Snelling Road

Snelling Road is an approximately 9.4-mile rural highway located in Merced County. Said highway as the name suggests serves as the most direct route between the city of Merced and community of Snelling. Snelling Road was constructed during the early 1870s shortly after Southern Pacific Railroad plotted Merced. The intended purpose of the corridor was to permit travel from the original Merced County seat in Snelling south to the railroad facilities in Merced.

Part 1; the history of Snelling Road

When Merced County split from western Mariposa County in 1857 the community of Snelling was selected as the first County Seat. At the time the location of Snelling was ideal given it was on the Stockton-Los Angeles Road and was near numerous stage roads into the western Sierra Nevada. This changed when the Southern Pacific Railroad began building a line through San Joaquin Valley during the late 1860s. In 1870 the railroad would plot Merced approximately fifteen miles south Snelling. A roadway acting as a continuation of G Street in Merced was quickly constructed northward to Snelling.

Merced being located on the Southern Pacific Railroad began to draw population away from Snelling. During 1872 the Merced County seat would shift from Snelling southward to Merced. Snelling Road can be seen clearly on the 1882 Bancroft's map of California as the "Road to Snelling."

G Street can be seen as one of the few roads crossing north of the then Merced city limit at Bear Creek on the 1897 city of Merced map.

Despite being part of the most direct route between Merced and Snelling, the corridor of Snelling Road would be passed over for inclusion in the State Highway System. Legislative Route Number 123 was commissioned in 1933 between Legislative Route Number 32 (now California State Route 152) and Snelling. North of Merced the State Highway corridor was located on Snelling Highway alongside the Yosemite Valley Railroad.

Legislative Route Number 123 and Snelling Road (shown as Merced-Snelling Road) can be seen contrasted to each other on the 1935 Division of Highways map. Merced-Snelling Road is shown beginning at G Street (Township 6 South, Range 14 East) near Youd-Hornitos Road (now La Paloma Road) and terminating at Legislative Route Number 123 north of the Merced River. The Yosemite Valley Railroad would go defunct in 1945 and Legislative Route Number 123 would begin to be signed as California State Route 59 by 1961.

In 1969 the modernization of Snelling Road was complete when the Merced River Bridge was completed. As of 1990 the structure saw 1,500 vehicles cross daily.

Part 2; a drive on Snelling Road

Snelling Road begins at 7499 G Street via a soft right-hand turn approximately a mile north of the Merced City limit.

Snelling Road shortly after beginning intersects La Paloma Road. This now-closed roadway was surveyed in 1873 by Mariposa County as director connector between Merced and Hornitos. The dirt roadway became contentious when Merced County opted not to include it as part of the University of California Merced Campus Loop during the late 1990s.

Snelling Road north of La Paloma Road enters hilly terrain flanking the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range. The corridor intersects the now mostly closed Robinson Road approaching the Merced River.