California State Route 218

Since I was closing out routes on the Monterey Peninsula on the 18th I figured that I would drive all of CA 218 given it was only about 2.9 miles. Really CA 218 is a odd urbanized route that runs from CA 1 southeast to CA 68 along Canyon Del Ray Boulevard through the city of Del Ray Oaks. The route isn't very notable aside from it being oddly short and surprising in nature given it is still part of the Caltrans route inventory. I started out by exiting the CA 1 freeway and making my way to CA 68, I did manage to get both "end" placards.

The history of CA 218 is pretty simplistic:

- Legislative Route 169 first appears on California State Highway Maps in 1960. LRN 169 would have run between SSR 1 which was on Fremont Street southeast to LRN 117. LRN 117 was signed as SSR 68 by 1961.

- LRN 169 became LRN 218 during the 1964 State Highway renumbering but doesn't appear to have been signed until 1969. LRN 218 appears to have been extended to the new CA 1 freeway by 1967 but I'm not 100% certain of the time that particular segment was opened.

The map references I cited can be viewed on the following links:

1960 State Highway Map

1961 State Highway Map

1964 State Highway Map

1967 State Highway Map

1969 State Highway Map

Comments

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...

2018 Mojave Road Trip Part 2; The deadly desert highway (California State Route 127 and Nevada State Route 373)

After leaving Barstow via Old Highway 58 my next destination was in Death Valley. To access Death Valley from rural San Bernardino County required a trek on north on Interstate 15 to California State Route 127 which becomes Nevada State Route 373 at the state line. Along I-15 I encountered the road sign oddity that is Zzyzx Road about eight miles south of Baker. Zzyzx Road is a four mile road that used to go to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa. The spa was founded in the 1940s and the owner made up the name "Zzyzx" to claim it was the last word in the English Language. The spa has been shut down since the 1970s and is now part of a Desert Studies Center for California State University. The southern terminus of CA 127 in Baker is located at I-15 exit 246. CA 127 is a 91 mile north/south highway which runs to the Nevada State Line in Inyo County. CA 127 is called Death Valley Road from I-15 northward. South of CA 127 ...

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...