The Conejo Grade is a 7% grade incline on a section of US 101 (the

Ventura Freeway The Ventura Freeway is a freeway in southern California, United States, running from the Santa Barbara/ Ventura county line to Pasadena in Los Angeles County. It is the principal east-west route (designated north-south) through Ventura Count ...

). Also known as the Camarillo Grade, it links Thousand Oaks and cities of the Conejo Valley, with Camarillo and the cities on the

Oxnard Plain The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorpo ...

. With a summit elevation of ,

California Highway Patrol The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is a state law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and roads and streets outside city limits, and can exercise law enforcem ...

inspection stations for trucks are situated on both sides of the highway at the upper terminus of the grade. The

Conejo Mountain Conejo Mountain is a in Ventura County, California near Camarillo on the eastern boundary of the Oxnard Plain. At the western edge of the Conejo Valley, it is adjacent to the Santa Monica Mountains. Crossing what was once a formidable barrier fo ...

has functioned as a barrier by separating

Ventura County Ventura County () is a County (United States), county in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, California ...

into East County and West County. Historically, the mountain was known for its many

jackrabbits Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The gen ...

and prickly pear cacti. The surrounding area was formed by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago, a rare geological formation in Southern California. Within the traditional lands of the

Chumash people The Chumash are a Native American people of the central and southern coastal regions of California, in portions of what is now San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, extending from Morro Bay in the north to Mali ...

, they had a trading trail through the pass, and it later served as a trading route for farmers and their wagons down the Conejo Grade to the Hueneme wharf. The grade experienced improvements by the newly established State Highway Department in 1912, when the road measured long and had 49 curves. Traffic kept increasing and the road was straightened and relocated in 1935. The new road was a mile shorter and only had twelve curves.

History

Designated as part of the commemorative route of El Camino Real, the steep slope or grade was called the "cuesta del conejo" (slope of the rabbit). Early European settlers in the Conejo Valley, known as the

Norwegian Colony Norwegian Colony was a Norwegian community in Thousand Oaks, California, in the 1890s and early 20th century. They were among the first pioneers to settle in the Conejo Valley, and was perhaps the most successful colony in Ventura County at the tim ...

, needed a safe way to move bales of hay and sacks of wheat and barley to the Hueneme Wharf on the Oxnard Plain. After several mishaps while hauling crops down here and at the Potrero grade, they decided to construct a new route into the Santa Rosa Valley. The Norwegian Grade was carved out of a steep canyon hillside by members of the community and their hired help, between 1900 and 1911. Land for the highway was originally part of the Rancho El Conejo, with contributions from Adolfo Camarillo. A road was in place by no later than 1929, as a re-alignment had been done then. Further widening and reduction of blind curves occurred in the 1930s. Caltrans worked on the current grade setup, when the highway was brought to

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

standards in the 1950s. Portions of the original highway continue to receive use as side roads. A young male mountain lion, P-55, left the

Santa Monica Mountains The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in ...

in 2017 by crossing the freeway on the grade during the night. The animal was wearing a

tracking collar GPS animal tracking is a process whereby biologists, scientific researchers or conservation agencies can remotely observe relatively fine-scale movement or migratory patterns in a free-ranging wild animal using the Global Positioning System ( ...

used by the

National Park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

researchers studying the mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The National Park Service has recorded a dozen mountain lions struck and killed by motorists on this section of freeway since 2002 when they began the study. The proposed

Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is a vegetated overpass spanning the Ventura Freeway and Agoura Road under construction at Liberty Canyon in Agoura Hills, California. The bridge will be one of the largest urban wildlife crossings in the ...

is intended to primarily benefit the mountain lion population indigenous to the Santa Monica Mountains, which has declined due to the Ventura Freeway acting as a barrier in the

wildlife corridor A wildlife corridor, habitat corridor, or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, development, or logging). This allows an exchange of individuals between ...

between the

Simi Hills The Simi Hills are a low rocky mountain range of the Transverse Ranges in eastern Ventura County and western Los Angeles County, of southern California, United States. Geography The Simi Hills are aligned east-west and run for , and average aro ...

to the north and the Santa Monica Mountains to the south. The

Ventura County Transportation Commission The Ventura County Transportation Commission (VCTC) is the public sector transportation planning body for Ventura County, California. The VCTC oversees highway, bus, aviation, rail and bicycle activity and controls the use of government funds for ...

CalTrans The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the cabinet-level California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA). Caltrans is headquartered in Sacrame ...

and the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

with support from the

National Wildlife Federation The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is the United States' largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization, with over six million members and supporters, and 51 state and territorial affiliated organizations (includin ...

are considering building another wildlife crossing here to connect the natural habitat on both sides of the freeway. The Hill fire temporarily closed the freeway on November 8, 2018 as

Santa Ana Winds The Santa Ana winds (sometimes devil winds) "Scholars who have looked into the name's origins generally agree that it derives from Santa Ana Canyon, the portal where the Santa Ana River -- as well as a congested Riverside (CA-91) Freeway -- leav ...

pushed the fire to the south towards Newbury Park and California State University Channel Islands. The fire was contained with minimal damage on November 16. The Woolsey Fire started the same day, closed the freeway near Oak Park, grew to over , destroyed an estimated 616 structures and killed 3 people.

References

External links

LMU, LA: Conejo Grade, Coast Highway

{{coord, 34, 12, 1, N, 118, 57, 34, W, region:US, display=title Roads in Ventura County, California U.S. Route 101 Santa Monica Mountains Geography of Ventura County, California History of Ventura County, California Historic trails and roads in California Camarillo, California Conejo Valley Thousand Oaks, California

History

See also

References

External links