California State Route 217

This past month I drove the entirety of California State Route 217 which is a short freeway located in Santa Barbara County. CA 217 has a strange western terminus as a Super-Two at the gate of University of California Santa Barbara.

The origins of CA 217 date back to 1955 when the route was added to the State Highway system between Santa Barbara and UC Santa Barbara in Goleta as Legislative Route 236 according to CAhighways.org. LRN 236 first appears on the 1956 State Highway Map as an un-constructed State Highway.

It appears that by 1963 a functional LRN 236 had been constructed between US 101 in Santa Barbara and UC Santa Barbara. The completed route of LRN 236 can be seen on the 1963 State Highway Map.

According to CAhighways.org the route of LRN 236 was swapped to CA 217 during the 1964 California State Highway Renumbering and declared Clarence Ward Memorial Boulevard. The change from LRN 236 to CA 217 can be observed on the 1964 State Highway Map.

According to CAhighways.org the route of CA 217 was legislatively extended to loop back to US 101 west of Goleta in 1965. The planned extension of CA 217 can be first seen on the 1966 State Highway Map but was ultimately never constructed.

The present route of CA 217 is only 2 miles in length.

My approach to CA 217 was from US 101/CA 1 northbound in Goleta. I approached CA 217 west from US 101 Exit 104B.

CA 217 is still signed as Clarence Ward Memorial Boulevard despite entire route being a freeway.

CA 217 west Exit 2 accesses Hollister Avenue.

Santa Barbara Airport and Goleta Beach Park are signed as accessible via CA 217 west Exit 1 by way of Sandspit Road. Traffic is also advised that the freeway grade of CA 217 ends west of Exit 1.

CA 217 west becomes a Super-Two Freeway approaching the gate to UC Santa Barbara. CA 217 ends just west of the gate of UC Santa Barbara as a roundabout at Post Mile SB 0.464.

The west terminus of CA 217 being a roundabout leads to an oddity where traffic can reverse course onto CA 217 east and resume speeds of 65 MPH.

CA 217 east reverses course to US 101/CA 1southbound. CA 217 east does have access Exit 3 which is signed to direct traffic onto US 101/CA 1 north.

Comments

Paper Highways: The Unbuilt New Orleans Bypass (Proposed I-410)

There are many examples around the United States of proposed freeway corridors in urban areas that never saw the light of day for one reason or another. They all fall somewhere in between the little-known and the infamous and from the mundane to the spectacular. One of the more obscure and interesting examples of such a project is the short-lived idea to construct a southern beltway for the New Orleans metropolitan area in the 1960s and 70s. Greater New Orleans and its surrounding area grew rapidly in the years after World War II, as suburban sprawl encroached on the historically rural downriver parishes around the city. In response to the development of the region’s Westbank and the emergence of communities in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes as viable suburban communities during this period, regional planners began to consider concepts for new infrastructure projects to serve this growing population. The idea for a circular freeway around the southern perimeter of t

Hernando de Soto Bridge (Memphis, TN)

The newest of the bridges that span the lower Mississippi River at Memphis, the Hernando de Soto Bridge was completed in 1973 and carries Interstate 40 between downtown Memphis and West Memphis, AR. The bridge’s signature M-shaped superstructure makes it an instantly recognizable landmark in the city and one of the most visually unique bridges on the Mississippi River. As early as 1953, Memphis city planners recommended the construction of a second highway bridge across the Mississippi River to connect the city with West Memphis, AR. The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge had been completed only four years earlier a couple miles downriver from downtown, however it was expected that long-term growth in the metro area would warrant the construction of an additional bridge, the fourth crossing of the Mississippi River to be built at Memphis, in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the previous three Mississippi River bridges to be built the city, the location chosen for this bridge was about two

Huey P. Long Bridge (New Orleans, LA)

Located on the lower Mississippi River a few miles west of New Orleans, the Huey P. Long Bridge is an enormous steel truss bridge that carries both road and rail traffic on an old-time structure that is a fascinating example of a bridge that has evolved in recent years to meet the traffic and safety demands of modern times. While officially located in suburban Jefferson Parish near the unincorporated community of Bridge City, this bridge’s location is most often associated with New Orleans, given that it’s the largest and most recognizable incorporated population center in the nearby vicinity. For this reason, this blog article considers the bridge’s location to be in New Orleans, even though this isn’t 100% geographically correct. Completed in 1935 as the first bridge across the Mississippi River in Louisiana and the first to be built in the New Orleans area, this bridge is one of two bridges on the Mississippi named for Huey P. Long, a Louisiana politician who served as the 40th Gove

Gribblenation

Search This Blog