Skip to main content

California State Route 89 through Luther Pass


This pasts weekend I took California State Route 89 over the 12 mile routing from CA 88 in Alpine County over the 7,740 foot Lurther Pass to US 50 in El Dorado County.

CA 89 through Luther Pass was first proposed as a State Highway in 1909 on a bond measure that was approved in 1910.  Eventually the State Highway through Luther Pass was assigned to Legislative Route Number 23.  More information can be found here regarding the actual legislative acts on CAhighways.org.

CAhighways.org Early Highway History

CAhighways.org on CA 89

LRN 23 can be observed south of Lake Tahoe on the 1918 State Highway Map over Luther Pass as a special appropriations road.

1918 State Highway Map

The original alignment of LRN 23 and CA 89 through Luther Pass was on Upper Truckee Road.  The original alignment through Luther Pass used part of the modern CA 89 alignment but was on the west bank of the Upper Truckee River as opposed to the east bank.  This alignment can be seen clearly on the 1935 California Division of Highways Maps of Alpine and El Dorado Counties.

1935 Alpine County Highway Map

1935 El Dorado County Highway Map 

I prepared the below graphical illustration showing the original alignment of CA 89 through Luther Pass.  The map also includes the original alignments of US 50 over the south route of the Lincoln Highway over Johnson Pass and the original south terminus of CA 89 at CA 8/89 which was located at Picketts Junction.


CA 89 wasn't signed south of CA 88 until 1957 which can be observed by comparing the 1956 and 1957 State Highway Maps.

1956 State Highway Map

1957 State Highway Map

By 1960 CA 89 was shifted east of the Upper Truckee River.

1960 State Highway Map 

By 1961 the modern route CA 89 takes over Luther Pass to CA 88 was complete.

1961 State Highway Map

From the West Fork Carson River at CA 88 the routing CA 89 northbound over Luther Pass has an ominous appearance but is actually a fairly tame grade.


Heading northbound on CA 89 the El Dorado County Line is quickly encountered at Luther Pass.




Most of Upper Truckee Road is still maintained but the grade south of Luther Pass to CA 88 has been abandoned.  The abandoned portion of Upper Truckee Road is easily found at Luther Pass and is generally known as a local hiking trail.


As noted above in the Luther Pass photo the downhill grade on CA 89 is 6% downhill for the next 6 northbound miles.  Upper Truckee Road is encountered again twice on the downhill descent.




As CA 89 is descending from Luther Pass US Route 50 can be seen above descending Echo Summit.


CA 89 soon enters Meyers where it meets US 50.  CA 89 multiplexes US 50 to South Lake Tahoe before splitting away towards the southwest corner of Lake Tahoe.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I-40 rockslide uncovers old debates on highway

The Asheville Citizen-Times continues to do a great job covering all the angles of the Interstate 40 Haywood County rock slide. An article in Sunday's edition provides a strong historical perspective on how the Pigeon River routing of Interstate 40 came about. And perhaps most strikingly, in an article that ran just prior to the highway's opening in the fall of 1968, how engineers from both Tennessee and North Carolina warned "...that slides would probably be a major problem along the route for many years." On February 12, 1969, not long after the Interstate opened, the first rock slide that would close I-40 occurred. Like many other Interstates within North Carolina, Interstate 40 through the mountains has a history prior to formation of the Interstate Highway System and was also a heated political battle between local communities. The discussion for a road that would eventually become Interstate 40 dates back to the 1940's as the idea for interregional high

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced from Bates Station owner/operator George Ba

Mines Road

Mines Road is an approximately twenty-eight-mile highway located in the rural parts of the Diablo Range east of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Mines Road begins in San Antonio Valley in Santa Clara County and terminates at Tesla Road near Livermore of Alameda County.  The highway essentially is a modern overlay of the 1840s Mexican haul trail up Arroyo Mocho known as La Vereda del Monte.  The modern corridor of Mines Road took shape in the early twentieth century following development of San Antonio Valley amid a magnesite mining boom.  Part 1; the history of Mines Road Modern Mines Road partially overlays the historic corridor used by La Vereda del Monte (Mountain Trail).  La Vereda del Monte was part of a remote overland route through the Diablo Range primarily used to drive cattle from Alta California to Sonora.  The trail was most heavily used during the latter days of Alta California during the 1840s. La Vereda del Monte originated at Point of Timber between modern day Byron and Bre