Skip to main content

California State Route 135

By
After completing California State Route 227 I headed south into Santa Barbra County to check out an old alignment of US 101 which is now partially incorporated into California State Route 135.






CA 135 is a 21 mile state highway looping from US 101 in Santa Maria southeast to Los Alamos.  As stated above the alignment of CA 135 was largely part of early US 101 which was replaced in the 1930s.  CA 135 is signed along Broadway in Santa Maria and is co-signed as the US 101 Business Route within the city.






CA 135 has a junction with CA 166 in downtown Santa Maria.  Interestingly there is a large pedestrian bridge south of the CA 166 junction on CA 135.





CA 135 crosses a set of rails in downtown Santa Maria and approaches Betteravia Road where it once met former CA 176.  CA 176 was a short route which ended in Sisquoc to the east.






CA 135 becomes an expressway exiting Santa Maria on the approach southward to Orcutt.  The original alignment of CA 135 and US 101 would have been on Orcutt Road which is a front road east of the modern expressway.






In Orcutt CA 135 becomes a freeway.  The freeway grade of CA 135 closely follows the original alignment of US 101 which was on Graciosa Road which runs next to the northbound lanes.







CA 135 merges in with CA 1 at this overpass.  There is no access for CA 135 southbound traffic to merge onto CA 1 north.





CA 135 is briefly multiplexed with CA 1.  The CA 135 freeway segment largely exists to flow traffic to Vandenberg Air Force Base.  Vandenberg traffic continues southward towards Lompoc on CA 1 whereas as CA 135 continues south towards Los Alamos.






South of CA 1 the alignment of CA 135 merges back down to two-lanes and continues southeast towards Los Alamos. 







CA 135 becomes Bell Street in Los Alamos.  Bell Street is directly aligned with the US 101 expressway west of Los Alamos which indicates to me that it was likely part of the 1930s realignment.  




Los Alamos was founded in 1876 out of various ranch land parcels.  Centennial Street was plotted as the main North/South street in Los Alamos due to the community being founded on the American Centennial.  Bell Street carries CA 135 through the community to the to the US 101 expressway where the route ends on San Antonio Boulevard.




As stated above CA 135 was originally a segment of US 101 from Santa Maria to Los Alamos.  It appears that US 101 shifted to the modern expressway alignment some time between 1930 and 1932 as a new state highway can be seen by comparing the two state highway maps from those years.  US 101 stayed on Broadway in Santa Maria but entered the city on Santa Maria Way.

1930 State Highway Map

1932 State Highway Map 

The full modern expressway bypass of Santa Maria that US 101 utilizes first appears on the 1963 State Highway Map.  Interestingly it appears that all of the former routing of US 101 between Los Alamos and Santa Maria remained a branch of Legislative Route 2 until the 1964 State Highway Renumbering.  The change of alignment of US 101 can be seen on the 1963 State Highway Map and the change to CA 135 appears on the 1964 State Highway Map. 

1963 State Highway Map

1964 State Highway Map

The 1966 State Highway Map shows an expressway alignment of CA 135 south of Santa Maria.  CA 1 is still shown on the Harris Grade southward to Lompoc.

1966 State Highway Map
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tulare Lake returns

By
During the winter of 2023 California experienced one of the wettest seasons in recent decades.  Enough snow and water were deposited into the Sierra Nevada Mountains that the runoff was enough to partially reform Tulare Lake within San Joaquin Valley.  Tulare Lake was once the largest lake west of the Mississippi River by surface area.  Tulare Lake has been largely dried for the past century due to irrigation divisions and upstream impoundments.  This blog will examine the history of Tulare Lake and its recent return.  Pictured as the blog cover is Tulare Lake from 19th Avenue in Kings County during early May 2023.  Tulare Lake can be seen near its maximum extent below on the 1876 P.Y. Baker Map of Tulare County .   Part 1; the history of Tulare Lake Tulare Lake is the largest remnant of Lake Corcoran.  Lake Corcoran once covered much of the entire Central Valley due to being it being located at a in natural low point from where mountain run-off would accumulate.  Lake Corcoran is thou
1 comment
Read more

Former US Route 101 through Sargent

By
  Sargent is a ghost town and siding of the Southern Pacific Railroad located in southern Santa Clara County.  The original alignment of US Route 101 was aligned through Sargent via what is now known as Old Monterey Road.  Sargent was bypassed gradually due to shifts of the alignment of US Route 101 which occurred during 1941 and 1950.  Pictured as the blog cover is a view on Old Monterey Road which is now no longer accessible to the general public.  Below is a scan of the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Santa Clara County which depicts the original alignment US Route 101 through Sargent.   Part 1; the history of US Route 101 in Sargent Sargent lies on land which was once part of Rancho Juristac.  During 1856 James P. Sargent purchased Rancho Juristac and plotted what was known as Sargent Ranch.  By 1869 the Southern Pacific Railroad coast line reached the relocated town site of Gilroy.  The Southern Pacific Railroad coast line would be constructed through Chittenden Pass by 1871 whic
Post a Comment
Read more

US Route 95 in California

By
US Route 95 within California exists within San Bernardino County and Riverside County.  US Route 95 within California is approximately 130 miles factoring multiplexes along Interstate 10 and Interstate 40.  US Route 95 in California begins at the Arizona state line along the Colorado River near Blythe in Riverside County.  US Route 95 follows the general course of the Colorado River north through the Sonoran Desert to the Mojave Desert towards Needles of San Bernadino County.  US Route 95 enters Nevada north of Interstate 40 and the historic alignment of US Route 66.  US Route 95 was extended to Blythe, California during July 1939.  Upon US Route 95 entering California during 1939 it overlapped and deleted much of the original California State Route 195.  US Route 95 was extended from Blythe into Arizona during June 1960.   Part 1; the history of US Route 95 in California The corridor of modern-day US Route 95 in California first came to prominence during the run-up to the creation of
Post a Comment
Read more