Skip to main content

Sand Canyon Road (Los Angeles County)

By

Sand Canyon Road is an approximately six-mile highway mostly located in the city of Santa Clarita.  The Sand Canyon Road corridor begins at the terminus of Little Tujunga Canyon which is located in the namesake Sand Canyon.  Northbound Sand Canyon Road continues over the Santa Clara River and Antelope Valley Freeway (California State Route 14) to a terminus at Sierra Highway (former US Route 6). 

Sand Canyon Road originally only spanned from Sand Canyon in the San Gabiel Mountains north to Lost Canyon Road.  The corridor was extended to Sierra Highway during the late 1930s.  The Sand Canyon Road interchange with the Antelope Valley Freeway opened to traffic during August 1963. 




Part 1; the history of Sand Canyon Road

Sand Canyon Road is named after a canyon located in the San Gabriel Mountains at the southeast city limit of Santa Clarita.  Sand Canyon originates near Magic Mountain and carries a wash westward into the city of Santa Clarita.  Upon entering the city Sand Canyon turns northward and empties into the Santa Clara River near Humphreys station (commissioned by Southern Pacific Railroad in 1876).  The ranching neighborhood through which Sand Canyon passes co-opted the name and was annexed into the larger city of Santa Clarita on December 25, 1987. 

Sand Canyon Road first appears on the 1900 United States Geological Survey map of San Fernando.  The corridor is shown to originate near the junction of Sand Canyon and Bear Canyon (marked by blue pin) in the Gabriel Mountains.  Sand Canyon Road is shown intersecting Placerita Canyon Road and extending north to Lost Canyon Road near Humphreys station.  


Construction of Little Tujunga Canyon Road commenced northward from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacoima in 1928.  Construction of the highway corridor was intended to facilitate hiking access to the San Gabriel Mountains of Angeles National Forest.  Notably the Buck Canyon Bridge would be a major milestone of the first year of construction on Little Tujunga Canyon Road.  By 1931 the highway was extended through Pacoima Canyon and Bear Canyon to Sand Canyon Road.  It is unclear why the corridor was not named as an extension of Sand Canyon Road.

Sand Canyon Road appears as a minor local highway on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Los Angeles County.  


Sand Canyon Road was extended north of the Santa Clara River during the late 1930s to US Route 6 at Sierra Highway.  This extension appears on the 1940 United States Geological Survey map of San Fernando.  The terminus at Sierra Highway is mark by blue pin. 


On August 23, 1963, the first segment of the Antelope Valley Freeway (then US Route 6 and now California State Route 14) was dedicated at the then new Sand Canyon Road Overpass.  The first freeway segment opened spanned from Solemint Junction east to Red Rover Mine Road.  The dedication ceremony was presided over by Los Angeles County 5th District Supervisor Warren Dorn.  The Sand Canyon Pass Overpass is featured prominently in the August 29, 1963, Newhall Signal and Saugus Enterprise.  





Part 2; a drive on Sand Canyon Road

Northbound Little Tujunga Canyon Road becomes Sand Canyon Road upon crossing a wash at the namesake canyon. 


Sand Canyon Road enters the city of Santa Clarita and intersects Placerita Canyon Road.




Northbound Sand Canyon Road passes through the Sand Canyon neighborhood and crosses under the Union Pacific Railroad (formerly Southern Pacific). 






Sand Canyon Road crosses the Santa Clara River and the Antelope Valley Freeway.






Sand Canyon Road continues north of the Antelope Valley Freeway to a terminus at Sierra Highway.  









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.   ...
2 comments
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

Old Wards Ferry Road

By
Old Wards Ferry Road is an approximately 3.6-mile portion of the original alignment of Wards Ferry Road located near the city of Sonora, California.  As currently configured this older alignment begins at modern Wards Ferry Road near Curtis Creek and terminates in Sonora at Sanguinetti Road.  The Olds Wards Ferry Road corridor is largely defined by the single lane 1914-era arch concrete bridge at Curtis Creek. Wards Ferry Road is one of the oldest road corridors in Tuolumne County having been set up as a ferry crossing by Joesph Ward during 1850.  Wards Ferry Road was once the primary connecting highway between the communities of Big Oak Flat and Sonora.  Wards Ferry Road is most well-known from the largely one-lane wide alignment through Murderer's Gulch where it crosses the Tuolumne River via heavily graffitied 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge.  Pictured as the blog cover is the 1897 Wards Ferry Bridge as it was during 1951.  The 1897 Wards Ferry Bridge was built ...
Post a Comment
Read more