Skip to main content

Lockwood-San Lucas Road

By


Lockwood-San Lucas Road is a fifteen-mile rural highway located in Monterey County, California.  As the name suggests, Lockwood-San Lucas Road connects the communities of Lockwood and San Lucas.  The highway begins at Lockwood-Jolon Road in San Antonio Valley.  From San Antonio Valley the highway crosses the Santa Lucia Mountains and enters Salinas Valley where it crosses the 1915 Salinas River Bridge near San Lucas.  Lockwood-San Lucas Road originally connected with Main Street in San Lucas, but the crossing was removed in the 1970s.  




Part 1; the history of Lockwood-San Lucas Road

Lockwood-San Lucas Roads connects the two namesake communities via the San Lucia Mountains and Salinas River.  Lockwood lies in San Antonio Valley east of Mission San Antonio de Padua.  Lockwood is named in honor of Belva Lockwood who ran for President on the Equal Rights Party ticket in 1884 and 1888.  Post Office Service in Lockwood was established in 1888.  

By 1886 the Southern Pacific Railroad was extended southward from Soledad through Rancho San Lucas.  The Southern Pacific Railroad established a railroad siding which took the name of "San Lucas" in honor of the property donated by Alberto Trescony.  By 1887 Post Office service was transferred from nearby Griswold and has remained operating ever since.  

During 1915 a truss bridge over the Salinas River southwest of San Lucas was installed by Monterey County.  The Salinas River Bridge functionally made direct automotive travel between Lockwood and San Lucas possible.  

The entirety of modern Lockwood-San Lucas Road (displayed as Lockwood Grade) appears on the 1919 United States Geological Survey Maps of King City and Bryson.  Lockwood-San Lucas Road is shown to cross the Santa Lucia Mountains via San Lucas Canyon and Espinosa Canyon.




Lockwood-San Lucas Road appears as a major local highway on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Monterey County.  

The US Route 101 and California State Route 198 bypasses of San Lucas opened during 1972.  US Route 101 was shifted to a new freeway west of Cattlemen Road and California State Route 198 was extended directly to it via an interchange structure southwest of San Lucas.  The then new terminus of California State Route 198 bisected part of Lockwood-San Lucas between the Salinas River Bridge and San Lucas.  

Former California State Route 198 in San Lucas was also partially severed after the highway was realigned.  Mary Street no longer directly connects traffic from California State Route 198 to Main Street.  The Southern Pacific Railroad crossing from Main Street to Cattlemen Road/Lockwood-San Lucas Road was removed.  The new alignments of US Route 101 and California State Route 198 appear on the 1975 Caltrans Map.




Part 2; a drive on Lockwood-San Lucas Road

Northbound Lockwood-San Lucas Road begins at the outskirts of Lockwood along Lockwood-Jolon Road.  Traffic is notified that San Lucas is fifteen miles away.  


Lockwood-San Lucas Road climbs into the Santa Lucia Mountains via San Lucas Canyon as a single lane.  The road crests at an elevation of 1,673 feet above sea level.  


















Lockwood-San Lucas Road descends through Espinosa Canyon and enters Salinas Valley.




















Lockwood-San Lucas Road widens to two-lanes approaching an interchange with US Route 101.




Lockwood-San Lucas Road makes a left-hand turn at Paris Valley Road.  


Lockwood-San Lucas Road makes a right-hand turn at Oasis Road towards the Salinas River.




Lockwood-San Lucas Road crosses the 1915 Salinas River Bridge. 




Below the now missing dedication placard which once was affixed to the Salinas River Bridge (courtesy southern Monterey County historian John Jernigan). 


Lockwood-San Lucas Road approaches another interchange with US Route 101 and the eastbound start of California State Route 198.  




As noted in Part 1, a disconnected segment of Lockwood-San Lucas Road exists east of the US Route 101 freeway.  From the intersection of Cattlemen Road (former US Route 101) and Lockwood-San Lucas Road the razed former grade of California State Route 198 to Main Street in San Lucas can be observed.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grand Loop Road of Yellowstone National Park

By
  Grand Loop Road is a 140 mile loop highway which traverses the interior of Yellowstone National Park.  Grand Loop Road connects all of the major attractions and geological features of Yellowstone National Park along with the entrance roads.  Grand Loop Road is a seasonal highway and despite some conjecture never has been part of the US Route System.   Part 1; the history of Grand Loop Road The majority of history pertaining to Grand Loop Road was taken from the below National Park Service article: Historic Roads - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) Yellowstone was declared the first National Park of the United States on March 1st, 1872.  The first real highway to access Yellowstone National Park came in 1873 when a tolled facility was constructed from Bozeman, Montana via Yankee Jim Canyon to Mammoth Hot Springs.  Numerous attempts were made to fund construction of roadway infrastructure during the early years of Yellows...
Post a Comment
Read more

The last 1956-63 era California Sign State Route Spade?

By
Along southbound California State Route 170 (the Hollywood Freeway Extension) approaching the Hollywood Freeway/Ventura Freeway interchange a white California State Route 134 Sign State Route Spade can be observed on guide sign.  These white spades were specifically used during the 1956-63 era and have become increasingly rare.  This blog is intended to serve as a brief history of the Sign State Route Spade.  We also ask you as the reader, is this last 1956-63 era Sign State Route Spade or do you know of others?  Part 1; the history of the California Sign State Route Spade Prior to the Sign State Route System, the US Route System and the Auto Trails were the only highways in California signed with reassurance markers.  The creation of the US Route System by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926 brought a system of standardized reassurance shields to major highways in California.  Early efforts to create a Sign State Route ...
Post a Comment
Read more

California State Route 70; the Feather River Highway

By
From 2017 through to early 2019 I drove the majority of the California State Route 70; the Feather River Highway from CA 89 southwest to CA 99. CA 70 is an approximately 178.5 mile state highway which starts at US 395 near the Nevada State Line and travels west through the Feather River Canyon to CA 99.  CA 70 is often referred to as the Feather River Highway" given it's close association with the river.  Historically CA 70 was previously signed as US 40A and CA 24.  The Legislative Routes prior to the 1964 California Highway Renumbering that made up the current route of CA 70 are as follows: -  Legislative Route Number 21 from US 395 westward to Oroville. -  LRN 87 from Oroville south to Marysville. -  LRN 232 from Marysville to the current junction with CA 99.  CA 70 was even dual signed with CA 99 into Sacramento on what was LRN 232 for a time. The change from US 40A/LRN 21/LRN 87/LRN 232 can be seen by comparing the 1963 State Highway Ma...
Post a Comment
Read more