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Unbuilt California State Route 179

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Back in 2017 I spent a good deal of time driving scenic highways located in Marin, Napa, Sonoma Yolo and Solano Counties.  While heading east from Lake Berryessa through the Vaca Mountains California State Route 128 I took a turn on Pleasant Valley Road south towards Vacaville.  What I stumbled upon was the unbuilt California State Route 179 on a very aptly named Pleasant Valley Road.  This year after traversing the Bay Area I decided to revisit the unbuilt CA 179.


CA 179 was intended to be a 14 mile north/south State Highway between CA 128 in Yolo County and Interstate 80 in Solano County.  The route of CA 179 while unbuilt has a traversable route over Pleasant Valley Road and Cherry Glen Road.  CA 179 was approved as LRN 244 in 1959 by the State Legislature according to CAhighways.org.

CAhighways.org on CA 179/LRN 244

The implied path of LRN 244 first appears on the State Highway Map on 1960.

1960 State Highway Map

During the 1964 State Highway renumbering the route of LRN 244 was reassigned as CA 179.  The change from LRN 244 to CA 179 can be seen by comparing the 1963 State Highway Map to the 1964 Edition.

1963 State Highway Map

1964 State Highway Map

My previous blog where I encountered the path of unbuilt CA 179 can be found here.

Disaster Tourism Road Trip Part 7; The Black Hole of Lake Berryeassa (CA 37, CA 121, CA 128 and unbuilt CA 179)

I started my journey on the path of Unbuilt CA 179 in Yolo County from CA 128 west where I turned south on Pleasant Valley Road.


Pleasant Valley Road south crosses Putah Creek and Lake Solano to the Solano County line.




Lake Solano was created when Putah Division Dam was completed in 1957.  Suffice to say the change of character from the upstream division on Putah Creek at Monticello Dam is quite quaint by comparison.



Pleasant Valley Road has a somewhat significant junction with Putah Creek Road south of Lake Solano.  Vacaville is signed as being 13 miles to the south.



Most of Pleasant Valley Road is signed at 45 MPH and despite the low elevations is very curvy.




Pleasant Valley Road winds through the terrain which has some highly scenic views of the local farms and low parts of the Vaca Range.









At Miller Canyon Creek the route of Pleasant Valley Road is routed of the one-lane Edward R. Thurber Bridge.



The Thurber Bridge is a concrete arch bridge which was completed in 1907.   The Thurber Bridge is highly scenic and definitely a huge change of pace from the mega-urban-super-freeways I had been driving much of the day earlier in the Bay Area.  Traffic over the Thurber Bridge is controlled by two simple Stop signs.



Pleasant Valley Road south of the Thurber Bridge continues to wind through the hills all the way to Cherry Glen Road.















Cherry Glen Road connects to I-80 at Exits 51A and 51B.  It isn't really clear where CA 179 was meant to connect to so I turned east towards Vacaville and I-80 Exit 51B.






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