U.S. Route 99
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U.S. Route 99 was the main north-south highway on the West Coast of the United States until 1964, running from Calexico, California on the U.S.-Mexico border to Blaine, Washington on the U.S.-Canada border. It was a route of the United States Numbered Highways, assigned in 1926 and existing until it was replaced for the most part by Interstate 5. Portions of it were the single busiest truck route in the United States.Template:Fact Known also as the "Golden State Highway" and "The Main Street of California", US 99 was an important route in California throughout much of the 1930s as a route for Dust Bowl immigrant farm workers to traverse the state. Prior to US 99's commissioning, it was an important stagecoach route linking the two international borders. Large portions are now California State Route 99, Oregon Route 99 and Washington State Route 99.
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Routing
California
The highway started at the border with Baja California in Calexico, California. It then continued north along the western shore of the Salton Sea. The stretch is now known as California State Highway 86. 99 continued along present-day California State Highway 111 through Coachella to its intersection at Dillon Road with another major US route signed as both US 60 and US 70.
Now multiplexed as US 60/70/99, the highway continued north through Indio and turned west toward Los Angeles paralleling the route of modern Interstate 10. In Beaumont, 60 split off on its own westward trek to Los Angeles. The highway through Beaumont (known as Ramsey Street) was bypassed the new superhighway version of 60/70/99 that would later wear Interstate 10 shields. The edges of the old US 60 shield at the replacement interchange's overhead sign are clearly visible today underneath the State Route 60 shield that covers it up. US 70 ended in downtown LA while 99 turned north once again more or less following the route of today's Interstate 5 (San Fernando Road in the San Fernando Valley before the construction of the 5 Freeway), up and over Grapevine Hill in the Tehachapi Mountains to the San Joaquin Valley. 99's original alignment over the hill was known in its earliest days as the Ridge Route, the first highway directly linking the Los Angeles Basin to the San Joaquin Valley. Built in 1915, the alignment between Castaic and Highway 138 in Gorman is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This section was bypassed in 1933 by the three-lane "Alternate Ridge Route" (now at the bottom of Pyramid Lake). From the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley at the foot of the Grapevine, US 99 then continued arrow-straight to Sacramento where it split into two highways, 99E and 99W. The two highways rejoined in Red Bluff and continued once again as US 99 through Oregon, Washington and to the border with British Columbia, becoming British Columbia provincial highway 99.
Los Angeles
When it was first designated in late 1926, US 99 ran with U.S. Route 66 from San Bernardino via Pasadena to Los Angeles, turning north there to San Fernando.<ref>American Association of State Highway Officials, United States Numbered Highways, 1927</ref> The route was signed in 1928. This alignment remained through 1933,<ref>1933 Rand McNally Los Angeles and vicinity map</ref> but by 1942 it had moved to its own alignment (concurrent with U.S. Route 70, as well as U.S. Route 60 west of Pomona) from San Bernardino to Los Angeles. This alignment used Garvey Avenue from Pomona, turning onto Ramona Boulevard in Alhambra to reach Macy Street (now Cesar E. Chavez Avenue) near downtown Los Angeles. It turned north at Figueroa Street, running through the Figueroa Street Tunnels and turning off at Avenue 26 to reach San Fernando Road.<ref>1942 Gousha Los Angeles and vicinity map</ref><ref>1943 Los Angeles map</ref> When the San Bernardino Freeway, Santa Ana Freeway and Pasadena Freeway were completed, it was routed onto them, continuing to exit at Avenue 26.<ref>1959 Los Angeles map</ref> In 1962, with the completion of the Golden State Freeway northeast of downtown, US 99 was moved onto it, bypassing the Santa Ana Freeway, Four Level Interchange and Figueroa Street Tunnels.
Oregon
The former route of U.S. Highway 99 in Oregon mostly follows routes currently signed as Oregon Highway 99, 99E, and 99W. The primary exception is from the California-Oregon state border north to Ashland, Oregon, where U.S. 99 is currently named Old Highway 99 S from the state border to exit 6 of Interstate 5. The former route is coterminous with Interstate 5 from exit 6 to the junction of Oregon Highway 99 in Ashland.
Washington
Unlike California and Oregon, much of the former route of U.S. Highway 99 in Washington exists as county roads and regular city streets; only the route from Fife, Washington to Everett, Washington still retains the official "99" moniker (as Washington State Route 99). The following is a simplified list of Washington counties and cities that portions of the old route traverse, along with their local names.
| Former U.S. Highway 99 Route in Washington | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Road or Street Name | Nearest City | County | |||||||||||
| Interstate 5 (to exit 3) | Vancouver | Clark | |||||||||||
| Main Street | Vancouver | Clark | |||||||||||
| Hazel Dell Avenue | Vancouver | Clark | |||||||||||
| NE 117th Street | Vancouver | Clark | |||||||||||
| Hwy. 99 NE | Vancouver | Clark | |||||||||||
| NE 134th Street | Vancouver | Clark | |||||||||||
| NE 29th Avenue | Vancouver | Clark | |||||||||||
| NE 10th Avenue | Vancouver | Clark | |||||||||||
| NE Timmen Road | Vancouver | Clark | |||||||||||
| NW Pacific Hwy. | La Center | Clark | |||||||||||
| Old Pacific Hwy. | Woodland | Cowlitz | |||||||||||
| Interstate 5 (from exit 22 to exit 27) | Kalama | Cowlitz | |||||||||||
| Old Pacific Hwy. S | Kalama | Cowlitz | |||||||||||
| Kelso Drive (exit 36) | Kelso | Cowlitz | |||||||||||
| Pacific Avenue | Kelso | Cowlitz | |||||||||||
| Pleasant Hill Road | Kelso, Castle Rock | Cowlitz | |||||||||||
| Huntington Avenue S (Business Loop 5) | Castle Rock | Cowlitz | |||||||||||
| Old Pacific Hwy. N | Castle Rock | Cowlitz | |||||||||||
| Barnes Drive | Castle Rock, Toledo | Cowlitz, Lewis | |||||||||||
| SR 505 | Toledo | Lewis | |||||||||||
| Jackson Highway | Toledo, Chehalis | Lewis | |||||||||||
| Market Blvd. | Chehalis | Lewis | |||||||||||
| National Avenue | Chehalis | Lewis | |||||||||||
| Kresky Road (N) / National Avenue (S) | Chehalis | Lewis | |||||||||||
| Kresky Avenue (N) / S. Gold Street (S) | Centralia | Lewis | |||||||||||
| Tower Avenue (N) / S. Pearl Street (S) | Centralia | Lewis | |||||||||||
| Main Street | Centralia | Lewis | |||||||||||
| Harrison Avenue | Centralia | Lewis | |||||||||||
| Old Hwy. 99 | Centralia, Grand Mound, Tenino, Tumwater | Lewis, Thurston | |||||||||||
| Capitol Blvd. | Tumwater | Thurston | |||||||||||
| Capitol Way | Olympia | Thurston | |||||||||||
| 4th Avenue | Olympia | Thurston | |||||||||||
| Pacific Avenue | Olympia, Lacey | Thurston | |||||||||||
| Old Pacific Hwy. SE | Lacey | Thurston | |||||||||||
| Old Nisqually Road | Nisqually | Pierce | |||||||||||
| Interstate 5 (exit 116 to exit 124) | DuPont | Pierce | |||||||||||
| Pacific Hwy. SW | Lakewood | Pierce | |||||||||||
| South Tacoma Way | Lakewood, Tacoma | Pierce | |||||||||||
| E. 26th St. | Tacoma | Pierce | |||||||||||
| E. G St. | Tacoma | Pierce | |||||||||||
| Puyallup Avenue | Tacoma | Pierce | |||||||||||
| Pacific Hwy. E | Fife | Pierce | |||||||||||
| SR 99 | Fife | Pierce | |||||||||||
| SR 99 | Federal Way, SeaTac, Tukwila, White Center, Seattle, Shoreline | King | |||||||||||
| SR 99 | Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood, Mukilteo, Everett | Snohomish | |||||||||||
| Broadway | Everett | Snohomish | |||||||||||
| Everett Avenue | Everett | Snohomish | |||||||||||
| 20th Street SE | Everett | Snohomish | |||||||||||
| Sunnyside Blvd. | Everett, Marysville | Snohomish | |||||||||||
| State Avenue | Marysville | Snohomish | |||||||||||
| Smokey Point Blvd. | Arlington | Snohomish | |||||||||||
| SR 530 | Arlington | Snohomish | |||||||||||
| Pioneer Highway E | Arlington, Stanwood | Snohomish | |||||||||||
| Pioneer Highway E | Conway | Skagit | |||||||||||
| Conway Frontage Road | Conway | Skagit | |||||||||||
| Old Highway 99 S. Road | Mount Vernon | Skagit | |||||||||||
| Riverside Drive | Mount Vernon | Skagit | |||||||||||
| S. Burlington Blvd. | Burlington | Skagit | |||||||||||
| Chuckanut Drive (SR 11) | Burlington, Bellingham | Skagit, Whatcom | |||||||||||
| 11th Street | Bellingham | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| S. State Street | Bellingham | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| Boulevard Street | Bellingham | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| N. State Street | Bellingham | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| E. Holly Street | Bellingham | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| Prospect Avenue | Bellingham | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| DuPont Avenue | Bellingham | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| Elm Avenue | Bellingham | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| Northwest Avenue | Bellingham | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| W. Bakerview Road | Bellingham | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| Pacific Hwy. | Bellingham, Ferndale | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| Main Street | Ferndale | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| Riverside Drive | Ferndale | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| Barrett Road | Ferndale | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| Vista Road | Ferndale | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| Bay Road | Ferndale | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| Blaine Road | Birch Bay, Blaine | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| Peace Portal Drive | Blaine | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| D Street | Blaine | Whatcom | |||||||||||
| 12th Street | Blaine | Whatcom | |||||||||||
Decommissioning and replacement routes
Image:US Route 99 Ridge route alternative 1948.jpg
By 1968, US 99 was completely decommissioned with the completion of I-5, but the highway's phasing out actually began July 1, 1964 thanks to the passage of Collier Senate Bill No. 64 on September 20, 1963. The bill launched a major program designed to greatly simplify California's increasingly complicated highway numbering system and eliminate multiplexed postings like the aforementioned 60/70/99. The highways that replaced it are:
- SR-111 and SR-86 between the Mexican border and Indio.
- I-10, replacing US 60 and US 70 between Indio and Los Angeles as well.
- U.S. Route 101 and SR-110 in downtown Los Angeles.
- I-5 from north of downtown all the way to its modern-day split in Wheeler Ridge before 99's final decommissioning in 1968.
State highway 99
All three states have replaced some portions of US 99 with state highways of the same number:
- Washington: 50 miles (80 km) of US-99, from Fife to Everett, is now Washington State Route 99 (WA-99). It is mostly a surface-level highway with the exception of the Alaskan Way Viaduct through downtown Seattle.
- Oregon: Most of former US 99 in Oregon now signed as Oregon Highway 99 (OR-99). The route still provides surface-level access to many southern Oregon towns served by I-5. It also provides access to many towns in the Willamette Valley. Between Junction City and Portland, the highway splits into eastern and western routes known as OR-99W and OR-99E respectively. For significant stretches, OR-99 shares an alignment with I-5. Officially, the highway is signed with both route numbers when this occurs; however, in practice, this is often not the case as the OR-99 designation is dropped in favor of I-5. One notable exception is a stretch of OR-99E that runs between Albany and Salem, where OR-99E is cosigned incredibly well along the highway.
- California: The 415 mile (668 km) stretch of I-5 between Wheeler Ridge and Red Bluff is signed as California State Highway 99 which makes it California's second-longest state highway behind SR-1.
US 99 and the white line
Though US 99 never achieved the fame or romance that was enjoyed by another California highway, the world-famous Route 66, it was quite possibly a more important one as it linked the entire state, unlike 66. Also, US 99 was the progenitor of an important innovation in highway safety. Doctor June McCarroll worked as a nurse for the Southern Pacific Railroad soon after US 99 opened. Her office in Indio bordered on the new highway (today known as Indio Boulevard) and was the scene of many a head-on collision.
After much lobbying on her part, Nurse McCarroll took it upon herself to paint a stripe down the middle of the highway, which effectively kept the two lanes of traffic separated. This was the first ever highway marking of its kind and was soon adopted worldwide. A stretch of nearby Interstate 10 has been named in her honor.
Related U.S. Routes
References
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