Skip to main content

Cummings Skyway

By

Cummings Skyway is a locally maintained highway in the Crockett Hills of Contra Costa County, California.  Cummings Skyway begins at former US Route 40 at San Pablo Avenue and traverses the Diablo Range southeast to the John Muir Parkway segment of California State Route 4 in Franklin Canyon.  Cummings Skyway primarily serves as cutoff route between Interstate 80 and California State Route 4.  




Part 1; the history of Cummings Skyway

The first reference to Cummings Skyway appears in the May/June 1961 California Highways & Public Works.  California State Route 4 is cited to have been designated at the Arnold Industrial Freeway between US Route 40 (realigned off San Pablo Avenue onto what is now Interstate 80) and California State Route 21 (now Interstate 680) via a route adopted made by the California Highway Commission during October 1958.  Advanced planning of a segment of the Arnold Industrial Freeway between the Cummings Skway east to East Alhambra Avenue in Martinez is cited.  



The completed Cummings Skyway is detailed in the September/October 1961 California Highways & Public Works.  Cummings Skyway is described as being one of two Federal Aid Secondary Programs constructed in Costa Contra County during 1961.  The Cummings Skyway was constructed as part of Federal Aid Secondary Route 1256 as a direct cutoff line between US Route 40 and California State Route 4 in Franklin Canyon.  The Cummings Skyway was named in honor of Contra Costa County Supervisor H.L. Cummings.  The Cummings Skyway is described as having two 12-foot-wide lanes and a grade which could be expanded to a four-lane expressway in the future.  The Cummings Skyway is described as being built as part of Federal Aid Secondary Route 1256 between US Route 40 1.96 miles to Crockett Boulevard to an existing segment which spanned another 1.55 miles to California State Route 4 in Franklin Canyon.  Construction of the Cummings Skyway between US Route 40 and Crockett Boulevard is cited to have begun December 3rd, 1959 and was completed by January 16th, 1961.  






Part 2; a drive on Cummings Skyway

Cummings Skyway can be accessed from Interstate 80 via Exit 26 on the outskirts of Crockett.  From Interstate 80 westbound the Exit to Cummings Skyway is signed as "TO California State Route 4."  



From Interstate 80 westbound Exit 26 traffic can either travel west or east on Cummings Skyway.  Westbound traffic can follow Cummings Skyway via short of extension of the road to former US Route 40 at San Pablo Avenue.  


Eastbound Cummings Skyway jogs over Interstate 80 and climbs into the Crockett Hills to Crockett Boulevard.  Traffic is advised via eastbound Cummings Skyway of a truck prohibition on Crockett Boulevard.  










From Crockett Boulevard eastbound Cummings Skyway crests the Crockett Hills and descends to California State Route 4 in Franklin Canyon.  










Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chowchilla Mountain Road to Yosemite National Park

By
Chowchilla Mountain Road of Mariposa County is one of the oldest roadways servicing Yosemite National Park.  As presently configured this fourteen-mile highway begins at California State Route 49 near Elliot Corner and terminates at the Wawona Road in Yosemite National Park.  Chowchilla Mountain Road was constructed as a franchise toll road over Battalion Pass circa 1869-1870.  The highway was built at behest of Galen Clark to connect the town of Mariposa to his property near the South Fork Merced River at what is now Wawona.   In late 1874 the highway along with Clark’s Station would be purchased by the Washburn Brothers.  The Washburn Brothers would continue to toll Chowchilla Mountain Road as part of their Yosemite Stage Route lines.  The highway would ultimately become a Mariposa County public highway in 1917.  Mariposa would later be more directly linked with Yosemite Valley in 1926 following the completion of the Yosemite All-Year Highwa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

By
In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Angus L. Macdonald Bridge

By
At 1.3 kilometers (or about 0.84 miles) in length, the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge is one of two bridges crossing over the Halifax Harbour between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with the other bridge being the A. Murray Mackay Bridge . Opened in 1955 and named after former Nova Scotia Premier and Canadian Minister of Defense for Naval Services Angus L. Macdonald, the Macdonald Bridge was the first bridge that crossed Halifax Harbour that was opened to traffic. The Macdonald Bridge was also the subject of the Big Lift, which was only the second time in history that the span of a suspension bridge were replaced while the bridge was open to traffic. Planning began in 2010 for the Big Lift, while construction took place between 2015 and 2017. Similar work occurred on the Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia before the project took place on the Macdonald Bridge. At this time, much of the bridge infrastructure is new, leaving only the towers, main cables and...
1 comment
Read more