Skip to main content

Unconstructed California State Route 234

By


California State Route 234 is a three-mile unconstructed State Highway which was planned near the southern city border of Stockton near French Camp.  The corridor which was adopted into the State Highway System by way of 1959 Legislative Chapter 1062.  The traversable routing of California State Route 234 is noted by Caltrans as French Camp Road despite it not matching the planned corridor routing displayed on State Highway Maps.  During 1983 San Joaquin County adopted a resolution to adopt French Camp Road formally California State Route 234.  The state never acted on the resolution and San Joaquin eventually lost interest.  Modern Arch Airport Road was completed in 2010s along the planned corridor of California State Route 234.  Arch Airport Road facilitates traffic to newer industrial construction at Airpark 599 near Stockton Metropolitain Airport.  

Planned California State Route 234 can be seen straddling the southern city border of Stockton on the blog cover as displayed on 1964 Division of Highways Map.  




The history of California State Route 234

What was to become planned California State Route 234 was added to the State Highway System during 1959 as Legislative Route Number 261 (LRN 261).  LRN 261 was adopted into the Freeways & Expressways System which was also created during 1959.  LRN 261 was defined by Legislative Chapter 1062 with the following description:

"LRN 238 (Interstate 5) near French Camp to LRN 4 (US Route 99"

LRN 261 appears for the first time on the 1960 Division of Highways Map as a planned State Highway.  The planned but unadopted routing of LRN 261 is shown to be aligned north of French Camp near the southern boundary of the city of Stockton.  The planned alignment of LRN 261 included a crossing of French Camp Slough approaching Interstate 5/LRN 238. 



The Legislative Route Numbers were dropped as part of the 1964 State Highway Renumbering.  LRN 261 was subsequently renumbered as "California State Route 234."  California State Route 234 retained the definition of LRN 261 and appears on the first time on the 1964 Division of Highways.  



Unconstructed California State Route 234 roughly aligned with then existing Sperry Road between McKinnley Avenue and Airport Way (County Route J3).  The corridor appears to have been intended to service Sharpe Army Depot Field Annex which was located at Stockton Municipal Airport.  Sperry Road can be seen as originally configured on the 1968 United States Geological Survey Map of Stockton.  The regular Army would withdraw from Stockton Municipal Airport during 1973 and the holdings of Sharpe Army Depot Field Annex were relinquished to San Joaquin County. 


California State Route 234 never had a formal alignment adoption.  In 1983 San Joaquin County passed resolution 8-83-1461 for procedures to be followed to add French Camp Road as California State Route 234 and Eight Mile Road as California State Route 235.  French Camp Road (County Route J9 and former US Route 99) is listed as the traversable routing of California State Route 234, but no State Highway map has ever shown the planned corridor following it.   During 1993 San Joaquin County adopted Eight Mile Road as arterial roadway and dropped interest in California State Route 235.  San Joaquin County never opined on continued interest with California State Route 234.

Sperry Road by the 1980s was extended east from Airport Way to California State Route 99 (former US Route 99) by San Joaquin County via the planned corridor of California State Route 234.  This extension appears on the 1989 United States Geological Map of Stockton.  


The corridor of Sperry Road was extended west to Interstate 5 and renamed as "Arch Airport Road" during the latter half of the 2010s.  Arch Airport Road is aligned directly over the planned corridor of California State Route 234.  The intent of Arch Airport Road is to increase access to Stockton Metropolitain Airport and the Airpark 599 (which broke ground in 2021).  

Arch Airport Road as it is configured now appears on the 2015 United States Geological Map of Stockton.  



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...
1 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