Skip to main content

Old Creek Road

After completing Signed County Route G14 I headed on California State Route 46 west of Paso Robles to Old Creek Road.






Old Creek Road is a short connecting route between CA 46 and CA 1.  Old Creek Road is a somewhat infamous road in San Luis Obispo County that draws a lot of interest from motorcycle groups.  Interestingly Old Creek Road not only has a junction with CA 46 but also Santa Rosa Creek Road which was a former alignment of CA 41 before the 1964 Highway Renumbering in addition to post 1964 CA 46. 





Old Creek Road starts with a simple advisory sign that the next 5 miles are curvy which is an understatement.


From CA 46 Old Creek Road descends on a tall downhill grade from about 1,300 feet above sea level to 220 feet at the Whale Rock Reservoir.  Old Creek Road is extremely narrow through this section and the road bed has deep groves to deter lane crossing. 
















The Whale Rock Reservoir was completed in 1961 and impound Old Creek.  Its kind of strange to see a man-made lake floating above the Pacific Ocean which clearly can be seen not far to the west.





At the Whale Rock Reservoir the grade of Old Creek Road becomes far more shallow and it enters Cayucos where it terminates at CA 1.






Interestingly Old Creek Road has been around for quite a long time and probably was an even more useful road before CA 46 was realigned onto it's modern routing off Santa Rosa Creek Road.  The alignment of Old Creek Road can clearly be seen on the 1935 California Division of Highways map of San Luis Obispo County.  Interestingly it appears Old Creek Road used to run through what is now Whale Rock Reservoir onto 13th Street in Cayucos.  I find it odd that Old Creek Road never received a Signed County Route designation given that it would have made for a decent addition to the system and is old enough to be exempt from modern width requirements.

1935 San Luis Obispo County Highway Map



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

US Route 62 and US Route 180 in the Guadalupe Mountains

US Route 62/US Route 180 between El Paso, Texas and Carlsbad, New Mexico passes through the Guadalupe Mountains.  The Guadalupe Mountains comprise the highest peaks of Texas which are largely protected as part Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  The automotive highway through the Guadalupe Mountains was constructed in the late 1920s as part of Texas State Road 54.  US Route 62 was extended from Carlsbad through the Guadalupe Mountains to El Paso during 1932.  US Route 62 was joined in the Guadalupe Mountains by US Route 180 in 1943.  The Guadalupe Mountains comprise a portion of the 130 mile "No Services" zone on US Route 62/US Route 180 between El Paso-Carlsbad. Part 1; the history of US Route 62 and US Route 180 in the Guadalupe Mountains The Guadalupe Mountains lie within the states of Texas and New Mexico.  The Guadalupe Mountains essentially is a southern extension of the larger Rocky Mountains.  The Guadalupe Mountains is the highest range in Texas with the peak elevati

Paper Highways; unbuilt California State Route 100 in Santa Cruz

This edition of Paper Highways examines the unbuilt California State Route 100 in Santa Cruz. The History of Unbuilt California State Route 100 The route that became CA 100 was added to the State Inventory in 1959 as part of the Freeway & Expressway System as Legislative Route 287 .  According to CAhighways.org the initial definition of LRN 287 had it begin at LRN 5 (CA 17) and was defined over the below alignment to LRN 56 (CA 1) through downtown Santa Cruz. -  Ocean Street -  2nd Street -  Chestnut Street For context the above alignment would required tearing down a large part of the densely populated Santa Cruz.  A modern Google imagine immediately reveals how crazy an alignment following Ocean Street, 2nd Street, and Chestnut Street would have been. LRN 287 first appears on the 1960 Division of Highways State Map . In 1961 the definition of LRN 287 was generalized to; from LRN 5 via the beach area in Santa Cruz to LRN 56 west of the San Lorenzo River. 

New Mexico State Road 7 (Carlsbad Caverns Highway)

New Mexico State Road 7 is approximately a seven-mile highway in the Guadalupe Mountains of Eddy County. New Mexico State Road 7 connects US Route 62/US Route 180 at Whites City to the visitor center of Carlsbad Caverns National Park via Walnut Canyon. The so-called Carlsbad Caverns Highway to the National Park visitor center complex was constructed following the designation of the namesake National Monument in 1923. The current iteration of New Mexico State Road 7 was designated by the New Mexico State Highway Commission during June 1929. A proposal once was once floated to connect New Mexico State Road 7 to a cavern drive which would have been blasted into Big Room. Part 1; the history of New Mexico State Road 7 What are now Carlsbad Caverns was explored in the Guadalupe Mountains of Eddy County by local Jim White during 1898.  White explored the caverns via a homemade ladder and named several of the more notable rooms.  The name "Carlsbad Caverns" was derived from the