Skip to main content

Old California State Route 180 on Dunlap Road

Back in April 2017 I took a detour down the pre-1942 alignment of California State Route 180 on Dunlap Road in far east Fresno County in the Sierra Nevada Range.


Dunlap Road is 13 miles long and connects from modern CA 245 west to CA 180.  At some point between 1940 and 1942 SSR 180 was moved to modern alignment CA 180 takes on the Kings Canyon Highway and SSR 65 was extended north to where the modern northern terminus of CA 245 is now.  The routing for SSR 180 on Dunlap Road and the eventual changes I described can be seen on these maps:

1935 Fresno County Road Map

1938 State Highway Map

1940 State Highway Map

1942 State Highway Map


CA 180 would have continued westbound to the right on Dunlap Road in the below picture while CA 65 would have begun on the left.


Dunlap Road is significantly more curvy than the modern Kings Canyon Highway to the north which CA 180 now runs on.  There is some evidence of former state maintenance with culverts that had design origins in the 1930s/40s.



Miramonte is 3 miles west of CA 245.  The community is at an elevation of about 3,000 feet above sea level and was founded some time in the 1900s.  Apparently Miramonte has had a Post Office since 1923.



There was a nice bloom out in the Sierras in last April.  Later in July when I was traveling Dunlap Road I was almost hit head on by a trucker who cut this curve.


There are no marked vistas on Dunlap Road but there is a wide canyon view from the pull-outs.  The modern Kings Canyon Highway can be seen as a cut in the mountains to the north.


Dunlap Road has a ton of steep cliffs but the road is generally plenty wide (unless you're a jackass trying to take a 40 foot plus truck load up it).






The drop on Dunlap Road is far less steep than the Kings Canyon Highway.  Dunlap Road enters the community of Dunlap at about 1,900 feet above sea level.


Apparently Dunlap dates back to the 1880s and was a stage stop.  The area really isn't a "town" per se but does have a school and some other expected services.  Dunlap Road drops a little more elevation before meeting CA 180 at the Kings Canyon Highway.



CA 180 has been a frequent topic of discussion on Gribblenation, the other articles can be found below.

Signed County Route J1 and Old CA 180 on Panoche Road
Old CA 180 and CA 41 surface alignments in Fresno
California State Route 180 east of Fresno to Cedar Grove (Kings Canyon Highway)
CA 180 from CA 99 west to CA 33
CA 180 Kings Canyon Expressway and Sequoia-Kings Canyon Freeway


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Old River Lock & Control Structure (Lettsworth, LA)

  The Old River Control Structure (ORCS) and its connecting satellite facilities combine to form one of the most impressive flood control complexes in North America. Located along the west bank of the Mississippi River near the confluence with the Red River and Atchafalaya River nearby, this structure system was fundamentally made possible by the Flood Control Act of 1928 that was passed by the United States Congress in the aftermath of the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 however a second, less obvious motivation influenced the construction here. The Mississippi River’s channel has gradually elongated and meandered in the area over the centuries, creating new oxbows and sandbars that made navigation of the river challenging and time-consuming through the steamboat era of the 1800s. This treacherous area of the river known as “Turnbull’s Bend” was where the mouth of the Red River was located that the upriver end of the bend and the Atchafalaya River, then effectively an outflow

Interstate 10S and the original Interstate 110 in California

Interstate 10S is a short spur of Interstate 10 along San Bernardino Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.  Interstate 10S begins at the Santa Ana Freeway (US Route 101) and extends east to Interstate 5 where it merges into mainline Interstate 10.  Interstate 10S is one of the oldest freeway segments in Los Angeles having been part of US Routes 60, 70 and 99 when it was part of the corridor of the Ramona Expressway.  The current corridor of Interstate 10S was assigned as Chargeable Corridor H following the passage of the 1956 Federal Highway Aid Act.  Interstate 110 was a short-lived designation which comprised the segment San Bernardino Freeway from US Route 101 to Interstate 5 between 1964-1968.  The original Interstate 110 was dropped as a Chargeable Corridor during 1965 and consolidated as Interstate 10S during 1968.   The original Interstate 110 can be seen as the blog cover photo as it was featured on the 1964 Division of Highways Map.  Below the entire 0.65-mile length of Interstate

Vicksburg Bridge (Vicksburg, MS)

  Located a few hundred feet downriver from the Old Vicksburg Bridge, the Vicksburg Bridge, or the “New” Bridge, serves as the city’s vehicular crossing of the Mississippi River on the main highway connecting Vicksburg with northeastern Louisiana to the west and the state capital of Jackson to the east. The completion of the original Vicksburg Bridge in 1930 was seen as a huge success and the bridge proved to be a profitable entity for both road and railroad interests along the path of the Dixie Overland Highway and the subsequent US Highway 80 corridor. In the years after the creation of the National Interstate Highway System, planning commenced on a new bridge at the site that would relieve the congestion on the existing bridge while providing for a more modern crossing of the river that would be safe for all vehicles. The construction of the new bridge at Vicksburg was completed in 1973 and its design intentionally mimics that of its predecessor nearby. This was due in large part