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Disaster Tourism Road Trip Part 8; CA 160 and CR J11 in the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta

The last day of my trip I got up early and made my way out of Fairfield towards California State Route 12.  The junction with CA 12 had a nice view of Mount Diablo to the south.


I was more or less heading eastward towards CA 99 but I was also collecting shield pictures along the way.  CA 113 actually was closed to the north due to flood waters from the winter rains.



CA 84 north of Rio Vista was closed at the Ryer Island Ferry.  CA 84 is one of two state highways in California that still has a ferry segment.  The Ryer Island Ferry crosses Cache Slough where CA 84 junctions with CA 220 which is the only other state highway with a ferry.  Heavy floods in the area put both ferries out of service.


CA 12 continues east over the Sacramento River into Sacramento County via the Rio Vista Bridge.  The current Rio Vista Bridge is a lift design which was completed in 1960.


On Andrus Island I encountered the junction of CA 160 and headed north towards Isleton.  CA 160 used to be part of the much larger original version of CA 24.


CA 160 passes through Isleton on River Road.  Isleton was founded in 1874 and became a significant stop for Chinese to settle by 1875 along with most of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.  Isleton had several major floods in the late 19th century and early 20th century.  The population of the city seems to have fallen through the floor from a documented approximate 2,000 even by the 1930s to about 800 today.


I'm fairly certain CA 24 used Main Street originally but I can't find maps with enough detail to prove it.  Regardless downtown Isleton has a lot of older Gold Rush buildings along Main Street.



North of Isleton CA 160 crosses the Sacramento River to Grand Island via the 1923 Isleton Bridge.  The Isleton Bridge is a draw bridge with a couple huge counterweights above the road deck.







In Ryde CA 160 junctions the eastern terminus of CA 220.  Apparently Ryde has been around since 1890s but I really can't find much information on it.  CA 220 was closed to the west at the J-Mack Cable Ferry which crosses Steamboat Slough to Ryer Island.


CA 220 is only six miles long and was created out of Legislative Route Number 100 in 1964.  LRN 100 was created back in 1933 according to CAhighways.org.

CAhighways.com on CA 220

I jumped off of CA 160 onto Signed County Route J11 which crossed the Sacramento River to Walnut Grove on another draw bridge.





After crossing the bridge J11 cuts south while County Route E13 cuts north.  I followed E13 to the village of Locke and the Locke Historic District.



I followed Locke Road and Main Street in Locke through the historic district.  Locke was settled in 1912 by Chinese settlers north of Walnut Grove.  The village didn't really start to grow until the the China Alley in Walnut Grove burned down in 1915.  The population of the village grew to about 1,000 to 1,500 before declining in the mid-20th century.  Really all that is left is some mildly inhabited buildings in various states of disrepair.








Leaving Locke I took J11 southeast to I-5 which crosses the Mokelumne River on a truss bridge.   J11 is only a six mile long route and was apparently created back in 1960 according to CAhighways.org.





I jumped over to CA 99 via CA 4 in Stockton and headed on home.  I collected a couple missing shields along the way that I didn't have photos of at the time like CA 219 and CA 223.  And thus, that was the conclusion of the Disaster Tourism Road Trip.  All the damage aside really I thought things might have gone much worse between all the mudslides and floods considering how heavy the rains really got.




Back on AAroads I did a brief note summary of the alignment history of CA 24 and CA 160 in the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta:

"In the original 1934 highway numbering the route that CA 160 now occupies from CA 4 to I-5 was part of SSR 24.  24 was heavily truncated in the 1964 renumbering and the route from CA 4 to I-5 became CA 160.  On the 1935 Map of Sacramento County the SSR 24 seems to be shown using Sherman Island Crossing and Sherman Island East Leeve Road to read the San Joaquin River was opposed to the bypass route CA 160 takes.  There appears to be another alignment in the middle between the original highway and the modern CA 160 which I base my opinion off the fact it is called "Victory Highway."   The alignment to what is now I-5 is virtually the same (I can't really tell from the map 1935 if SSR 24 used Main in Isleton) with the main difference being that SSR 24 went to downtown Sacramento on Freeport whereas CA 160 ends at I-5

1935 Sacramento County Highway Map

1938 State Highway Map

1963 State Highway Map

1964 State Highway Map

CAhighways on CA 160

End quote"

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