The Historic Highway 99 Association of California is starting a new series on the history of US 99, historic sites along the way, and information about the Association. Join them on their YouTube Channel – @highway99 – to learn more. Their first video is on The Grapevine.
Historic Highway 99 Association of California YouTube Channel
US 99 parallels the Southern Pacific Railroad for a significant portion of its journey across the Great Central Valley. At times, it has to cross those tracks. Many of those crossings were the site of collisions, mostly by people trying to beat the train. They also slowed traffic down quite a bit. In a statewide effort to reduce problems at grade crossings, the State built grade-separations at these locations.
At Famoso, north of Bakersfield, an underpass was built in 1936, which eliminated one of the busier crossing. That structure was eventually replaced by an overpass in 1970. Today, the original crossing partially remains, with paving leading from the freeway to the railroad. The last time a car traversed this paving may well have been over 70 years ago.
It has taken a while, but I have finally extended my Virtual Tour of US 99, again. This extension adds another 40 miles to the tour, bringing the northern terminus to just south of Tulare, California. A friend of mine helped getting some of the photos as well. In time, I will extend the tour yet further to Fresno, but it will take a while as I am missing photos at this time. If anyone is willing to help, let me know and I can tell you what I will need.
So why not take a tour of one of California’s more historic roadways?
Here at Grapevine, a small section of concrete is visible adjacent to the southbound lanes of I-5. This is a section of former US 99. A small color difference can be noticed between the two lanes that are visible. This difference is due to age. The lanes to the left were constructed in 1932 when Grapevine Grade was realigned, bypassing the original 1914 Ridge Route grade. This was built as two lanes as a temporary measure to expedite the opening of the new route. Right after it was opened, a third lane was added, the lane on the right, creating a three-lane roadway with a common passing lane in the center, or “suicide lane”. This condition persisted until 1943 when the road was widened yet again to four lanes. In 1959 – 1960, these lanes were bypassed by the current southbound lanes of I-5. Today, they remain as one of the last remnants of the 1932-1959 version of Grapevine Grade.
Part 2 of my Ridgecrest earthquake field trip is now online. This time, I also won’t forget to add a link!
