Skip to main content

Los Cerritos Road (Stanislaus County and Merced County)

By

Los Cerritos Road is an approximately six-mile corridor located east of Turlock Lake.  Los Cerritos Road begins at Lake Road in Stanislaus County and terminates at Keyes Road (County Route J16) in Merced County.  

Los Cerritos Road was developed as an access highway to the construction site of Turlock Lake during the 1910s.  The corridor was originally called "Fanning Road" in reference to a local property owner who lived on the Tuolumne River.  The modern name "Los Cerritos Road" first appears on the 1960s-era maps.  




Part 1; the history of Los Cerritos Road

Prior to the construction of Turlock Lake Dam much of southeast Stanislaus County was devoid of infrastructure and roadways.  This lack of development can be seen southeast of Roberts Ferry and the Tuolumne River on the 1906 Map of Stanislaus County.  


Los Cerritos Road was constructed as an access roadway out of the Snelling area to the site of the Turlock Lake reservoir at Three Tree Flat.  Said reservoir was a project by the Turlock Irrigation District which has been in operations since 1887.  Turlock Lake Dam was formally commissioned in 1915.  

Fanning Road (now Los Cerritos Road) can be seen branching northwest from the Merced County line to the construction site of Turlock Lake on the 1914 Weber's map of Stanislaus County.  


The northern terminus of Fanning Road (blue pin) can be seen on the 1916 United States Geological Survey map of Three Tree Flats.  The northern terminus shown here is aligned slightly east of where modern Los Cerritos Road now terminates at Lake Road.  Fanning Road was initially named after property owner W.J. Fanning who lived along the Tuolumne River. 


Fanning Road can be seen in Township 4 South, Range 13 East spanning from Lake Road in Stanislaus County to Keyes Road near Snelling in Merced County on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Stanislaus County.  


In 1950 the state of California would lease Turlock Lake from the Turlock Irrigation District to create Turlock Lake State Recreation Area.  Fanning Road can be seen aligned to the modern terminus of Los Cerritos Road on the 1953 United States Geological Survey map of Turlock Lake.  


Fanning Road appears renamed to "Los Cerritos Road" on the 1968 United States Geological Survey map of Turlock Lake.  "Los Cerritos" translated from Spanish means "The Hills." 




Part 2; a drive on Los Cerritos Road

Southbound Los Cerritos Road begins branching away from Lake Road in Stanislaus County.  


Los Cerritos Road proves to have an accurate name as it is aligned through hilly terrain.  The southbound highway enters Merced County departing the Turlock Lake area.  










Los Cerritos Road continues south and terminates at Keyes Road (Merced County Route J16) near the outskirts of Snelling. 












Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

By
The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926.  Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California.  The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant.  However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes.  The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield.  In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range.   ...
3 comments
Read more

Hawaii Route 50

By
Hawaii Route 50 is the longest Sign Route on the island of Kauai at 32.6 miles.  The entirety of Hawaii Route 50 is overlaid atop Kaumualii Highway from Lihue west to the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands. Hawaii Route 50 is one of the original 1955-era State Highway designations on Kauai.  Much of the Kaumualii Highway corridor was constructed during the sugar plantation boom of the late Hawaiian Kingdom.  The first tee beam bridge in Hawaii would be constructed along the Kaumualii Highway in 1911 at the Hanapepe.  Much of this highway would be modernized to two-lane standards through the 1930s and 1940s. This page is part of the Gribblenation Hawaii Roads series.  A compellation of all Hawaii-related media from both Gribblenation and RoadwayWiz can be found by clicking  here .  Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 50 and Kaumualii Highway Hawaii Route 50 is the longest highway on Kauai at 32.6 miles.  The highway begins at Rice Str...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

By
A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida.  One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region.  For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate.  Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century.  Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area.  The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...
4 comments
Read more