first highway directly linking the
Los Angeles Basin to the San Joaquin Valley. Built in 1915, the alignment between
Castaic and
SR 138 to
Gorman is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. The original Ridge Route at the south and the Grapevine at the north was an exceptionally twisty and narrow two-lane concrete road that was very slow to travel along the ridge precipices and was considered dangerous to drive in the days of the Model A Ford and overheating trucks. It was bypassed in 1933 by the three-lane "Alternate Ridge Route", some of which now sits at the bottom of
Pyramid Lake. Dropping down from the Tehachapis, US 99 entered the San Joaquin Valley at the bottom of the steep Grapevine grade (the foot of the Tejon Pass) and continued north.
Los Angeles
When it was first designated in late 1926, US 99 ran with
US 66 from
San Bernardino via
Pasadena to
Los Angeles, turning north there to
San Fernando.
The route was signed in 1928. This alignment remained through 1933, but by 1942 it had moved to its own alignment (
concurrent with
US 70, as well as
US 60 west of
Pomona
Pomona may refer to:
Places Argentina
* Pomona, Río Negro
Australia
* Pomona, Queensland, Australia, a town in the Shire of Noosa
* Pomona, New South Wales, Australia
Belize
* Pomona, Belize, a municipality in Stann Creek District
Mexico ...
) from San Bernardino to Los Angeles. This alignment used
Garvey Avenue
Garvey Avenue is a west-east thoroughfare in the San Gabriel Valley. It is named after Richard Garvey Sr., a former postal horse rider and ranch owner who donated part of his land to create the thoroughfare, which became an important link between L ...
from Pomona, turning onto
Ramona Boulevard in
Alhambra
The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the ...
to reach Macy Street (now Cesar E. Chavez Avenue) near downtown Los Angeles. It turned north at
Figueroa Street, running through the
Figueroa Street Tunnels
The Figueroa Street Tunnels are a set of four four-lane tunnels that carry northbound traffic on State Route 110 (the Arroyo Seco Parkway) through Elysian Park in Los Angeles, California, United States. From south to north, the four tunnels measu ...
and turning off at Avenue 26 to reach
San Fernando Road. When the
San Bernardino Freeway,
Santa Ana Freeway and
Pasadena Freeway
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
I ...
were completed, it was routed onto them, continuing to exit at Avenue 26. In 1962, with the completion of the
Golden State Freeway northeast of downtown, US 99 was moved onto it, bypassing the Santa Ana Freeway,
Four Level Interchange and Figueroa Street Tunnels.
Los Angeles to Sacramento
From Los Angeles US 99 followed
San Fernando Road through
Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''.
It may refer to:
Places Australia
* Glendale, New South Wales
** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre
*Glendale, Queensland, ...
and
Burbank
Burbank may refer to:
Places Australia
* Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane
United States
* Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County
* Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place
* Burbank, Illinois, ...
to Sylmar. From 1937 to 1964 it shared this routing with
US 6; the remaining stretch of the highway through the Santa Clarita Valley is named "The Old Road". The Old Road starts near the
Newhall Pass Interchange, just south of Santa Clarita, eventually crossing under present-day I-5. As the road now winds north, passing by Pico Canyon Road, it reaches McBean Parkway near the
California Institute of the Arts,
College of the Canyons and
Six Flags Magic Mountain. In
Castaic the Old Road becomes a suburban street and ends at Oak Hill Court, just outside Castaic. A substantial portion of the road is submerged beneath
Pyramid Lake; the northern side is now the lake's public access road, while the southern side is access to the dam.
US 99 then headed over
Tejon Pass to the
San Joaquin Valley. Just north of the route's entry to the valley,
I-5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...
splits off from US 99, and US 99 continued on the current route of
SR 99, to
Bakersfield
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
,
Fresno, and
Sacramento. Many older segments of the highway between the "Grapevine" and Sacramento still exist as local streets, many of them having "Golden State" in their names (such as Golden State Avenue, Golden State Boulevard, Golden State Highway).
Sacramento to Oregon
North of Sacramento, the route divided into US 99W and US 99E. US 99W co-routed with US 40 west to
Davis
Davis may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Davis (Antarctica)
* Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago)
* Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land
Canada
* Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community
* Davis Strait, between Nunavut and Gre ...
, in city as Olive Drive. The route continued as Richards Boulevard, 1st Street, B Street, and Russell Boulevard before turning north on what is now
SR 113 into
Woodland to meet and parallel
I-5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...
near the town of
Yolo. From there, the route parallels the current I-5, entering
Corning from the South as Old Corning road, turning east onto Solano Street before turning north again on 3rd street continuing to
Red Bluff, where it became Main Street. All of the old inter-town original roadway still exists, signed as 99W, CR 99 or CR 99W.
From Sacramento US 99E followed
I-80 (first the current business route, then the actual route) to
Roseville Roseville may refer to:
Australia
*Roseville, New South Wales
Canada
* Roseville, Ontario
Malta
* RoseVille (aka Villa Roseville), a house in Attard, Malta
South Africa
*Roseville, Pretoria, a suburb
United Kingdom
*Roseville, Dudley
United S ...
, then north along
SR 65 to
Olivehurst
Olivehurst (formerly, Denniston) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yuba County, California, United States. The population was 13,656 at the 2010 census, up from 11,061 at the 2000 census. Olivehurst is located south-southeast of Marysville.
...
, from where it followed
SR 70 to
Marysville. From Marysville it followed
SR 20 across the
Feather River to
Yuba City, then along the current
SR 99 north to
Red Bluff, where it rejoined 99W at Main Street and Antelope Boulevard.
From Red Bluff US 99 continued north along the same route as I-5, except that it went through
Redding along present
SR 273. and
SR 263 from
Yreka
Yreka ( ) is the county seat of Siskiyou County, California, United States, near the Shasta River; the city has an area of about , most of it land. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,807, reflecting a meager increase fro ...
to near Black Mountain.
From Redding, the highway went through the small town of Mountain Gate, before plunging into what is now
Shasta Lake. In drought years, many of the old bridges, road cuts, and guardrail can be seen when the water in the lake resides. After passing Shasta Lake, the highway had to be designed around very difficult terrain. The
Sacramento River Canyon
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
was a big task to overcome, but to this day, many bridges can still be found and visited, reminding us of how far our engineering has come. Once into
Siskiyou County, the highway meanders through
Dunsmuir Dunsmuir may refer to:
* Dunsmuir, California, a city in the northern part of the state
* Dunsmuir station, an Amtrak station in Dunsmuir, California
* Dunsmuir station (British Columbia), a Via Rail station
* Dola Dunsmuir, Canadian socialite
* Jam ...
, heading north to
Mount Shasta, and from there, up to
Weed. In Weed, the highway becomes
SR 265 for a very short distance, before heading north towards the town of
Gazelle.
A stretch of two-lane county road known as "Old Highway 99" exists in Siskiyou County, between Weed and
Yreka
Yreka ( ) is the county seat of Siskiyou County, California, United States, near the Shasta River; the city has an area of about , most of it land. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,807, reflecting a meager increase fro ...
, in the same form as it did when it was US 99. It roughly parallels I-5, but at one point diverges from it by a distance of several miles. Once north of Yreka, the highway becomes
SR 263, merges with
SR 96, and heads north to
Hornbrook
Hornbrook is a census-designated place (CDP) in Siskiyou County, California, United States. Its population is 266 as of the 2020 census, up from 248 from the 2010 census. It was named by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1886, derived from the ...
. Much of the old highway between Hornbrook and
Oregon has been demolished or currently sits on private property.
History
By 1925 the future Highway 99 was 99% paved from Los Angeles to Sacramento; the rest of the state was finished about 1932. Sections were expanded to four lanes starting in the late 1930s and by 1961 Los Angeles to Sacramento was all four-lane, much of it being full freeway.
By 1968 US 99 was decommissioned with the completion of I-5 in Washington and California, but the highway's phasing out actually began July 1, 1964, thanks to the passage of Collier Senate Bill No. 64 on September 20, 1963. The bill launched a program to simplify California's complicated highway numbering system and eliminate concurrent postings like the aforementioned US 60/US 70/US 99. The highways that replaced it are:
*
SR 111 and SR 86 between the
Mexican border and Indio.
*
I-10
Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...
, replacing US 60 and US 70 between Indio and Los Angeles as well.
*
US 101 and
SR 110 in downtown Los Angeles.
*I-5 from north of downtown all the way to its modern-day split in
Wheeler Ridge before US 99's final decommissioning in 1968.
The stretch between Wheeler Ridge and Red Bluff is signed as
SR 99 which makes it California's second-longest state highway behind
SR 1. However, the newly enacted ''Historic U.S. Route 99'' extends from
Indio starting from I-10 in the
Coachella Valley
, map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg
, map_caption = Coachella Valley
, location = California, United States
, coordinates =
, width =
, boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacint ...
all the way down the
Imperial Valley to
Calexico on the Mexican border with
Mexicali, Baja California
Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000,0 ...
, Mexico.
Major intersections
Suffixed routes
U.S. Route 99W was a short-lived alternate of US 99 in the
Central Valley of California, running from north of
Manteca via
French Camp to
Stockton Stockton may refer to:
Places Australia
* Stockton, New South Wales
* Stockton, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region
New Zealand
*Stockton, New Zealand
United Kingdom
*Stockton, Cheshire
*Stockton, Norfolk
*Stockton, Chirbu ...
. At the same time, from roughly 1929 to 1933, U.S. Route 99E ran to the east, having the same termini as US 99W.
US 99W ran along French Camp Road and El Dorado Street, while US 99E used present
SR 99 and Mariposa Road. The northern end of each in Stockton is unclear; it may have been at Charter Way and Wilson Way or at Harding Way and Wilson Way.
Prior to the establishment of the
United States Numbered Highways in 1926, the main
Los Angeles-
Sacramento route,
pre-1964 Legislative Route 4, ran from Manteca to Stockton via
French Camp (later US 99W). At French Camp,
pre-1964 Legislative Route 5 split to the southwest to reach the
San Francisco Bay Area via
Altamont Pass. The
Lincoln Highway used Route 4 from Sacramento to French Camp and Route 5 over Altamont Pass.
In November 1926, Route 4 was defined as part of US 99 and Route 5 (to
San Jose) became
US 48.
California's U.S. Routes were not marked until 1928,
and US 99 had not yet been split into US 99E and US 99W.
Around 1929, Route 4 was realigned between north of Manteca and Stockton. This became US 99E, and the old route became US 99W. Route 5 was extended north from French Camp to Stockton, but US 48 continued to end at US 99W. US 48 became an extension of
US 50 c. 1931,
running concurrently with US 99 from Sacramento to Stockton and US 99W to French Camp. Around 1933, US 99W was dropped, and US 99E became part of US 99. Most of former US 99E is now part of SR 99 but former US 99W has been bypassed by I-5.
US 99E major intersections
US 99W major intersections
See also
*
*
References
External links
Museum of the Siskiyou TrailInformation on the Ridge RouteRidge Route Preservation Organization*{{cite web , url=http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/ridge.htm, title=History of Hwy 99 in North Los Angeles County , publisher= Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society (Photos, text, TV shows)
Clark's Travel Center and Route 99 Museum, Indio, CaliforniaVirtual Tour of US 99 in Southern CaliforniaHistoric Highway 99 Association of California
099
99 may refer to:
* 99 (number), the natural number following 98 and preceding 100
* one of the years 99 BC, AD 99, 1999, 2099, etc.
Art, entertainment, and media
* '' The 99'', a comic series based on Islamic culture
Film, television and radio ...
099
99 may refer to:
* 99 (number), the natural number following 98 and preceding 100
* one of the years 99 BC, AD 99, 1999, 2099, etc.
Art, entertainment, and media
* '' The 99'', a comic series based on Islamic culture
Film, television and radio ...
Historic trails and roads in California
99
Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in California
99
099
99 may refer to:
* 99 (number), the natural number following 98 and preceding 100
* one of the years 99 BC, AD 99, 1999, 2099, etc.
Art, entertainment, and media
* '' The 99'', a comic series based on Islamic culture
Film, television and radio ...
099
99 may refer to:
* 99 (number), the natural number following 98 and preceding 100
* one of the years 99 BC, AD 99, 1999, 2099, etc.
Art, entertainment, and media
* '' The 99'', a comic series based on Islamic culture
Film, television and radio ...
National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California