Crossing the Sierras westward from Donner Pass found me on Interstate 80. Given that I had a substantial jog of freeway ahead headed back to the Fresno area I decided to take a detour onto California State Route 20 westward to CA 174 in Grass Valley. CA 20 is a long somewhat rural east/west State Highway at 212 miles which begins at I-80 in Nevada County and terminates at CA 1 in Mendocino County. All of CA 20 was part of Legislative Route Number 15 which was dates back as early as the 1909 First State Highway Bond with a 8.7 mile segment from Williams to Colusa. In 1919 LRN 15 was greatly expanded during the Third State Highway Bond which stretched from Ukiah at modern day US Route 101 east to Emigrant Gap at LRN 37 at the Dutch Flat & Donner Lake Road. In 1934 all of LRN 15 was assigned CA 20 as a Signed Route Number. CAhighways.org Highway History Chapter 1 CAhighways.org Highway History Chapter 2 The original extent of CA 20 can be viewed on th...
Because every road has a story.