Skip to main content

Disaster Tourism Road Trip Part 1; California State Route 129

By
Back in February of this year the heavy winter rains had finally started to subside.  Pretty much across the entire state of California there was extensive mudslides that had wiped out several roadways.  At the time there was already an extensive slide on California State Route 35 and Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge on CA 1 had already been damaged beyond repair.  Amid the chaos the Santa Cruz Range was getting hit hard with various closures throughout the mountains.  Local news stations across San Francisco Bay were being openly critical of people traveling through the slides to check out the aftermath; specifically they were being called "disaster tourists."

Given the weather was starting to improve I made plans for a weekend trip through the Santa Cruz Range northward to the countryside north of San Francisco Bay.  I started my Disaster Tourism Trip with a clinch of CA 129.






CA 129 is a 14 mile state highway traversing the Santa Cruz Range from US 101 in San Benito County to CA 1 in Watonsville in Santa Cruz County.  My travel direction on CA 129 was westbound from US 101 to CA 1.





CA 129 is mostly a two-lane highway uses a low pass through the Santa Cruz Range following the general path of the Pajaro River.  CA 129 runs entirely on Riverside Drive.





At Old Chittenden Road there is a rail crossing which CA 129 crosses under.  Not even CA 129 was immune to mudslides as the highway was closed through the pass shortly before my trip.






Westward CA 129 emerges into Salinas Valley and begins to approach the coast near Watstonville.





After passing through the farm lands CA 129 enters Wastonville and intersects County Route G2 at Main Street.  G2 is the connecting route between CA 129 and CA 129 which is a block north on Beach Street.  Before CA 1 was built to a freeway it ran on Main Street in Watsonville and CA 129 ended here.





The freeway alignment of CA 1 was built some time between 1967 and 1969.  The change can be seen on the State Highway Maps of the respective years in addition to the changes to both CA 129 and CA 152 which were both extended.

1967 State Highway Map

1969 State Highway Map

Modern CA 129 continues west out of downtown Watsonville and ends at the CA 129 freeway.



Prior to 1964 CA 129 was the unsigned Legislative Route 67.  LRN 67 was first defined back in 1921 from LRN 2 (US 101) to Chittenden Station.  In 1933 LRN 67 was extended to Watsonville, CAhighway.org details the history of LRN 67/CA 129.

CAhighways.org on LRN 67

CAhighways.org on CA 129

There was a minor alignment shift at some point along LRN 67/CA 129.  It would seem that the highway at one point took a 90 degree angle through Johnston Corner via Carlton Road and Thompson Road instead of the modern bypass on Riverside Drive.  The original post 1933 alignment can be seen on the 1935 California Division of Highway Santa Cruz County Map.

1935 Santa Cruz County Map


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The case to move Interstate 73 in Southern Ohio onto US 33

By
Every decade or so, Ohio pushes to revisit the proposed Interstate 73 that would connect Michigan to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It's been happening since Congress legislated the route in 1991.  Within Ohio, Interstate 73 generally follows the US 23 corridor from Portsmouth through Columbus to Toledo, and into Michigan. Since High Priority Corridor Five was created , Ohio has really done nothing to move forward with Interstate 73.  Sure, there have been feasibility studies here and there.  But actual dollars and construction just haven't occurred. The US 33 Nelsonville Bypass appears to have been built to Interstate standards. However, Ohio has been slowly upgrading US 33 to a full freeway through Southeastern Ohio.  Bypasses of Lancaster and Nelsonville opened in 2004 and 2013, respectively.  Other sections of two-lane road are being twinned, some to freeway or, at a minimum, to expressway standards.  Currently, a $274 million widening project in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Local Sign Find - The last remnant of Business Interstate 95 between Kenly and Rocky Mount , NC

By
As you head north on Interstate 95 at Exit 107 for Kenly and US 301, you'll notice something odd about the overhead sign for the exit.  Peeling off the sign for all that can see is the word 'NORTH' off-center from the US 301.  This old sign (probably close to original from when this section of I-95 opened - more on that in a little bit) gives a hint to a short-lived Business Interstate Route that ran from here to Rocky Mount. The last hint of the Kenly-Wilson-Rocky Mount Business I-95 (Shaun White - August 2020) Interstate 95 in North Carolina has a unique history.  But one of the overlooked and forgotten pieces of Interstate 95 in North Carolina is the 38 mile section between Kenly and Rocky Mount.  When opened to traffic in late 1978, it was the next to last piece of Interstate 95 in North Carolina to open replacing a four lane US 301 from Battleboro through Rocky Mount and Wilson to eventually tying back into the Interstate in Kenly. Though it was not delayed in l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nostalgia fast food with style - Returning to Rax

By
Nostalgia. It sells. It evokes, and more accurately, warps memories of days gone by.  Things were better, simpler, and we eat it up. Nostalgia can make you drive three hours and over a hundred miles out of your way just to reconnect with a dying fast-food restaurant you last enjoyed in the early to mid-90s.  That person was me - that restaurant was Rax. I could go on about Rax's history, but in short, Rax was briefly a very popular roast beef fast-food chain.  Growing up in the 80s and early 90s in Western PA, Rax was the good fast-food spot.  The milkshakes.  (Personally, the chocolate chip milkshake was heaven.)  Uncle Alligator Kids Meal with the chocolate chip cookie. Take that McDonald's Happy Meal!  The fancy salad and hot foods bar.  Going to Rax was special.  Like so many similar restaurants, various investments, management decisions, etc., led Rax to almost disappear overnight.  By the time I graduated college in late 1999, abou...
Post a Comment
Read more