Skip to main content

Friant Road (former California State Route 41)

By


Friant Road is an approximately eleven-mile Fresno County expressway which spans from California State Route 41/Blackstone Avenue in Fresno to the community Friant via a gorge running along the San Joaquin River. Portions of the original alignments of Friant Road also served as part of early California State Route 41. Friant Road was modernized during the 2000s into the expressway seen today. The Lewis S. Eaton Trail was largely built over the initial grade of Friant Road which was part of early California State Route 41.


Part 1; the history of Friant Road

Friant Road takes it's name from the community of Friant which is located near Millerton Lake and Friant Dam.  The community of Friant was established as Converse Ferry during 1852 on the San Joaquin River downstream Fort Miller and the community of Millerton.  Upon the formation of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road the site of Converse Ferry would become increasingly important as a crossing of the San Joaquin River.  During 1863 Converse Ferry changed hands would be renamed as "Jones Ferry."  

Jones Ferry can be seen south of Millerton along the road the road to Fresno (which would become Friant Road) on the 1882 Bancroft's Map of California.  Note: Jones Ferry was renamed to "Hamptonville" during 1881 but it was not captured on the 1882 Bancroft's Map. 


Hamptonville and the road to Fresno can be seen on the 1891Thompson Map of Fresno County.  Note: during 1891 the community of Hamptonville would be renamed to "Pollasky" after the community received railroad service.  Pollasky was a reference to Southern Pacific Railroad official Marcus Pollasky.


The ferry crossing at Pollasky would be replaced by a new concrete bridge which opened to traffic during 1906.  The new concrete bridge connected Pollasky directly to the North Fork Road (now Road 206) in Madera County.  The then so-called Pollasky Bridge can be seen in a photo from the 1913 book "The Concrete Bridge."  Note: Pollasky would assume the modern community's name of "Friant" during 1907.  The name "Friant" is a reference to local lumber company executive Thomas Friant. 

Friant, Friant Road and the North Fork Road Bridge can all be seen on the 1914 Weber Map of Fresno County.  

Friant Road from Herndon Avenue/Blackstone Avenue near Pinedale to Lanes Road was added to the State Highway System during 1933 (legislative chapter 767) as a component of Legislative Route Number 125.  The same portion of Friant Road would be assigned as California State Route 41 when the initial run of Sign State Routes was announced in August 1934 California Highways & Public Works. 



California State Route 41 can be seen following Friant Road from Herndon Avenue/Blackstone Avenue to Lanes Road on the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Fresno County.   California State Route 41 and Legislative Route Number 125 are shown crossing the San Joaquin River into Madera County via the 1889 Lanes Bridge.  


The 1889 Lanes Bridge can be seen in a photo from the November 1938 California Highways & Public Works.  


The 1889 Lanes Bridge was partially destroyed by an overloaded truck collapsing the road deck during 1940.  California State Route 41 was realigned onto a temporary detour north of Lanes Road via Friant Road to Friant and the 1906 North Fork Road Bridge over the San Joaquin River.  The August 1940 California Highways & Public Works announced awarded contracts to construct a new Lanes Bridge along with other structures as an extension of Blackstone Avenue.  


The November 1941 California Highways & Public Works featured the opening of the new Lanes Bridge and realignment of California State Route 41 via the Blackstone Avenue extension.  The new Lanes Bridge was dedicated and open to traffic on October 12, 1941.  The realignment of California State Route 41 onto the new Lanes Bridge took Friant Road out of the State Highway System.  The detour alignment of California State Route 41 to Friant via Friant Road is described as having been five miles longer than the new highway. 





Despite Friant Dam being completed during 1942 the waters below the structure at Friant became too strong during 1951 and destroyed the 1906 North Fork Road Bridge.  During 1952 a replacement bridge over San Joaquin River was constructed.  

During the 1968s in the run up to Woodward Park opening the southern terminus of Friant Road was realigned to end at Blackstone Avenue at roughly where El Paso Avenue is now located.  The former segment of Friant Road which ended at Blackstone Avenue and Herndon Avenue was reassigned as Abby Street.  The realigned Friant Road can be seen on the 1982 United States Geological Survey Map of Fresno. 


The expansion of Friant Road from Copper Avenue north to North Fork Road (Road 206) in Friant to four lanes received environmental approval on April 13, 2004.  Prior to being expanded Friant Road had become notable due to numerous head-on collisions which became more frequent as modern traffic continued to use the antiquated highway.  


By 2008 the new California State Route 41 freeway was extended to the San Joaquin River and Friant Road was reconfigured again to intersect it at Exit 135.  Obsolete portions of Friant Road were repurposed into the Lewis E. Eaton Trail and Old Friant Road.  The current southern terminus of Friant Road can be seen on the 2012 United State Geological Survey map of Fresno.  


Part 2; a drive on Friant Road

From California State Route 41 northbound in the city of Fresno, Friant Road can be accessed from Exit 135.  Woodward Park, Millerton Lake and Table Mountain Casino are signed as locations all accessible via Friant Road. 




Friant Road northbound intersects Audubon Drive which can used to access Woodward Park.  Woodward Park is a 300-acre park owned by the city of Fresno which opened during 1968.  


Northbound Friant Road skirts the edge of Woodward Park alongside the Lewis E. Eaton Trail.  Friant Road intersects Rice Road which can be used to access Lanes Road and the site of the 1889 Lanes Bridge.  






Friant Road northbound leaves the city limits of Fresno as it intersects Copper Avenue and Old Friant Road.  





Shortly after departing the city limits of Fresno, northbound Friant Road intersects the opposite end of Old Friant Road.  







Northbound Friant Road follows a gorge alongside the San Joaquin River and enters the unincorporated community of Friant.  












Friant Road northbound passes through Friant to a terminus at the intersection of North Fork Road and Millerton Road.  Friant Dam can be seen from the northern terminus of Friant Road.






The 1952 North Fork Road Bridge still connects Friant Road over the San Joaquin River to North Fork Road/Road 206.  



The ruins of the 1906 North Fork Road Bridge were never removed from the Madera County side of the San Joaquin River and can be easily observed south of the 1952 replacement span.  




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Morgan Territory Road

By
Morgan Territory Road is an approximately 14.7-mile-long roadway mostly located in the Diablo Range of Contra Costa County, California.  The roadway is named after settler Jerimah Morgan who established a ranch in the Diablo Range in 1857.  Morgan Territory Road was one of several facilities constructed during the Gold Rush era to serve the ranch holdings.   The East Bay Regional Park District would acquire 930 acres of Morgan Territory in 1975 in an effort to establish a preserve east of Mount Diablo. The preserve has since been expanded to 5,324 acres. The preserve functionally stunts the development along roadway allowing it to remain surprisingly primitive in a major urban area. Part 1; the history of Morgan Territory Road During the period of early period of American Statehood much of the Diablo Range of Contra Costa County was sparsely developed.   Jerimah Morgan acquired 2,000 acres of land east of Mount Diablo in 1856 and established a ranch in 1857. Morgan Territory Road is
2 comments
Read more

The 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge (Madera County)

By
The 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge is an early era arch concrete structure found alongside modern Madera County Road 200.  The structure was modeled as a smaller scale of the 1905 Pollasky Bridge (still in ruins at the San Joaquin River) and was one of many early twentieth century improvements to what was then known as the Fresno-Fresno Flats Road.  The 1915-era bridge was replaced with a modernized concrete span during 1947 but was never demolished.  The original concrete structure can be still found sitting in the brush north of the 2023 Fine Gold Creek Bridge.     Part 1; the history of the 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge The 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge lies near the site of the former mining community of Fine Gold.   Mining claims were staked at Fine Gold during the Mariposa War during 1850. The community was never very large but became a stopping point on the stage road between the original Fresno County seat at Millerton and Fresno Flats (now Oakhurst). The stage road eventually bypas
Post a Comment
Read more

San Francisco's Broadway Tunnel

By
The Broadway Tunnel in San Francisco is a structure at Russian Hill which connects the neighborhood Chinatown to North Beach. The tunnel was included in the 1948 San Francisco Trafficways Plan as a connector between the Central Freeway and Embarcadero Freeway. The structure was completed in December 1952 and spans 1,616 feet through Russian Hill. The Broadway Tunnel was designated as the Robert C. Levy Tunnel in 1986. Part 1; the history of the Broadway Tunnel Following the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848 San Francisco would see a major population boom.  The city would expand from the shores of San Francisco Bay inland towards the many steep hills.  The hills of San Francisco would prove to be a major hinderance towards the expansion of city.  Roads were generally plotted over the tops of hillsides and had steep grades.  Russian Hill in particular was one of the steepest and contained numerous streets with grades in excess of twenty percent.  Broadway can be seen cros
Post a Comment
Read more