Skip to main content

Dunne Avenue (Santa Clara County)

By

Dunne Avenue is an approximately fourteen-mile highway located in southeast Santa Clara County, California.  The roadway begins at the western outskirts of Morgan Hill and ascends through the Diablo Range via Anderson Lake to Henry W. Coe State Park.  Dunne Avenue east of Morgan Hill was originally known as Cochrane Road and later Steely Road.  The roadway east of Morgan Hill was first used to access the ranch of Henry W. Coe and was substantially realigned in 1950 over Anderson Lake via the Cochrane Truss Bridge.  




Part 1; the history of Dunne Avenue

What is now Dunne Avenue east of Morgan Hill was originally part of Cochrane Road.  Cochrane Road east of Coyote Creek was used to access the ranching property of Heny W. Coe in the Diablo Range.  Coe had acquired his ranching property in 1905 and occupied it until his death in 1943.  

Cochrane Road can be seen ascending through the Diablo Range to the Coe Ranch at Pine Ridge on the 1917 United States Geological Map of Morgan Hill. 



Cochrane Road east of Coyote Creek can be seen renamed as "Steely Road" on the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Santa Clara County.


Henry Coe's son sold his father's ranch to Beach Land & Cattle Company in 1948.  Beach Land & Cattle Company would greatly improve Steely Road and the surrounding roads on Coe Ranch.  In 1950 the Anderson Lake reservoir had been formed along Coyote Creek.  The then new reservoir site required Steely Road to be realigned.  Steely Road was made continuous with Dunne Avenue via a new alignment which carried it over the Cochrane Truss Bridge.  

Also, during 1950 Henry Coe's daughter bought back his ranch.  The ranch property was subsequently turned over to Santa Clara County during 1953.  The County would repurpose the property as Henry W. Coe Park.  

Steely Road can be seen realigned over the Cochrane Bridge and made continuous with Dunne Avenue on the 1955 United States Geological Map of Mount Sizer.




Henry W. Coe Park was deeded to the State of California during 1958 and became a State Park.  It isn't fully clear when the Steely Road designation was dropped in favor of it being consolidated with Dunne Avenue.  


Part 2; a drive on Dunne Avenue from Morgan Hill to Henry W. Coe State Park

Dunne Avenue ascends into the Diablo Range east of Morgan Hill.  As Dunne Avenue approaches Holiday Drive traffic is advised that Henry W. Coe State Park is ten miles away.  








Dunne Avenue crosses the Anderson Lake reservoir via the Cochrane Truss Bridge.  During 2020 the reservoir was drained to allow for Anderson Dam to be demolished and rebuilt to modern seismic standards.  The dam was found to be susceptible to collapse during a 6.6 magnitude or greater earthquake during a 2009 seismic study.  









Dunne Avenue ascends above Anderson Lake and intersects Finley Ridge Road at 1,923 feet above sea level.  The roadway narrows to a single lane after the second switchback.  


























Dunne Avenue continues to climb from Finley Ridge Road and terminates at the entrance to Henry W. Coe State Park.  The park entrance station is located at approximately 2,700 feet above sea level.  


















Some of the views descending Dunne Avenue back towards Morgan Hill.










Comments

Anonymous said…
Mr. Challenger: We live off 4700 Dunne Ave in Morgan Hill directly below Finley Ridge on the lower road area of our subdivision. According to the map this road is an extension and is connected to East Dunne Ave.
Our entrance road is directly off East Dunne Ave, and it is approximately 1/2 mile drive to our home and we want to know if that 1/2 mile road that leads to our home, what is the road called on the map. The map calls it East Dunne Ave. Is this road an extension to East Dunne Ave? or is our entrance road a different name? we have been trying to find out the name of our road entrance, we think it could be Steely Road.
1:56 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trimmer Springs Road (Fresno County)

By
Trimmer Springs Road is an approximately forty-mile rural highway located in Fresno County.  The corridor begins near in California State Route 180 in Centerville and extends to Blackrock Road at the Kings River in the Sierra Nevada range near the Pacific Gas & Electric Company town of Balch Camp. The roadway is named after the former Trimmer Springs Resort and was originally constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.  Trimmer Springs Road was heavily modified and elongated after construction of Pine Flat Dam broke ground in 1947.   Part 1; the history of Trimmer Springs Road Much of the original alignment of Trimmer Springs Road was constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.   The  Kings River Lumber Company  had been established in 1888 in the form of a 30,000-acre purchase of forest lands in Converse Basin.  This purchase lied immediately west of Grant Grove and came to be known as "Millwood."  The co...
Post a Comment
Read more

When was Ventura Avenue east of downtown Fresno renamed to Kings Canyon Road? (California State Route 180)

By
California State Route 180 was one of the original Sign State Routes designated in August 1934.  The highway east of Fresno originally utilized what was Ventura Avenue and Dunlap Road to reach what was then General Grant National Park.  By late year 1939 the highway was extended through the Kings River Canyon to Cedar Grove.   In 1940 General Grant National Park would be expanded and rebranded as Kings Canyon National Park.  The Kings Canyon Road designation first appeared in publications circa 1941 when the California State Route 180 bypass of Dunlap was completed.  Kings Canyon Road ultimately would replace the designation of Dunlap Road from Dunlap to Centerville and Ventura Avenue west to 1st Street in Fresno.   The Kings Canyon Road would remain largely intact until March 2023 when the Fresno Council designated Cesar Chavez Boulevard.  Cesar Chavez Boulevard was designated over a ten-mile corridor over what was Kings Canyon Road, remaini...
Post a Comment
Read more

Interstate 99 at 30

By
When it comes to the entirety of the Interstate Highway System, Interstate 99, when fully completed, is nothing more than 161 miles of a roughly 48,000-mile system (0.3% of total length).  Yet, to more than just a handful of people, the number '99' rubs them the wrong way. Interstate 99 follows the path of two US Highway Routes - US 220 from the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bedford north to Interstate 80 and then to US 15/Interstate 180 in Williamsport.  It then follows US 15 from Williamsport north to Interstate 86 in Corning, New York. Interstate 99 runs with US 220 through much of Central Pennsylvania. (Doug Kerr) US 220 from Cumberland, Maryland to Interstate 80 and US 15 north of Williamsport were designated part of the Appalachian Highway System in 1965.  Construction to upgrade both corridors progressed steadily but slowly.  In 1991, the two corridors were included as a National High Priority Corridor.  The route from Cumberland to Corning consisted of High P...
Post a Comment
Read more