Skip to main content

Pool Station Road

By


Pool Station Road is 12.6-mile rural highway located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Calaveras County.  The corridor connects from California State Route 49 near downtown San Andreas south to California State Route 4 near Copperopolis.  

Pool Station Road is named after a stage station which was located on Reeds Turnpike (now California State Route 4) between Copperopolis and Altaville.  The corridor was developed during the 1920s to permit highway access to the Calaveras Cement plant.  Despite being located in the Sierra Nevada foothills much of Pool Station Road is winding and features numerous large dips in terrain.  




Part 1; the history of Pool Station Road

The name of Pool Station Road is a reference to Pool Station.  Pool Station was located along the Goldrush era Reeds Turnpike between Copperopolis and Altaville (now part of Angels Camp).  The station was located approximately where Pool Station Road has a southern terminus at California State Route 4.

Pool Station Road is a modern highway corridor which was meant to facilitate access to the Calaveras Cement plant.  Calaveras Cement incorporated in 1925 and was based out of a plant located on Pool Station Road.  The company is most well-known for supplying cement to the construction site of Pardee Dam.  

Pool Station Road can be seen connecting from California State Route 49 in downtown San Andreas and extending south California State Route 4 near Copperopolis on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Calaveras County.  Part of early Pool Station Road is shown along what is now Church Hill Road in San Andreas. 


Calaveras Cement would construct a 5.5-mile short line railroad from their plant to quarries located east of Calaveritas.  This short line railroad would be converted into private road usage during the 1990s and now known as cement plant road. 

Calaveras Cement would be sold in 1959 and again in 1979.  The company would be shuttered in 1983 due to being unable to compete with foreign cement prices and a high cost to modernize their plant.  Despite the shuttering of Calaveras Cement the road to the quarry remains private and inaccessible to the public. 



Part 2; a drive on Pool Station Road

Modern Pool Station Road begins at California State Route 49 north of downtown San Andreas. 


Southbound Pool Station Road intersects Cement Plant Road approximately one mile south of California State Route 49.  The ruins the Calaveras Cement Plant can be found west of the intersection.  













Pool Station Road crosses San Antonio Creek.



Pool Station Road becomes a winding mountain road and continues south to a bridge over South Fork Calaveras River.  













The remaining balance of Pool Station Road south of the South Fork Calaveras River is a winding mountain road which features numerous dips and fast curves.  The roadway ends at California State Route 4 near Copperopolis.  


































Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The case to move Interstate 73 in Southern Ohio onto US 33

By
Every decade or so, Ohio pushes to revisit the proposed Interstate 73 that would connect Michigan to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It's been happening since Congress legislated the route in 1991.  Within Ohio, Interstate 73 generally follows the US 23 corridor from Portsmouth through Columbus to Toledo, and into Michigan. Since High Priority Corridor Five was created , Ohio has really done nothing to move forward with Interstate 73.  Sure, there have been feasibility studies here and there.  But actual dollars and construction just haven't occurred. The US 33 Nelsonville Bypass appears to have been built to Interstate standards. However, Ohio has been slowly upgrading US 33 to a full freeway through Southeastern Ohio.  Bypasses of Lancaster and Nelsonville opened in 2004 and 2013, respectively.  Other sections of two-lane road are being twinned, some to freeway or, at a minimum, to expressway standards.  Currently, a $274 million widening project in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rep. Sue Myrick's letter to Gov. Easley and Sect. Tippett published in Charlotte Observer

By
US. Representative Sue Myrick's (R-Charlotte) letter to North Carolina's Governor Mike Easley and NC Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett was published in the Friday, November 30th edition of the Charlotte Observer . Why are we delaying the completion of 1-485 in Charlotte again? I read in The Charlotte Observer how rising prices of materials are leading to the delay. Why didn't these same rising costs delay the loops in Fayetteville and Wilmington? Why are we building loops in Fayetteville and Wilmington before we complete the one in Charlotte? We were working on the one in Charlotte back when I was mayor. That was 20 years ago! ... Last I looked Charlotte was the largest city in the state. There seems to be no recognition of that fact in Raleigh. No recognition that we are at a standstill with traffic. No recognition that we have a traffic problem. Nor is there any recognition of the fact that the state DOT utterly botched up the southern leg of our yet to be completed ...
Post a Comment
Read more

I-90 in Albany, New York and the Berkshire Spur

By
Today's Albany Times Union has a segment in their weekly Getting There? column that explains some of the history behind how I-90 is designated in the Albany, NY area as well as the Berkshire Spur. The long and short of the article was that I-90 was originally designated on the unsigned portion of the Berkshire Spur, but as free I-90 was built, the designation was moved onto the free portion of road. Additionally, there were talks in 1999 between state and federal officials about the possibility of moving I-90 back onto the unsigned portion of the Berkshire Spur, while extending I-88 onto what we know as free I-90. There would have also had been an I-88/I-90 multiplex between Rotterdam and Albany as a result. http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=916307
Post a Comment
Read more