U.S. Highway 99

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Jump to: navigation, search
Drawing of US 99 through California. Notice 99E and 99W near the north end.
Enlarge
Drawing of US 99 through California. Notice 99E and 99W near the north end.

See also: California State Route 99, Oregon Highway 99, Washington State Route 99

U.S. Highway 99 was the West Coast's main north-south route until 1964, one of the original United States highways first proposed in 1926, the single-busiest truck route in the United States and one of the few highways that ran from Mexico to Canada. 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. Prior to 99's construction, it was an important stagecoach route linking the two international borders.

Contents

[edit]

Routing

[edit]

California

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 California State Highway 86. 99 continued along present-day California State Highway 111 through Coachella to its intersection at Dillon Road with another major US route signed as both US 60 and US 70.

Highway 99 between Lebec and Bakersfield, 1943. View is to the north
Enlarge
Highway 99 between Lebec and Bakersfield, 1943. View is to the north

Now multiplexed as US 60/70/99, the highway continued north through Indio and turned west toward Los Angeles paralleling the route of modern Interstate 10. In Beaumont, 60 split off on its own westward trek to Los Angeles. The highway through Beaumont (known as Ramsey Street) was bypassed the new superhighway version of 60/70/99 that would later wear Interstate 10 shields. The edges of the old US 60 shield at the replacement interchange's overhead sign are clearly visible today underneath the California State Highway 60 shield that covers it up. US 70 ended in downtown LA while 99 turned north once again more or less following the route of today's Interstate 5, up and over Grapevine Hill in the Tehachapi Mountains to the San Joaquin Valley. 99's original alignment over the hill 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 Highway 138 in Gorman is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This section was bypassed in 1933 by the three-lane "Alternate Ridge Route" (now at the bottom of Pyramid Lake). From the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley at the foot of the Grapevine, US 99 then continued arrow-straight to Sacramento where it split into two highways, 99E and 99W. The two highways rejoined in Red Bluff and continued once again as US 99 through Oregon, Washington and to the border with British Columbia, becoming British Columbia provincial highway 99.

[edit]

Oregon

The former route of U.S. Highway 99 in Oregon mostly follows routes currently signed as Oregon Highway 99, 99E, and 99W. The primary exception is from the California-Oregon state border north to Ashland, Oregon, where U.S. 99 is currently named Old Highway 99 S from the state border to exit 6 of Interstate 5. The former route is coterminous with Interstate 5 from exit 6 to the junction of Oregon Highway 99 in Ashland.

[edit]

Washington

Unlike California and Oregon, much of the former route of U.S. Highway 99 in Washington exists as county roads and regular city streets; only the route from Fife, Washington to Everett, Washington still retains the official "99" moniker (as Washington State Route 99). The following is a simplified list of Washington counties and cities that portions of the old route traverse, along with their local names.

Former U.S. Highway 99 Route in Washington
Road or Street Name Nearest City County
Interstate 5 (to exit 3) Vancouver Clark
Main Street Vancouver Clark
Hazel Dell Avenue Vancouver Clark
NE 117th Street Vancouver Clark
Hwy. 99 NE Vancouver Clark
NE 134th Street Vancouver Clark
NE 29th Avenue Vancouver Clark
NE 10th Avenue Vancouver Clark
NE Timmen Road Vancouver Clark
NW Pacific Hwy. La Center Clark
Old Pacific Hwy. Woodland Cowlitz
Interstate 5 (from exit 22 to exit 27) Kalama Cowlitz
Old Pacific Hwy. S Kalama Cowlitz
Kelso Drive (exit 36) Kelso Cowlitz
Pacific Avenue Kelso Cowlitz
Pleasant Hill Road Kelso, Castle Rock Cowlitz
Huntington Avenue S (Business Loop 5) Castle Rock Cowlitz
Old Pacific Hwy. N Castle Rock Cowlitz
Barnes Drive Castle Rock, Toledo Cowlitz, Lewis
SR 505 Toledo Lewis
Jackson Highway Toledo, Chehalis Lewis
Market Blvd. Chehalis Lewis
National Avenue Chehalis Lewis
Kresky Road (N) / National Avenue (S) Chehalis Lewis
Kresky Avenue (N) / S. Gold Street (S) Centralia Lewis
Tower Avenue (N) / S. Pearl Street (S) Centralia Lewis
Main Street Centralia Lewis
Harrison Avenue Centralia Lewis
Old Hwy. 99 Centralia, Grand Mound, Tenino, Tumwater Lewis, Thurston
Capitol Blvd. Tumwater Thurston
Capitol Way Olympia Thurston
4th Avenue Olympia Thurston
Pacific Avenue Olympia, Lacey Thurston
Old Pacific Hwy. SE Lacey Thurston
Old Nisqually Road Nisqually Pierce
Interstate 5 (exit 116 to exit 124) DuPont Pierce
Pacific Hwy. SW Lakewood Pierce
South Tacoma Way Lakewood, Tacoma Pierce
E. 26th St. Tacoma Pierce
E. G St. Tacoma Pierce
Puyallup Avenue Tacoma Pierce
Pacific Hwy. E Fife Pierce
SR 99 Fife Pierce
SR 99 Federal Way, SeaTac, Tukwila, White Center, Seattle, Shoreline King
SR 99 Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood, Mukilteo, Everett Snohomish
Broadway Everett Snohomish
Everett Avenue Everett Snohomish
20th Street SE Everett Snohomish
Sunnyside Blvd. Everett, Marysville Snohomish
State Avenue Marysville Snohomish
Smokey Point Blvd. Arlington Snohomish
SR 530 Arlington Snohomish
Pioneer Highway E Arlington, Stanwood Snohomish
Pioneer Highway E Conway Skagit
Conway Frontage Road Conway Skagit
Old Highway 99 S. Road Mount Vernon Skagit
Riverside Drive Mount Vernon Skagit
S. Burlington Blvd. Burlington Skagit
Chuckanut Drive (SR 11) Burlington, Bellingham Skagit, Whatcom
11th Street Bellingham Whatcom
S. State Street Bellingham Whatcom
Boulevard Street Bellingham Whatcom
N. State Street Bellingham Whatcom
E. Holly Street Bellingham Whatcom
Prospect Avenue Bellingham Whatcom
DuPont Avenue Bellingham Whatcom
Elm Avenue Bellingham Whatcom
Northwest Avenue Bellingham Whatcom
W. Bakerview Road Bellingham Whatcom
Pacific Hwy. Bellingham, Ferndale Whatcom
Main Street Ferndale Whatcom
Riverside Drive Ferndale Whatcom
Barrett Road Ferndale Whatcom
Vista Road Ferndale Whatcom
Bay Road Ferndale Whatcom
Blaine Road Birch Bay, Blaine Whatcom
Peace Portal Drive Blaine Whatcom
D Street Blaine Whatcom
12th Street Blaine Whatcom
[edit]

Decommissioning and replacement routes

US 99 "Ridge Route Alternate," 1948
Enlarge
US 99 "Ridge Route Alternate," 1948

By 1968, US 99 was completely decommissioned with the completion of I-5, 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 major program designed to greatly simplify California's increasingly complicated highway numbering system and eliminate multiplexed postings like the aforementioned 60/70/99. The highways that replaced it are:

  • I-10, replacing US 60 and US 70 between Indio and Los Angeles as well.
  • I-5 from north of downtown all the way to its modern-day split in Wheeler Ridge before 99's final decommissioning in 1968.
[edit]

State highway 99

All three states have replaced some portions of US 99 with state highways of the same number:

  • Washington: 50 miles (80 km) of US-99, from Fife to Everett, is now Washington State Route 99 (WA-99). It is mostly a surface-level highway with the exception of the Alaskan Way Viaduct through downtown Seattle.
  • Oregon: Most of former US 99 in Oregon now signed as Oregon Highway 99 (OR-99). The route still provides surface-level access to many southern Oregon towns served by I-5. It also provides access to many towns in the Willamette Valley. Between Junction City and Portland, the highway splits into eastern and western routes known as OR-99W and OR-99E respectively. For significant stretches, OR-99 shares an alignment with I-5. Officially, the highway is signed with both route numbers when this occurs; however, in practice, this is often not the case as the OR-99 designation is dropped in favor of I-5. One notable exception is a stretch of OR-99E that runs between Albany and Salem, where OR-99E is cosigned incredibly well along the highway.
  • California: The 415 mile (668 km) stretch of I-5 between Wheeler Ridge and Red Bluff is signed as California State Highway 99 which makes it California's second-longest state highway behind SR-1.
[edit]

US 99 and the white line

Though US 99 never achieved the fame or romance that was enjoyed by another California highway, the world-famous Route 66, it was quite possibly a more important one as it linked the entire state, unlike 66. Also, US 99 was the progenitor of an important innovation in highway safety. Doctor June McCarroll worked as a nurse for the Southern Pacific Railroad soon after US 99 opened. Her office in Coachella bordered on the new highway (today a part of SR-86) and was the scene of many a head-on collision.

After much lobbying on her part, Nurse McCarroll took it upon herself to paint a stripe down the middle of the highway, which effectively kept the two lanes of traffic separated. This was the first ever highway marking of its kind and was soon adopted worldwide. A stretch of nearby Interstate 10 has been named in her honor.

[edit]

Related US Routes

[edit]

External links


Primary U.S. Highways
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38
40 41 42 43 44 45 46 48 49
50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69
70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79
80 81 82 83 84 85 87 89
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99
101 163 400 412 425
Lists
U.S. Highways - Bannered U.S. Highways
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Highway_99"
Personal tools