Skip to main content

Unbuilt California State Route 179

Back in 2017 I spent a good deal of time driving scenic highways located in Marin, Napa, Sonoma Yolo and Solano Counties.  While heading east from Lake Berryessa through the Vaca Mountains California State Route 128 I took a turn on Pleasant Valley Road south towards Vacaville.  What I stumbled upon was the unbuilt California State Route 179 on a very aptly named Pleasant Valley Road.  This year after traversing the Bay Area I decided to revisit the unbuilt CA 179.


CA 179 was intended to be a 14 mile north/south State Highway between CA 128 in Yolo County and Interstate 80 in Solano County.  The route of CA 179 while unbuilt has a traversable route over Pleasant Valley Road and Cherry Glen Road.  CA 179 was approved as LRN 244 in 1959 by the State Legislature according to CAhighways.org.

CAhighways.org on CA 179/LRN 244

The implied path of LRN 244 first appears on the State Highway Map on 1960.

1960 State Highway Map

During the 1964 State Highway renumbering the route of LRN 244 was reassigned as CA 179.  The change from LRN 244 to CA 179 can be seen by comparing the 1963 State Highway Map to the 1964 Edition.

1963 State Highway Map

1964 State Highway Map

My previous blog where I encountered the path of unbuilt CA 179 can be found here.

Disaster Tourism Road Trip Part 7; The Black Hole of Lake Berryeassa (CA 37, CA 121, CA 128 and unbuilt CA 179)

I started my journey on the path of Unbuilt CA 179 in Yolo County from CA 128 west where I turned south on Pleasant Valley Road.


Pleasant Valley Road south crosses Putah Creek and Lake Solano to the Solano County line.




Lake Solano was created when Putah Division Dam was completed in 1957.  Suffice to say the change of character from the upstream division on Putah Creek at Monticello Dam is quite quaint by comparison.



Pleasant Valley Road has a somewhat significant junction with Putah Creek Road south of Lake Solano.  Vacaville is signed as being 13 miles to the south.



Most of Pleasant Valley Road is signed at 45 MPH and despite the low elevations is very curvy.




Pleasant Valley Road winds through the terrain which has some highly scenic views of the local farms and low parts of the Vaca Range.









At Miller Canyon Creek the route of Pleasant Valley Road is routed of the one-lane Edward R. Thurber Bridge.



The Thurber Bridge is a concrete arch bridge which was completed in 1907.   The Thurber Bridge is highly scenic and definitely a huge change of pace from the mega-urban-super-freeways I had been driving much of the day earlier in the Bay Area.  Traffic over the Thurber Bridge is controlled by two simple Stop signs.



Pleasant Valley Road south of the Thurber Bridge continues to wind through the hills all the way to Cherry Glen Road.















Cherry Glen Road connects to I-80 at Exits 51A and 51B.  It isn't really clear where CA 179 was meant to connect to so I turned east towards Vacaville and I-80 Exit 51B.






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

Massena Center Suspension Bridge

The Massena Center Bridge, also known as the Holton D. Robinson Bridge, has had quite the tumultuous history. Situated on the Grasse River just east of Massena, New York in the hamlet of Massena Center, the Massena Center Bridge is a reminder of the efforts the community has made in order to connect over the river. The first and only other known bridge to be built at Massena Center was built in 1832, but that bridge was never long for this world. During the spring of 1833, the Grasse River dammed itself due to an ice dam, flooded and lifted the bridge off its foundation, destroying the bridge in the process.  The floods were frequent in the river during the spring, often backing up the river from Hogansburg and past Massena Center, but not to nearby Massena. After the first bridge disappeared, local residents had to resort to traveling seven miles west to Massena to cross the next closest bridge, and that was no easy task for a horse and buggy. However, it was many decades befo...

The Dead Man's Curve of Interstate 90 and Innerbelt Freeway in Cleveland

"Dead Man's Curve" refers to the transition ramp Interstate 90 takes between Cleveland Memorial Shoreway onto the Innerbelt Freeway in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.  Said curve includes a sharp transition between the two freeways which is known for a high rate of accidents.  Currently the curve (not officially named) has a 35 MPH advisory speed and numerous safety features intended to mitigate crashes.  When the Interstate System was first conceived during 1956, Interstate 90 was intended to use the entirety Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and connect to the Northwest Freeway through Lakewood.  The Innerbelt Freeway was initially planned as the northernmost segment of Interstate 71.  The extension of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway west of Edgewater Park was never constructed which led to Interstate 90 being routed through the Innerbelt Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway and Deadman's Curve The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signe...