Los Gatos Creek Road/Coalinga Road

In late December of 2016 I was traveling through the Diablo Range and wanted to try Los Gatos Creek Road/Coalinga Road as an alternate to CA 198.

I started the day out with taking CA 198 to the 33 junction north of Coalinga. From there I took Shell Road, Oil City Road, Palmer Avenue, and Derrick Avenue to reach Los Gatos Creek Road.

As a singular route Los Gatos Creek Road and Coalinga Road are a roughly 46 miles in crossing the Diablo Range to CA 25 just north of Bitterwater in San Benito County.

The Fresno side of the route is signed as Los Gatos Creek Road and the San Benito side is Coalinga Road.

The entire route through the Diablos is paved. The Fresno County side is pretty high quality with a center stripe the entire way along with a very gradual grade up to the the Condon Peak recreation area and San Benito County.

After crossing into San Benito County the route becomes Coalinga Road and is a single wide lane with no center stripe. I should note that it was about 20F outside when I made this trip and the shaded areas of the roadway in San Benito County were largely frost covered.

Interestingly between Coalinga and the Clear Creek Management Area there are plenty of ranch homes or at least just as many if not more than CA 198 to the south. The Clear Creek Management Area has naturally occurring asbestos fibers which are actually hazardous to travel in during the dry summer months. .Areas north of the Clear Creek Management Area have additional hazards from the New Idria Mercury Mine which is a ghost town and Super Fund site.

Despite Coalinga Road being narrow I didn't really have much issues with surface quality aside from the couple miles between the Clear Creek Management Area and Hernandez Reservoir. Essentially the issue wasn't so much the asphalt quality but rather surface ice/frost on the road and a large quantity of rock fall. Coalinga Road has a very steep uphill grade westbound past the Hernandez Reservoir up to the Laguna Mountain Recreation Area.

The Hernandez Dam is a pretty interesting topic to me. NE2 from AAroads shared a 1939 State Highway Map showing that there was a populated place called "Hernandez" where the reservoir is now. Apparently the reservoir was built in the 1960s to impound the San Benito River and Hernandez disappeared off the State Highway Maps by 1967. Hernandez wasn't shown in the 1896 San Benito County Map but is present on the State Highway Map in 1918. Its strange that I can't find any mention of Hernandez anywhere on the web but that seems to be the case with almost every previously populated place in San Benito County aside from New Idria. Regardless here is links to the previously mentioned maps:

1939 State Highway Map

1966 State Highway Map

1967 State Highway Map

1935 San Benito Topographical Map

1918 State Highway Map

1896 San Benito County Map

I was able to find this transformer box with "Hernandez Dam" near the Laguna Mountain Campground.

Coalinga Road gets keeps getting more windy and even fords a creek up to about 3,000 feet above sea level at Laguna Mountain.

Laguna Mountain has some fantastic views of the Diablo Range. I'm to understand the peak is 4,462 feet above sea level.

Coalinga Road sharply descends from Laguna Mountain through Miller Canyon where there is some sharp hair pin curves.

Coalinga Road levels out onto a placid valley filled with ranch lands.

The 1939 Map showed that the previous alignment of Coalinga Road used what is now Old Hernandez Road. Old Hernandez is closed off now but popped out to the northwest at San Benito at CA 25.

West of Old Hernandez Road, Coalinga Road becomes a two-lane road again all the way to CA 25.

Breezewood - The Rise and Decline of a Highway Rest Stop

It's the Pennsylvania Turnpike Interchange most people hate - and with a passion. The Breezewood Interchange - a junction of two Interstates (70 & 76) that became complicated due to archaic rules, rural politics and power, and an unwillingness to change. At its romanticized best, this small unincorporated community of under 100 residents is a reminder of travel days of the 1950s-1970s; at its worst, it is a gradually dying relic of old motels and services that drivers are forced to slow down and drive through on their way to bigger and more modern destinations.

The Breezewood Interchange is an exception to the rule in the Interstate Highway System. Depending on your direction, Interstate 70 joins or leaves the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Interstate 76) here. However, unlike nearly every Interstate junction in the United States - Interstate 70 must traverse on a roughly 1/4 mile stretch of US 30. A four lane highway complete with traffic lights, center turn lanes to cross traffi…

Old US Route 99 in Goshen, Traver, and the Warlow Rest Area

This summer I had a look into the alignment history of US Route 99 through the Tulare County communities of Traver and Goshen. The photo below is take from Camp Drive northbound in Goshen on what was US Route 99 until the early 1930s.

Part 1; the history of US Route 99 in Goshen and Traver

Goshen and Traver were both founded in 1872 as sidings of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The Southern Pacific Railroad laid the groundwork for development of southern San Joaquin Valley. Previous to the Southern Pacific Railroad travel via wagon or foot in Central California tended to avoid San Joaquin Valley in favor of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road. The Stockton Los Angeles Road lied to the east of San Joaquin Valley in the Sierra Nevada Foothills and was less subject flooding. Before the Southern Pacific Railroad most of San Joaquin Valley was a sparsely inhabited wetland which made travel by road difficult. Goshen and Traver can along the Southern Pacific Railroad on the 1873 Ore…

California State Route 283; former US Route 101 over the Rio Dell Bridge

This week we examine one of California's shortest State Highways; California State Route 283. California State Route 283 includes the 1941 Rio Dell Bridge and is a former segment of US Route 101. The photo below is the Rio Dell Bridge after the 1964 Christmas Floods which wiped out the northern approach span.

California State Route 283 ("CA 283") is a 0.36 Mile State Highway between modern US Route 101/Redwood Highway and the community of Rio Dell in Humboldt County. The key feature of CA 283 is the 1941 Rio Dell Bridge which was the second alignment of US Route 101. The Rio Dell Bridge connected Scotia north over the Eel River via Wildwood Avenue to Rio Dell. The Rio Dell Bridge is a steel truss design which 1,643.1 feet in length. The Rio Dell Bridge is also known as; North Scotia Bridge, Eel River Bridge, Scotia-Rio Dell Bridge, Albert Stanwood Murphy Memorial Bridge, and the Eagle Prairie Bridge. CA 283 is unsigned presently ranks as the second shortest State…

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