1.
Interstate 80
–
Interstate 80 is a transcontinental limited-access highway in the United States that runs from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York City Metropolitan Area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the routes of the Interstate Highway System. Its final segment was opened to traffic in 1986 and it is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, following I-90. I-80 is the Interstate Highway that most closely approximates the route of the historic Lincoln Highway, from near Chicago east to near Youngstown, Ohio, I-80 is a toll road, containing the majority of both the Indiana Toll Road and the Ohio Turnpike. I-80 runs concurrently with I-90 from near Portage, Indiana, to Elyria, in Pennsylvania, I-80 is known as the Keystone Shortway, a non-tolled freeway that crosses rural north-central portions of the state on the way to New Jersey and New York City. I-80 begins at an interchange with U. S. Route 101 in San Francisco and it then heads northeast through Vallejo, Sacramento, and the Sierra Nevada mountains before crossing into Nevada. A portion of the route through Pinole involved the experimental transplantation of the rare species Santa Cruz tarweed in the right-of-way, in Nevada, I-80 traverses the northern portion of the state. The Nevada portion of I-80 follows the paths of the Truckee and Humboldt rivers, the Interstate also follows the historical routes of the California Trail, First Transcontinental Railroad, and Feather River Route throughout portions of the state. I-80 in Nevada closely follows, and at points directly overlaps, the original route of the Victory Highway, State Route 1. After crossing Utahs western border in Wendover, I-80 crosses the desolate Bonneville Salt Flats west of the Great Salt Lake, the longest stretch between exits on an Interstate Highway is located between Wendover and Knolls, with 37.4 miles between those exits. This portion of I-80, crossing the Great Salt Lake Desert, is flat and straight, dotted with large warning signs about driver fatigue. It ascends Parleys Canyon and passes within a few miles of Park City as it follows a route through the mountains towards the junction with the terminus of the western section of I-84. From the junction it continues up Echo Canyon and on towards the border with Wyoming, the route of the Utah section of I-80 is defined in Utah Code Annotated § 72-4-113. In Wyoming, I-80 reaches its maximum elevation of 8,640 feet above sea level at Sherman Summit, near Buford, farther west in Wyoming, the Interstate passes through the dry Red Desert and over the Continental Divide. I-80 enters Nebraska west of Bushnell, the western portion of I-80 in Nebraska runs very close to the state of Colorado, without entering the state. The intersection of I-76 and I-80 is visible from the Colorado–Nebraska state line, from its intersection with I-76 to Grand Island, I-80 lies in the valley of the South Platte River and the Platte River. Along this length, the road does not vary from a straight line by more than a few yards. After Lincoln, I-80 turns northeast towards Omaha and it then crosses the Missouri River in Omaha to enter the state of Iowa
Interstate 80
–
Interstate 80 is a major urban freeway in the San Francisco Bay Area
Interstate 80
–
Interstate 80
Interstate 80
–
I-80 descending into
Reno from the
Sierra Nevada
Interstate 80
–
Mountains of the
Great Salt Lake as seen approaching
Salt Lake City from the west
2.
California Department of Transportation
–
The California Department of Transportation is an executive department within the U. S. state of California. Caltrans manages the highway system and is actively involved with public transportation systems throughout the state. It supports Amtrak California and the Capitol Corridor, the department is part of the state cabinet-level California State Transportation Agency. Like the majority of government agencies, Caltrans is headquartered in Sacramento. In 2015, Caltrans released a new statement, Provide a safe, sustainable, integrated and efficient transportation system to enhance California’s economy. The earliest predecessor of Caltrans was the Bureau of Highways, which was created by the California Legislature and this agency consisted of three commissioners who were charged with analyzing the state road system and making recommendations. At the time, there was no highway system, since roads were purely a local responsibility. After the commissioners submitted their report to the governor on November 25,1896, voters approved an $18 million bond issue for the construction of a state highway system in 1910, and the first Highway Commission was convened in 1911. On August 7,1912, the department broke ground on its first construction project, the year 1912 also saw the founding of the Transportation Laboratory and the creation of seven administrative divisions. In 1913, the legislature started requiring vehicle registration and allocated the funds to support regular highway maintenance. In 1921, the legislature turned the Department of Engineering into the Department of Public Works, the history of Caltrans and its predecessor agencies during the 20th century was marked by many firsts. In late 1972, the legislature approved a reorganization in which the Department of Public Works was merged with the Department of Aeronautics to become the modern Department of Transportation, for administrative purposes, Caltrans divides the State of California into 12 districts, supervised by district offices. Most districts cover multiple counties, District 12 is the district with one county. The largest districts by population are District 4 and District 7, like most state agencies, Caltrans maintains its headquarters in Sacramento, which is covered by District 3. Official California Department of Transportation website Named Highways, Freeways, Structures, and Other Appurtenances in California
California Department of Transportation
–
District 7 Headquarters, Los Angeles, birds-eye view (designed by
Thom Mayne (2004))
California Department of Transportation
–
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
California Department of Transportation
–
Caltrans District 8 Headquarters, San Bernardino, midheight (2005)
California Department of Transportation
–
Caltrans headquarters in Sacramento
3.
Federal Highway Administration
–
The Federal Highway Administration is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agencys major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program and its role had previously been performed by the Office of Road Inquiry, Office of Public Roads and the Bureau of Public Roads. The organization has several organizations and a complicated history. The Office of Road Inquiry was founded in 1893, in 1905 that organizations name was changed to the Office of Public Roads which became a division of the United States Department of Agriculture. The name was changed again to the Bureau of Public Roads in 1915 and it was then shifted to the Federal Works Agency which was abolished in 1949 when its name reverted to Bureau of Public Roads under the Department of Commerce. With the coming of the bicycle in the 1890s, interest grew regarding the improvement of streets, the traditional method of putting the burden on maintaining roads on local landowners was increasingly inadequate. New York State took the lead in 1898, and by 1916 the old system had been discarded everywhere area, demands grew for local and state government to take charge. With the coming of the automobile after 1910, urgent efforts were made to upgrade, the American Association for Highway Improvement was organized in 1910. Funding came from automobile registration, and taxes on motor fuels, in 1916, federal-aid was first made available to improve post-roads, and promote general commerce. Congress appropriated $75 million over a period, with the Secretary of Agriculture in charge through the Bureau of Public Roads. There were 2.4 million miles of rural dirt rural roads in 1914,100,000 miles had been improved with grading and gravel, the rapidly increasing speed of automobiles, and especially trucks, made maintenance and repair high-priority item. Concrete was first used in 1893, and expanded until it became the dominant surfacing material in the 1930s, from 1917 through 1941,261,000 miles of highways were built with federal aid, and cost $5.31 billion. Federal funds totaled $3.17 billion, and state-local funds were $2.14 billion, the FHWA was created on October 15,1966. In 1967 the functions of the Bureau of Public Roads were transferred to the new organization and it was one of three original bureaus along with the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety and the National Highway Safety Bureau. The FHWA’s role in the Federal-aid Highway Program is to oversee federal funds used for constructing and maintaining the National Highway System and this funding mostly comes from the federal gasoline tax and mostly goes to state departments of transportation. FHWA oversees projects using these funds to ensure that requirements for project eligibility. The FHWA also publishes the “Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices”, the MUTCD specifies such things as the size, color and height of traffic signs, traffic signals and road surface markings. The Federal Highway Administration is overseen by an Administrator appointed by the President of the United States by, the Administrator works under the direction of the Secretary of Transportation and Deputy Secretary of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
–
Federal Highway Administration
4.
U.S. Route 101 in California
–
U. S. Route 101 in the state of California is one of the last remaining and longest U. S. Routes still active in the state, and the longest highway of any kind in California, US101 was also one of the original national routes established in 1926. Significant portions of US101 between the Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area follow El Camino Real, the road connecting the former Alta Californias 21 missions. US101 also has designated as the Santa Ana Freeway, Hollywood Freeway, Ventura Freeway, South Valley Freeway. This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, the south terminus of US101 is in Los Angeles, about one mile east of downtown Los Angeles at the East Los Angeles Interchange, also known as the Commuters Complex. This southernmost portion is named the Santa Ana Freeway, inheriting that title as the extension of the roadway now known as I-5. From here, US101 becomes the Hollywood Freeway and it then heads to Hollywood and up through the Cahuenga Pass before reaching the San Fernando Valley. US101 then intersects with SR134 and SR170 at the known as the Hollywood Split. Here, the alignment of US101 shifts to the alignment of SR134, though confusing, the Hollywood Freeway name continues northward from this interchange on SR170, and the Ventura Freeway name continues eastward to SR134. From the Hollywood Split, US101 is an east–west highway and it meets with I-405 in Sherman Oaks, an interchange which holds claim to the most traveled intersection in the nation. Upon reaching Ventura, there is an interchange with SR126, North of Ventura, US101 switches intermittently between freeway and expressway status, but there are no traffic signals until San Francisco. From Ventura and through Santa Barbara, US101 closely follows the Pacific coastline until Gaviota State Park, at Gaviota State Park, the highway shifts back from an east–west highway to a north–south alignment. About one mile north of this point, US101 passes through the Gaviota Tunnel, a few miles north of the Gaviota Tunnel, SR1 splits from US101 and heads northwest, running along the Pacific coastline parallel and to the west of US101. US101 passes through Buellton, Los Alamos, Orcutt, Santa Maria, South of Santa Maria, US101 widens from a four-lane highway to a six-lane freeway. SR166 joins US101 for about 3 miles before splitting just north of the city limits, farther north, SR1 rejoins US101 between Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo. Then US101 takes a route through the Salinas Valley, while Highway 1 heads northwest, running along the Pacific coastline in California, parallel. A steep segment between San Luis Obispo and Atascadero is known as the Cuesta Grade, North of Atascadero, the highway joins SR46 for about three miles through Paso Robles. From Paso Robles to Salinas, US101 is a known as the Salinas River Valley Highway
U.S. Route 101 in California
–
US 101 northbound as it enters downtown Los Angeles
U.S. Route 101 in California
U.S. Route 101 in California
–
View northward from the Cahuenga Pass in 1972
U.S. Route 101 in California
–
Traffic descending the Cuesta Grade north of San Luis Obispo
5.
San Francisco, California
–
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
San Francisco, California
–
San Francisco and the
Golden Gate Bridge from
Marin Headlands
San Francisco, California
–
Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores)
San Francisco, California
–
1853
United States Coast Survey Map
San Francisco, California
–
Francis Samuel Marryat, Hilltop of San Francisco, California, Looking toward the Bay, 1849. M.& N. Hanhart Chromolithograph
6.
Interstate 580 (California)
–
Interstate 580 is an 80-mile east–west Interstate Highway in Northern California. The heavily traveled spur route of Interstate 80 runs from San Rafael in the San Francisco Bay Area to Interstate 5 near Tracy in the Central Valley. It provides a connection from the Bay Area to the southern San Joaquin Valley and Southern California via Interstate 5, a portion of I-580 is called the MacArthur Freeway, after General Douglas MacArthur. Other portions are named the John T. Knox Freeway, the Eastshore Freeway, the Arthur H. Breed Jr. Freeway, the William Elton Brownie Brown Freeway, daniel Sakai Memorial Highway, and the John P. Miller Memorial Highway. This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System, the western terminus of I-580 is roughly 10 miles north of San Francisco in the city of San Rafael, at the junction with U. S. Route 101. The interchange with US101 is incomplete, only allowing continuous travel from southbound US101 to eastbound I-580, I-580 enters the city of Richmond in Contra Costa County mid-span, then continues through Richmond to join Interstate 80 in Albany at the Hoffman Split. After joining I-80, I-580 runs directly south for several miles along the shore of San Francisco Bay in the segment known as the Eastshore Freeway. The segment between the Hoffman Split and the MacArthur Maze is a concurrency, meaning I-580 east is signed as I-80 west. From the MacArthur Maze, I-580 is known as the MacArthur Freeway, about halfway to Castro Valley from the Maze, is an interchange with the Warren Freeway. Between this interchange and Castro Valley, I-580 runs near or along the trace of the Hayward Fault, in Castro Valley, I-580 turns eastward toward Dublin Canyon before descending into Dublin and Pleasanton. After passing through Livermore, the freeway enters the Altamont Pass, I-580 provides Interstate Highway access between San Francisco and Los Angeles since I-5 runs east of the Bay Area. However, the control city listed on freeway signs along eastbound I-580 between I-80 and I-205 is instead Stockton, a vestige of when this segment used to be part of US50. Trucks over 4.5 tons are prohibited through Oakland between Grand Avenue and the San Leandro border, specifically, eastbound trucks cannot travel beyond Grand Avenue/Lakeshore Avenue, and those going westbound must get off at MacArthur Boulevard/Foothill Boulevard. They are instead instructed to take I-238 in Castro Valley and then I-880 through Oakland as an alternative route, the truck prohibition has been in effect since the freeway was built in 1963 as part of US50. Since then, the restriction was grandfathered in when the freeway was renumbered and added to the Interstate Highway System. As a result, it is the segment of Interstate Highway in California that is not part of the National Truck Network. With trucks normally rerouted onto I-880 instead of I-580 through Oakland, for decades, the trucking industry lobbied to have the ban removed, but was unsuccessful due to local opposition. In 2000, the California State Legislature passed Assembly Bill 500, the ban is temporarily lifted by the California Highway Patrol for short periods to reduce traffic congestion when major accidents occur on I-880 or I-238
Interstate 580 (California)
–
I-580 emerging in the
Central Valley near Tracy, CA
Interstate 580 (California)
Interstate 580 (California)
–
Eastbound I-580 at Grant Line Road about one mile away from the I-580/I-205 split.
Interstate 580 (California)
–
I-580 at Palomares Road at the west end of Dublin Canyon
7.
Interstate 880
–
Interstate 880 is an Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area connecting San Jose and Oakland, running parallel to the northeastern shore of San Francisco Bay. For most of its route, I-880 is officially known as the Nimitz Freeway, after World War II fleet admiral Chester Nimitz and this route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System. The southern terminus of I-880 is at its interchange with Interstate 280, from there, it heads roughly northeast past the San Jose International Airport to U. S. Route 101. In Oakland, I-880 passes by Oakland International Airport, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, the northern terminus of I-880 is in Oakland at the junction with Interstate 80 and Interstate 580, near the eastern approach of the Bay Bridge. I-880 between I-238 in San Leandro and the MacArthur Maze is used as a truck route. Officially, the Nimitz Freeway designation is Route 880 from Route 101 to Route 80, as named by Senate Concurrent Resolution 23 and it then turned north at Cypress Street, passing through the Bay Bridge Distribution Structure and following a newly constructed alignment to El Cerrito. The first short piece of the new Eastshore Freeway opened to traffic on July 22,1949 and it was extended to 98th Avenue on June 1,1950, Lewelling Boulevard on June 13,1952, and Jackson Street on June 5,1953. At the San Jose end, the overlap with Route 5 between Bayshore Highway and Warm Springs was bypassed on July 2,1954, within Oakland, the double-decker Cypress Street Viaduct opened on June 11,1957, connecting the freeway with the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. As these sections opened, Sign Route 17 was moved from its old surface routing, other than Route 5 south of Warm Springs, the portion from San Leandro into Oakland was also kept as part of Route 105. Prior to 1984, the known as I-880 used to be part of State Route 17. SR17 used to run from Santa Cruz all the way through San Jose, Oakland, in 1947, construction commenced on a freeway to replace the street routing of SR17 through the East Bay. In 1958, the south of the MacArthur Maze was renamed the Nimitz Freeway in honor of WWII Admiral Nimitz. The northern portion of I-880 was designated Business U. S. Route 50 for a time between the I-80 interchange and downtown Oakland, from 1971 to 1983, Interstate 880 was the original route designation for the Beltline Freeway, the northern bypass freeway for the Sacramento area. The now-designated Capital City Freeway was then the original I-80 routing, continuing southwest directly into downtown Sacramento, I-80 was then re-routed along the Beltline Freeway in 1983, while the Capital City Freeway became Interstate 80 Business. This was the greatest loss of life caused by that earthquake, the freeway reopened in July 1997 on a new route parallel to railroad tracks around the outskirts of West Oakland with the entire project being completed shortly before 2000. Although only about three miles in length, the replacement freeway cost over $1, the former path of the structure, Cypress Street, was renamed Mandela Parkway, and the median where the freeway stood became a landscaped linear park. Several aspects of the I-880 facility have been constructed in designated floodplains such as the 1990 interchange improvements at Dixon Landing Road, in that case the Federal Highway Administration was required to make a finding that there was no feasible alternative to the new ramp system as designed. In that same study, the FHWA produced an analysis to support the fact that adequate wetlands mitigation had been designed into the improvement project and this activity has occurred in Oakland, San Leandro, Hayward, Newark and Fremont
Interstate 880
–
I-880 approaching CA-92 in Hayward
Interstate 880
Interstate 880
–
Portion of the collapsed Cypress Viaduct in Oakland.
8.
Oakland, California
–
Oakland /ˈoʊklənd/ is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. The city was incorporated in 1852, Oaklands territory covers what was once a mosaic of California coastal terrace prairie, oak woodland, and north coastal scrub. Its land served as a resource when its hillside oak and redwood timber were logged to build San Francisco. In the late 1860s, Oakland was selected as the terminal of the Transcontinental Railroad. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many San Francisco citizens moved to Oakland, enlarging the citys population, increasing its housing stock and it continued to grow in the 20th century with its busy port, shipyards, and a thriving automobile manufacturing industry. Oakland is known for its sustainability practices, including a top-ranking for usage of electricity from renewable resources, in addition, due to a steady influx of immigrants during the 20th century, along with thousands of African-American war-industry workers who relocated from the Deep South during the 1940s. Oakland is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. The earliest known inhabitants were the Huchiun Indians, who lived there for thousands of years, the Huchiun belonged to a linguistic grouping later called the Ohlone. In Oakland, they were concentrated around Lake Merritt and Temescal Creek, in 1772, the area that later became Oakland was claimed, with the rest of California, by Spanish settlers for the King of Spain. In the early 19th century, the Spanish crown granted the East Bay area to Luis María Peralta for his Rancho San Antonio, the grant was confirmed by the successor Mexican republic upon its independence from Spain. Upon his death in 1842, Peralta divided his land among his four sons, Most of Oakland fell within the shares given to Antonio Maria and Vicente. The portion of the parcel that is now Oakland was called encinal—Spanish for oak grove—due to the oak forest that covered the area. In 1851, three men—Horace Carpentier, Edson Adams, and Andrew Moon—began developing what is now downtown Oakland, on May 4,1852, the Town of Oakland incorporated. Two years later, on March 25,1854, Oakland re-incorporated as the City of Oakland, with Horace Carpentier elected the first mayor, the city and its environs quickly grew with the railroads, becoming a major rail terminal in the late 1860s and 1870s. In 1868, the Central Pacific constructed the Oakland Long Wharf at Oakland Point, a number of horsecar and cable car lines were constructed in Oakland during the latter half of the 19th century. The first electric streetcar set out from Oakland to Berkeley in 1891, at the time of incorporation, Oakland consisted of the territory that lay south of todays major intersection of San Pablo Avenue, Broadway, and Fourteenth Street. The city gradually annexed farmlands and settlements to the east and the north, Oaklands rise to industrial prominence, and its subsequent need for a seaport, led to the digging of a shipping and tidal channel in 1902. This resulted in the town of Alameda being made an island
Oakland, California
–
Oakland skyline, with the old eastern span of the
San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in background
Oakland, California
–
1857 Map of Oakland
Oakland, California
–
One day's output of 1917
Chevrolet automobiles at their major
West Coast plant, now the location of
Eastmont Town Center
Oakland, California
–
In 1924, the
Tribune Tower was completed; in 1976, it was restored and declared an Oakland landmark.
9.
California State Route 4
–
State Route 4 is a state highway in the U. S. state of California, routed from Interstate 80 in the San Francisco Bay Area to State Route 89 in the Sierra Nevada. It passes through Ebbetts Pass and contains the Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway, SR4 roughly parallels the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a popular area for boating and fishing. There are a number of accesses to marinas and other attractions, State Route 4 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System. However, it is only a highway as designated by Caltrans from a point east of Arnold to SR89. SR4 is also known as the John Muir Parkway from I-80 in Hercules to I-680 near Martinez, the stretch through Franklin Canyon was once known as Blood Alley. SR4, an east–west highway, begins in Hercules at San Pablo Avenue next to the Interstate 80 junction as part of John Muir Parkway. The road is an expressway from its starting point until it approaches Martinez, at which point it becomes a freeway passing Concord, Pittsburg. The John Muir National Historic Site is located north of Route 4 on Alhambra Avenue in Martinez. Alhambra Avenue at SR4 is also the site of the Franklin Canyon Adobe, access to that station is provided by a pedestrian bridge crossing over the eastbound lanes of Highway 4. Route 4 east continues to Stockton, where it briefly joins I-5 and then enters a separate freeway routing almost directly through downtown Stockton. The route runs through the 8,050 ft. Pacific Grade Summit on its way up to the 8,730 ft Ebbetts Pass and ends at State Route 89 ten miles west of Topaz Lake, on the California–Nevada border. The portion from Arnold to its terminus is designated the Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway, the pass is not plowed for snow, and thus closes during the winter months often from November through as late as May. Thus, no passage between the Mount Reba Turnoff and Markleeville is possible, the western slope is plowed and rarely closes, even for a few hours, but often has chain restrictions during and immediately following storms, usually just east of Arnold. The eastern slope is not plowed, although segments of Route 4 were part of the state highway system since 1909, Route 4 was officially designated as such between US Route 40 and State Route 99 in 1934. Prior to that date, the existing segment was officially known as the Borden Highway. Construction of Route 4 did not finish until 1935, however, the portion of Route 4 from US Route 40 to State Route 24 was added to the highway system in 1933 as Legislative Route Number 106. East of the concurrency with State Route 24 to State Route 49, finally, the segment from State Route 49 to State Route 89 was signed as LRN24 from 1909 to 1934. From 1998 to 2009, a built by the State Route 4 Bypass Authority, named the State Route 4 Bypass
California State Route 4
–
Roadside art, Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway.
California State Route 4
–
State Route 4
California State Route 4
–
Route 4 through
Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest
California State Route 4
–
Intersection of California State Routes 4 & 89
10.
Hercules, California
–
Hercules is a city in western Contra Costa County, California. Situated along the coast of San Pablo Bay, it is located in the region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Hercules has a 2010 population of 24,060 according to the U. S. Census, starting in the 1970s, Hercules was heavily redeveloped as suburban bedroom community that lies along the I-80 corridor in Eastern Contra Costa County. Hercules has an ethnically diverse population. This grant was reconfirmed in 1842 as Rancho El Pinole, in 1848 this area became part of the United States with rest of California. Contra Costa County was created in 1850 as one of California’s original 27 counties, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad came through the area around 1899. The company’s history was shaped by the Hercules Powder Company. Herculess isolated location at the time, plus its proximity to rail and water transportation along San Pablo Bay, in 1879 the company, backed by DuPont and the Laflin & Rand Powder Company created the Hercules Powder Company which purchased land for a new plant that opened in 1881. On December 15,1900 town management incorporated the City of Hercules as it felt that the County Board of Supervisors had become less supportive of the plant, a post office was established in 1914. On USGS maps the place designation Herpoco along the original Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway right-of-way, still remains. Explosives manufacturing was indeed a hazardous industry in that era, in first 38 years of operations in Hercules,59 lives would be taken including 24 in large explosion in February 1908, later, further deadly explosions would plague the plant in 1944,1948 and 1953. The Sherman Antitrust Act would force Dupont to spin the Hercules Powder Company off as an independent company in 1912, between the 1890s and 1940s Hercules was a company town of several hundred people. 36 buildings from the era still exist and were nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Per this application “Hercules was the area’s most desirable community to live in” with well-kept homes, however all residents were company employees. Although Chinese workers were a component of the company workforce before the 1910s. By 1917, the Hercules plant had become the largest producer of TNT in the country, by the 1940s Hercules organized its own law enforcement department and longtime Hercules Powder Company employee William Darke was named sheriff, becoming its first officer. After World War II the company began to diversify its line and build an anhydrous ammonia plant. Explosive manufacturing was discontinued in Hercules in 1964, in 1974, the cessation of explosives production allowed hundreds of acres of protective “buffer” land to be reused for other purposes
Hercules, California
–
Bodies of water
Hercules, California
–
Location of Hercules within California
11.
Interstate 780
–
Interstate 780 is an Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U. S. state of California. It serves to connect Interstate 80 in Vallejo with Interstate 680 just north of the Benicia-Martinez Bridge in Benicia, originally, this segment was part of I-680 before that Interstate was extended and rerouted to Fairfield. The city-maintained Curtola Parkway continues west from I-80 to State Route 29 in Vallejo, the Interstate 780 state-maintained freeway begins at Lemon Street and Curtola Parkway, quickly crossing underneath I-80 at a cloverleaf interchange. The freeway passes through parts of unincorporated Solano County, then heads southeast along the Benicia State Recreation Area and it then bypasses downtown Benicia through the hills to the north. I-780 ends at I-680 at the end of the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. By 1914, a county road connected Vallejo and Benicia north of the Carquinez Strait, following the present Maine Street, Benicia Road, Columbus Parkway. LRN74 initially entered Benicia on K Street and left on East Fifth Street, two realignments were built in the 1940s, reducing the number of turns to one, at the corner of L and East Second Streets. On September 15,1955, the Bureau of Public Roads approved the Interstate Highway System spurs, among these was a loop around the San Francisco Bay, soon numbered I-280 and I-680. The first piece of this north of the Carquinez Strait was at the I-80 cloverleaf interchange. This was a short roadway, beginning at Lemon Street, crossing under I-80 and Laurel Street. In about 1960, it was extended east to the old highway between the cities, and was completed to the new bridge in about 1962, the year the bridge opened. In the 1964 renumbering, the designation of the completed Vallejo-Benicia freeway was changed from Route 74 to Route 680. The short piece of non-freeway in Vallejo, extending west from I-80 to SR29, in 1975, a proposed extension west and north to SR37 east of the Napa River was added to Route 141. The route was to be the Waterfront Freeway, scaled down to a boulevard in 1974, the Federal Highway Administration approved a relocation of I-680 onto the State Route 21 freeway between Benicia and Fairfield in July 1973. To keep the route to Vallejo in the Interstate system, it was renumbered I-780, as part of the project to construct a new northbound Benicia-Martinez Bridge, the I-680/I-780 interchange was rebuilt, the new span opened in August 2007. Route 141 was deleted from the highway system in 1988, soon after the city of Vallejo constructed Curtola Parkway over just to the south. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers an overlap due to a correction or change, segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The entire route is in Solano County, California Roads portal California Highways, Interstate 780 California @ AARoads. com - I-780 Caltrans, Route 780 highway conditions
Interstate 780
12.
Vallejo, California
–
Vallejo is a waterfront port city in Solano County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census and it is the tenth most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the largest in Solano County. Vallejo sits on the shore of San Pablo Bay,30 miles north of San Francisco. Vallejo is home to the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom theme park, the now-defunct Mare Island Naval Shipyard, the colleges and universities in Vallejo are California Maritime Academy, the Vallejo Center campus of Solano Community College, and Touro University California. Ferry service runs from a terminal on Mare Island Strait to San Francisco, Vallejo has twice served as the capital of the state of California, once in 1852 and again in 1853, both periods being brief. The State Capitol building burned to the ground in the 1880s, as there were no bridges at that time, the Mare Island Fire Department had to be ferried across the Napa River, arriving to find only the foundation remaining. This was the first recorded mutual aid response in the state of California, some of the first Europeans drawn to the Vallejo area were attracted by the sulfur springs, in the year 1902 the area was named Blue Rock Springs. It was also known as White Sulfur Springs and that was the name of the leading to it from town. Vallejo is best known for the Zodiac Killer and being the hometown of Bay Area rappers E-40, according to United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 49.5 square miles. Land area is 30.7 square miles, and 18.9 square miles is water, the Napa River flows until it changes into the Mare Island Strait in Vallejo which then flows into the San Pablo Bay. Vallejo is located on the edge of Solano County, California in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. Vallejo is accessible by Interstate 80 between San Francisco and Sacramento, and is the location for the half of the Carquinez Bridge. It is also accessible by Interstate 780 from neighboring Benicia to the east, Route 29 begins in the city near the Carquinez Bridge and travels north through the heart of the city and beyond into Napa County, entering neighboring American Canyon and eventually Napa. Several faults have been mapped in the vicinity of Vallejo, the San Andreas Fault and Hayward Faults are the most active faults, although the San Andreas is at some distance. Locally, the Sulphur Springs Valley Thrust Fault and Southampton Fault are found, no quaternary seismic activity along these minor faults has been observed with the possible exception of a slight offset revealed by trenching. The Sulphur Mountain and Green Valley faults have been associated with the Concord Fault to the south, the Concord Fault is considered active. Historically there have been local cinnabar mines in the Vallejo area, the Hastings Mine and St. Johns Mine contribute ongoing water contamination for mercury, furthermore, mine shaft development has depleted much of this areas spring water. Both Rindler Creek and Blue Rock Springs Creek have been affected, the city of Vallejo is located 24 miles northeast of San Francisco,20 miles north of Oakland,56 miles north of San Jose and 52 miles south of Sacramento
Vallejo, California
–
former Vallejo City Hall and County Building
Vallejo, California
–
Mariano Vallejo, ca. 1880-85, founder and city namesake
Vallejo, California
–
Bodies of water
13.
Interstate 680 (California)
–
Interstate 680 is a north–south Interstate Highway in Northern California. Built in the 1920s and designated in 1955, I-680 begins at a junction with I-280 and US101, after passing State Route 237 in Milpitas and SR262 in Fremont, I-680 abruptly turns northeast and enters the hills and valleys of the California Coast Ranges. The highway crosses over Mission Pass, also known as the Sunol Grade, and descends into the Sunol Valley, from Sunol, I-680 again heads north-northwesterly through valleys, including the San Ramon Valley, along the Calaveras Fault. Junctions along this portion include I-580 in Dublin and SR24 in Walnut Creek, beyond the latter interchange, a three-way directional junction with the SR24 freeway west to Oakland, I-680 heads north into Pleasant Hill, where SR242 splits and I-680 again heads northwesterly. After the junction with SR4 in Martinez, the crosses the Carquinez Strait on the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. The remainder of I-680, from Benicia to I-80 at Fairfield, lies between an area to the west representing the southwestern tip of the Vaca Mountains. I-680 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, the route begins at U. S. Route 101 at the Joe Colla Interchange, where it acts as a continuation of I-280 eastward. From here, it begins its journey northward through San Jose, the next exit northbound is SR130, which is also known as Alum Rock Avenue, unsigned at the intersection. As it continues through Santa Clara County, it meets numerous local roads before interchanging with the Montague Expressway, here, it exits San Jose and enters the city of Milpitas, California, where it meets SR237, often referred to as Calaveras Boulevard. After one more intersection, I-680 exits Santa Clara County and enters Alameda County, in Alameda County, the freeway begins in the city of Fremont, where it intersects SR262, which was unsigned until 2000. Continuing through the city, it meets Mission Boulevard at SR238 before exiting the city, prior to 2002, two ghost ramps existed here, remains of an abandoned freeway project replacing Mission Blvd. Afterwards, it enters Pleasanton and intersects with I-580, currently Californias longest auxiliary interstate providing access to Oakland and it enters Dublin for a short segment before exiting the county and entering Contra Costa County. Upon entering Contra Costa County, the route meets numerous local roads through the cities of San Ramon, Danville, and Alamo before entering Walnut Creek, I-680 then enters Pleasant Hill for a short time and Concord, where it meets SR242. Upon exiting Concord, it meets SR4 and it then enters Martinez, where it follows the Benicia-Martinez Bridge over the Carquinez Strait, on which the route crosses the county line and enters Benicia in Solano County. On the Benicia-Martinez bridge, I-680 northbound requires a toll, while I-680 southbound is free direction, in Benicia, I-680 interchanges with I-780. It then exits the city and after passing through rural areas routing parallel to the San Joaquin Delta, it enters Fairfield, where it meets I-80, which is the routes northern terminus. In the wake of the September 11 Attacks, a U. S. flag was painted on a piece of concrete on a hill along the Sunol Grade. It stayed there for nine years before Caltrans painted it over, due to this action being taken shortly before July 4th,2010, and also due to the murals fame, this was met with controversy
Interstate 680 (California)
–
Southbound at
SR 4, with
Mount Diablo on the left.
Interstate 680 (California)
Interstate 680 (California)
–
Descending from
Mission Pass northbound
Interstate 680 (California)
–
1955 map of the planned Interstates in the
San Francisco Bay Area. These early plans essentially called for an interstate loop route that would head south down the San Francisco Peninsula from San Francisco to San Jose, then head north through the eastern cities of the East Bay to
Vallejo. This route now basically comprises present-day I-280, I-680, and
I-780.
14.
Fairfield, California
–
Fairfield is a city in, and the county seat of, Solano County, California, United States. It is located in the North-eastern part of the Bay Area, Fairfield was founded in 1856 by clippership captain Robert H. Waterman, and named after his former hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut. It is the home of Travis Air Force Base and the headquarters of Jelly Belly, with a population of 108,321 at the 2010 census, it is slightly smaller in population than Vallejo. Other nearby cities include Suisun City, Vacaville, Rio Vista, Benicia, and Napa. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 37.6 square miles. The total area is 5. 65% water, the city is located within the California Coastal Ranges. The city is centered directly north of the Suisun Bay and northeast of the San Pablo Bay, much of the Suisun Bay contains the Suisun Marsh, the largest saltwater marsh on the west coast of the United States. According to the City of Fairfield website, Native Americans, such as those from the Ion culture, settled in the Rockville, the first European contact came in 1810 when the Spanish army was ordered to attack the Suisun Indians. In 1835 the Mexican General Vallejo was so magnanimous in victory over the Indian Chief Sem Yeto that the later became his ally in conflicts against other tribes. In 1837 the Indian Chief Solano received the Rancho Suisun Mexican land grant and this grant eventually came into the hands of a clipper ship captain from Fairfield, Connecticut named Robert H. Waterman. He not only parceled out the town in 1856, but also, in a shrewd move, entered Fairfield in the race for Solano County seat in 1858. As an inducement he granted 16 acres of land for the construction of county buildings, in 1903 Fairfield was incorporated as a city. The 2010 United States Census reported that Fairfield had a population of 105,321, the population density was 2,798.5 people per square mile. The racial makeup of Fairfield was 48,407 White,16,586 African American,869 Native American,15,700 Asian,1,149 Pacific Islander,13,301 from other races, and 9,309 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 28,789 persons,21. 2% of Fairfield is Mexican,1. 1% Puerto Rican,1. 0% Salvadoran,0. 5% Nicaraguan,0. 3% Guatemalan,0. 2% Cuban, and 0. 2% Peruvian. The Census reported that 102,832 people lived in households,1,221 lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, there were 2,052 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 237 same-sex married couples or partnerships. 6,802 households were made up of individuals and 2,500 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.98. There were 25,843 families, the family size was 3.42
Fairfield, California
–
The "Welcome to Fairfield" roadside sign along
Interstate 80
Fairfield, California
–
Aerial view of Fairfield, with Travis Air Force Base in the upper center.
Fairfield, California
–
West Texas Street in Downtown
Fairfield, California
–
The
Solano County Government Center in Downtown Fairfield
15.
Interstate 505
–
Interstate 505 is an Interstate Highway in California between Interstate 80 in Vacaville and Interstate 5 near Dunnigan. I-505 is primarily a rural interstate, but travels through Vacaville, the interstate is the primary route connecting the San Francisco Bay Area and the northern Sacramento Valley, bypassing Sacramento and its attendant city traffic. Thus, it is a route for travelers heading directly from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Pacific Northwest. This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, power lines connecting Path 15 to Path 66 follow the highway for a while, until one heads northeast and the other northwest. The southern terminus of I-505 is at I-80 next to the Nut Tree Airport in the Nut Tree area in Vacaville, from there, it travels north about ten miles through rural areas near the western edge of the Sacramento Valley before reaching Winters. I-505 then skirts the city limits of Winters, intersecting with State Route 128 – the only exit in Winters. After leaving that city, the interstate then proceeds north through rural areas again for about 20 miles until it reaches its terminus with I-5 near Dunnigan. For most of its length, I-505 is a four-lane freeway, what is now I-505 was originally conceived as part of a loop Interstate with a directional suffix, I-5W. However, I-5W and most of the other Interstates around the country with directional suffixes were eventually renumbered or eliminated, sans I-35E and I-35W in Texas and Minnesota. The former route of I-5W now corresponds to I-580 from I-5 south of Tracy to Oakland, I-80 from Oakland to Vacaville, California Roads portal California @ AARoads. com - I-505 Caltrans, Route 505 highway conditions California Highways, I-505
Interstate 505
16.
Vacaville, California
–
Vacaville is a city located in Solano County in Northern California. The town is nearly halfway between Sacramento and San Francisco on I-80 and it sits approximately 35 miles from Sacramento, and 55 miles from San Francisco. As of the 2010 census, Vacaville had a population of 92,428, the city was originally laid out on land deeded by Manuel Cabeza Vaca to William McDaniel in August 1850. Its original plot was recorded on December 13,1851, the city was a Pony Express stop and was home to many large produce companies and local farms which flourished due to the Vaca Valleys rich soil, including The Nut Tree. There are a number of rare and endangered species in the Vacaville area, to this day Trifolium amoenum can still be found in Lagoon Valley Regional Park. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 28.6 square miles. 99. 26% of the area is land and 0. 74% is water, excluding the Putah South Canal and minor local creeks, the only significant body of water within the city is the 105-acre Lagoon Valley Lake. The unincorporated communities of Allendale and Elmira are generally considered to be part of greater Vacaville, Vacaville has a typical Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. Characteristic of inland California, summers can get quite hot, autumns are warm in the early part but quickly cool down as the wet season approaches. Winters can be cool, and often foggy, but are mild compared to other regions, spring is a rather pleasant season with fairly mild temperatures and not so much rain. The greater majority of precipitation falls in the autumn, winter, according to National Weather Service records, average January temperatures in Vacaville are a maximum of 55.4 °F and a minimum of 36.7 °F. Average July temperatures are a maximum of 95.2 °F, there are an average of 87.7 days with highs of 90 °F or higher. There are an average of 30.7 days with lows of 32 °F or lower, the record high temperature was 116 °F on July 23,2006. The record low temperature was 14 °F on December 26,1924, average annual precipitation is 24.55 inches. There are an average of 57 days with measurable precipitation, the wettest year was 1983 with 48.90 inches and the driest year was 2012 with 5 inches. The most precipitation in one month was 19.83 inches in January 1916, the most precipitation in 24 hours was 6.10 inches on February 27,1940. Snowfall is rare in Vacaville, but light measurable amounts have occurred, the 2010 United States Census reported that Vacaville had a population of 92,428. The population density was 3,233.5 people per square mile
Vacaville, California
–
Vacaville Skyline. Sacramento skyline seen 30 miles distant.
Vacaville, California
–
Vacaville Hills
Vacaville, California
–
Vacaville Hills during summer
Vacaville, California
–
Aerial view of Vacaville
17.
U.S. Route 50 in California
–
In the U. S. state of California, U. S. Route 50 runs east from I-80 in West Sacramento to the Nevada state line in South Lake Tahoe. Portions within Sacramento are known as the Capital City Freeway, the western half of the highway in California is a four-or-more-lane divided highway, mostly built to freeway standards. It is known as the Lincoln Highway from I-80 through Sacramento to Placerville, US50 continues as an undivided highway with one eastbound lane and two westbound lanes until it reaches the canyon of the South Fork American River at Riverton. The remainder of the highway, which climbs along and out of the canyon, then over the Sierra Nevada at Echo Summit, the US50 corridor is a historic one, used by many 49ers who came to California during the Gold Rush as well as the Pony Express. In 1895, part of the route was designated as Californias first state highway. Much of US50 was constructed during the construction of the California state highway system. During the second half of the century, US50 was gradually designated and converted into a modern highway. US50 has been added to the California Freeway and Expressway System by the state legislature, the highway east of SR49 is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System, and has been recognized as such except within the South Lake Tahoe city limits. US50 begins in West Sacramento, where I-80 leaves the West Sacramento Freeway onto a bypass of Sacramento, US50 is part Interstate Highway as well, carrying the unsigned designation of Interstate 305 through its interchange with SR99. There Business 80 splits to the north, SR99 heads south and this freeway parallels Folsom Boulevard and the American River east-northeasterly through the suburb of Rancho Cordova to Folsom. Entering El Dorado, US50 continues eastward through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada via El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, the freeway ends, and US50 has several at-grade intersections in Placerville, including SR49. Leaving Placerville, the expressway through town starts, only to end several miles later, the final section of freeway, known as the El Dorado Freeway, begins near Camino, where the Lincoln Highway splits from US50, and ends at the east end of Pollock Pines. Several hairpin turns take the highway up a grade east of Strawberry, Echo Summit is the highest elevation U. S. Route 50 reaches in California at 7,382 feet. In 1968, it was the site of the U. S. Olympic trials for mens track, the earliest roads used by Europeans to cross the Sierra Nevada into California were branches of the California Trail. The first route near the present US50 was the Carson Route, laid out in 1848 by an eastward Mormon party that wanted to avoid the Truckee Route, along the Humboldt River in Nevada, the Mormons met Joseph B. Chiles, who was leading a wagon train to California. The route became the westward route into California at the start of the Gold Rush. Through California, the alignment of the Carson Route, in terms of todays highways, was State Route 88 over Carson Pass and Mormon Emigrant Trail
U.S. Route 50 in California
–
Descending eastbound into the
Lake Tahoe Basin
U.S. Route 50 in California
–
U.S. Route 50
U.S. Route 50 in California
–
This sign at the west end indicates the distances to
Placerville,
South Lake Tahoe, and the east end of the route in
Ocean City, Maryland
U.S. Route 50 in California
–
Lake Tahoe Boulevard. Here the route leaves
California and enters
Nevada (Nevada territory would be at the bottom). A tiny portion of
Lake Tahoe is visible in the upper right corner
18.
Interstate 80 Business (California)
–
Interstate 80 Business, called the Capital City Freeway in its entirety, is a business loop of Interstate 80 through Sacramento. Although signed as a loop the route is actually two connected segments. The western segment is signed as U. S. Route 50, the unsigned designation of the eastern segment is State Route 51. The entire route is a freeway, and carried mainline Interstate 80 through Sacramento until the early 1980s, portions of the eastern half were initially grandfathered into the Interstate Highway system, however, plans to upgrade or realign this portion to meet Interstate Highway standards were cancelled. Business 80 begins in West Sacramento at Interstate 80, where I-80 leaves the West Sacramento Freeway onto the Beltline Freeway and this interchange in West Sacramento is also the current west end of U. S. Route 50 and the west end of the unsigned I-305. Business 80 crosses the Sacramento River on the Pioneer Memorial Bridge, State Route 99 once ran along I-5 to the north and Business 80 to the east, but this is now signed TO SR99. After crossing I-5, Business 80 runs on top of an embankment between W and X streets, this was known as the WX Freeway. At an interchange southeast of downtown Sacramento, Business 80 turns north onto the end of unsigned SR51. US50 continues east, State Route 99 heads south, on this section of freeway, Business 80 crosses the American River before its northeast-bound merge with the North Sacramento Freeway. The North Sacramento Freeway, originally a portion of U. S. Route 40, the section from Arden Way eastbound back to Marconi Avenue is now part of the currently named Capital City Freeway. The original North Sacramento Freeway connected to the Roseville Freeway at the north of Marconi Avenue. At the east end of Business 80, the Roseville Freeway continues northeast to Roseville as Interstate 80, I-80 heads in both directions around the north side of Sacramento. Business Loop 80 is referred to as Business 80, the 80, Biz 80, Capital City Freeway, Cap City Fwy, Caltrans does not normally use the Business 80 designation, except for signage and other related concepts like Cal-NExUS exit numbers. Caltrans refers to the half as US50 and the eastern half as SR51 for traffic condition reporting. The Caltrans traffic camera system refers to the route by its name, the SR99 concurrency is not officially designated by Caltrans, but mapmakers often show it as such. SR99 signage had existed along that route for motorists convenience, but was removed in 2000, beginning in 2016, signs on the western section were updated to remove references to Business 80 and instead sign the route only as US Highway 50. The eastern section shall remain signed as Business 80 and this was intended to reduce confusion between multiple highways numbered 80. Business 80 was part of Interstate 80 until the early 1980s, the east half was designated Federal Aid Primary 51
Interstate 80 Business (California)
–
Interstate 80 Business
19.
West Sacramento, California
–
West Sacramento is a city in Yolo County, California. It is contiguous with Sacramento, but is separated by the Sacramento River which is also the county line and it is a fast-growing community, the population was 48,744 at the 2010 census, up from 31,615 at the 2000 census. The traditional industrial center of the region since the Gold Rush era, the United States Conference of Mayors named West Sacramento as the Most Livable City in America in 2014 in the category of cities with fewer than 100,000 residents. West Sacramento is part of the Sacramento–Arden Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area which has a population of approximately 1,796,857, major industries to the region include agriculture, government, and transportation. In 1844, John Schwartz, a Flemish traveler, was the first Euro-American to permanently settle in the area of West Sacramento and he built a shack on the west bank of the Sacramento River six miles south of its connection with the American River. John, with the help of his brother George, founded a salmon fishery along the river, in addition to the fishery, they also found the soil to be fertile and began farming and raising livestock. The announcement of the discovery of gold at Sutters Mill in 1848 brought a multitude of miners to the region and this also coincided with the end of the Mexican-American War. In 1846, a man named James McDowell bought 600 acres from John Schwartz, with his wife, Margaret, and their three daughters, McDowell settled in the area we know today as Broderick. The McDowell family experienced first-hand the violence that the gold rush era brought with it, in May 1849, James McDowell was shot and killed in a barroom argument that he had supposedly started. With the loss of the supporter of the McDowell family. In October 1849, Margaret hired a surveyor to map out 160 acres. She sold individual lots within this area which she named the Town of Washington. The first lot was sold to August W. Kaye for $500, during its first ten years, the rural Town of Washington went through a significant increase in business development and shipping activity. One of the first businesses to be established in the town was the California Steam Navigation Company, other businesses in early Washington included hotels, saloons, and restaurants catering to the needs of people passing through. Many of the making the treacherous journey through the marshlands on their way to Sacramento were appreciative of the rest stop at the Town of Washington. While Sacramento began to urbanize on the side of the river. Salmon, sturgeon, catfish, eel, crayfish, and clams proved to be lucrative in this region as fisherman soon found, the river settlement was flourishing, stocking fish markets not only in Sacramento, but in San Francisco as well. In addition, the soil of the valley produced abundant crops of com, melons, cucumbers
West Sacramento, California
–
The Ziggurat Building on the Sacramento River in West Sacramento.
West Sacramento, California
–
Port of Sacramento
West Sacramento, California
–
West Sacramento
West Sacramento, California
–
Raley Field, home of the Sacramento River Cats
20.
Interstate 5 in California
–
Interstate 5 is a major north–south route of the Interstate Highway System in the U. S. state of California. It begins at the Mexico–United States border at the San Ysidro crossing, goes north across the length of California and crosses into Oregon south of the Medford-Ashland metropolitan area. It is the important and most used of the two major north-south routes on the Pacific Coast, the other being U. S. Route 101. This highway links the major California cities of San Diego, Santa Ana, Los Angeles, Stockton, Sacramento, Interstate 5 has several named portions, the Montgomery Freeway, San Diego Freeway, Santa Ana Freeway, Golden State Freeway, and West Side Freeway. I-5 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System, however, it is a scenic highway as designated by Caltrans only from State Route 152 to I‑580. Interstate 5 begins at the San Ysidro Port of Entry from Mexico in the San Ysidro neighborhood of San Diego, immediately after the border, I-805 splits off to the northeast and serves as a bypass of I-5 that avoids the downtown San Diego area. I-5 itself continues northwest and intersects with the end of the SR905 freeway. I-5 then continues northward and joins the end of SR75. I-5 then enters Chula Vista, briefly leaving the San Diego city limits and it continues along the east side of San Diego Bay where it intersects with SR54 and enters National City. From there, I-5 veers around the San Diego Naval Base, I-5 subsequently interchanges with four state routes — SR15, SR75 and the Coronado Bay Bridge, the western end of SR94, and the southern end of SR163. In addition to serving downtown San Diego, I-5 also provides access to Balboa Park from the Pershing Drive exit. The portion of I-5 from the border to downtown San Diego is named the Montgomery Freeway in honor of John J. Montgomery, a pioneer aviator who flew a glider from a location near Chula Vista in 1884. I-5 continues northwest from downtown as the San Diego Freeway until it reaches its junction with I-8, then slightly to the north while passing near SeaWorld. Thereafter, I-5 interchanges with the end of SR52 before passing through the UC San Diego campus in University City near La Jolla. At Nobel Drive, the San Diego LDS Temple towers over I-5, shortly afterward, I-5 interchanges with the northern terminus of I-805 before continuing north and interchanging with the western end of SR56. At this interchange, there is a recently completed local bypass that provides the access to Carmel Mountain Road from both directions and provides the only access to SR56 going northbound. North of the San Diego city limits, I-5 enters into the city limits of Solana Beach, in Oceanside, I-5 intersects with the SR78 freeway and the SR76 expressway and continues through Camp Pendleton. It then follows the Pacific Ocean coastline for the next 20 miles, I-5 enters Orange County at the Christianitos Road exit
Interstate 5 in California
–
I-5 looking south toward downtown San Diego in January 2002
Interstate 5 in California
–
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 in California
–
I-5 South in San Diego toward
Mexico, September 2012
Interstate 5 in California
–
I-5 in the
Newhall Pass Interchange, where it intersects with I-210 and SR 14 near Santa Clarita
21.
California State Route 99
–
State Route 99, commonly known as Highway 99 or, simply, as 99, is a north–south state highway in the U. S. state of California, stretching almost the entire length of the Central Valley. From its southern end at Interstate 5 near Wheeler Ridge to its end at SR36 near Red Bluff. Cities served include Bakersfield, Delano, Tulare, Visalia, Kingsburg, Selma, Fresno, Madera, Merced, Modesto, Stockton, Sacramento, Turlock, Yuba City, and Chico. The highway is a remnant of the former Mexico to Canada U. S. Route 99, north of Sacramento, the road ranges from a rural two-lane road to a four-lane freeway. SR99 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, the entirety of this segment is now built to freeway standards with complete access control, although some older portions are not yet in compliance with Interstate Highway standards. The freeway sections connect and serve the agriculture and industry of the California Central Valley, most of the freeway also parallels the Union Pacifics Fresno Subdivision. In Sacramento, SR99 first joins with I-80 Business as part of the Capital City Freeway and these SR99 concurrences are not officially designated by the California Department of Transportation, but mapmakers often show it as such. SR99 signage had existed along that route for motorists convenience, but was removed in 2000, and replaced by TO SR99 signs instead. SR99 then splits from I-5 in northern Sacramento, and then heads along the segment of the Sacramento Valley through Yuba City. A majority of SR99 from Sacramento to Red Bluff is a highway, while segments in Yuba City. SR99 remains a freeway as the route leaves Sacramento County. As SR99 crosses SR20 as an intersection, the highway becomes a four-lane freeway for 3 miles before reverting to a two-lane road, passing the smaller towns of Live Oak, Fagan. SR99 briefly is a local road through Gridley before continuing as a two-lane highway. SR99 passes by the side of the Thermalito Afterbay. SR162 joins SR99 for 2 miles before splitting off east towards the end of the Thermalito Afterbay. SR99 then transitions from a road to a four-lane divided expressway just before the interchange at SR149 turning northwest. As SR99 leaves Chico, the highway reverts to a 2-lane road before crossing into Tehama County and passing rural areas. The route then curves to the west and terminates at the junction with SR36, approximately 1.5 miles from I-5 in Red Bluff
California State Route 99
–
Facing north from Skyway on State Route 99 in
Chico.
Butte College is visible on the right.
California State Route 99
–
State Route 99
22.
Sacramento, California
–
Sacramento is the capital city of the U. S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. It is at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the portion of Californias expansive Central Valley. Its estimated 2014 population of 485,199 made it the sixth-largest city in California, Sacramento is the cultural and economic core of the Sacramento metropolitan area, which includes seven counties with a 2010 population of 2,414,783. In 2002, the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University conducted for Time magazine named Sacramento Americas Most Diverse City, Sacramento became a city through the efforts of the Swiss immigrant John Sutter, Sr. his son John Augustus Sutter, Jr. and James W. Marshall. Sacramento grew quickly thanks to the protection of Sutters Fort, which was established by Sutter in 1839, the city was named after the Sacramento River, which forms its western border. The river was named by Spanish cavalry officer Gabriel Moraga for the Santísimo Sacramento, California State University, Sacramento, is the largest university in the city and one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. University of the Pacific is a university with one of its three campuses in Sacramento. In addition, the University of California, Davis, located in nearby Davis, operates its UC Davis Medical Center, nisenan and Plains Miwok Native Americans had lived in the area for perhaps thousands of years. Unlike the settlers who would eventually make Sacramento their home, these Native Americans left little evidence of their existence. Traditionally, their diet was dominated by acorns taken from the oak trees in the region, and by fruits, bulbs, seeds. In 1808, the Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga discovered and named the Sacramento Valley, a Spanish writer with the Moraga expedition wrote, Canopies of oaks and cottonwoods, many festooned with grapevines, overhung both sides of the blue current. Birds chattered in the trees and big fish darted through the pellucid depths, the air was like champagne, and drank deep of it, drank in the beauty around them. The valley and the river were then christened after the Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, John Sutter first arrived on August 13,1839 at the divergence of the American and Sacramento Rivers with a Mexican land grant of 50,000 acres. The next year, he and his party established Sutters Fort, representing Mexico, Sutter called his colony New Helvetia, a Swiss inspired name, and was the political authority and dispenser of justice in the new settlement. Soon, the colony began to grow as more and more pioneers headed west, within just a few short years, John Sutter had become a grand success, owning a ten-acre orchard and a herd of thirteen thousand cattle. Fort Sutter became a stop for the increasing number of immigrants coming through the valley. In 1847, Sutter hired James Marshall to build a sawmill so that he could continue to expand his empire, Sutter received 2,000 fruit trees in 1847, which started the agriculture industry in the Sacramento Valley. In 1848, when gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Sutters Mill in Coloma and he hired topographical engineer William H
Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
23.
California State Route 49
–
State Route 49 is a north–south state highway in the U. S. state of California that passes through many historic mining communities of the 1849 California gold rush. Highway 49 is numbered after the 49ers, the waves of immigrants who swept into the looking for gold. This roadway begins at Oakhurst, Madera County, in the Sierra Nevada and it continues in a generally northwest direction, weaving through the communities of Goldside and Ahwahnee, before crossing into Mariposa County. SR49 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System and it is known as the Golden Chain Highway for the entire route. SR49 is known as the Golden Center Freeway from Grass Valley to Nevada City, begovich Memorial Highway from Jackson to SR88, and the Mother Lode Highway from Sonora to Auburn. SR49 starts at an intersection with SR41 near Oakhurst, the road heads west before turning north before the town of Ahwahnee near the Wassama Roundhouse State Historic Park. SR49 continues north, passing through Nipinnswassee before entering Mariposa County, continuing to the west, SR49 passes through Mormon Bar before running concurrently with SR140 briefly through the town of Mariposa. Near the town of Mount Bullion, SR49 passes by Mariposa-Yosemite Airport before turning northwest and going through Bear Valley, the highway passes by the southern edge of Lake McClure and intersects SR132 in Coulterville before passing into Tuolumne County. SR49 continues north through the town of Moccasin, where SR120 runs concurrently for several miles to the town of Chinese Camp, SR49 then turns northeast and runs concurrently with SR108, intersecting CR E5, into the city of Sonora. SR49 splits from SR108 and enters downtown Sonora as Stockton Street, SR49 intersects the north end of CR E5 before passing through Tuttletown and crossing into Calaveras County at the bridge over the Stanislaus River. SR49 passes by Robinsons Ferry, a ferry across the Stanislaus River established in 1848, next is the Birthplace of Archie Stevenot, who helped found the California State Chamber of Commerce and was officially named Mr. Mother Lode by the California legislature. SR49 then enters Carson Hill, where the largest gold nugget in California was found, SR49 continues through Altaville, which was an important foundry town. Fourth Crossing was an important stagecoach and freighting depot that served the mines until after the turn of the 20th century. The highway continues into San Andreas, where SR12 terminates and this is where Charles Bolles, also known as Black Bart, was tried and sentenced. Chili Gulch is the site of the Chilean War, SR49 then passes through Big Bar, which is located on the county line between Amador County and Calaveras County. The Mokelumne River was mined at this point in 1848, established in 1849, the Whale Boat Ferry operated until the first bridge was built, about 1852. The Butte Store is the structure remaining of Butte City. Argonaut and Kennedy Mines were two of the gold mines in the state
California State Route 49
–
State Route 49 crossing the
American River North/Middle Fork, as seen from
Foresthill Bridge (the SR-49 bridge is not visible)
California State Route 49
–
State Route 49
California State Route 49
–
The South Fork of the
Yuba River as it intersects with Hwy 49
California State Route 49
–
SR 49 in Tuolumne County
24.
Auburn, California
–
Auburn is the county seat of Placer County, California. Its population was 13,330 during the 2010 census, Auburn is known for its California Gold Rush history, and is registered as a California Historical Landmark. Auburn is part of Greater Sacramento and is home to the Auburn State Recreation Area, the park is the site of more sporting endurance events than any other place in the world, giving Auburn the undisputed and internationally acclaimed title of Endurance Capital of the World. Archaeological finds place the border for the prehistoric Martis people in the Auburn area. The indigenous Nisenan, an offshoot of the Maidu, were the first to establish a permanent settlement in the Auburn area, in the spring of 1848, a group of French gold miners arrived and camped in what would later be known as the Auburn Ravine. This group was on its way to the fields in Coloma, California, and it included Francois Gendron, Philibert Courteau. The young Chana discovered gold on May 16,1848, after finding the gold deposits in the soil, the trio decided to stay for more prospecting and mining. Placer mining in the Auburn area was good, with the camp first becoming known as the North Fork Dry Diggings. This name was changed to the Woods Dry Diggings, after John S. Wood settled down, built a cabin, the area soon developed into a mining camp, and it was officially named Auburn in August 1849. By 1850, the population had grown to about 1,500 people. Gold mining operations moved up the ravine to the site of present-day Auburn, in 1865, the Central Pacific Railroad, the western leg of the First Transcontinental Railroad, reached Auburn, as it was being built east from Sacramento toward Ogden, Utah. The restored Old Town has houses and retail buildings from the middle of the 19th century, the oldest fire station and the Post Office date from the Gold Rush years. Casual gold-mining accessories, as well as American Indian and Chinese artifacts, Auburn was the home and birthplace of noted science fiction and fantasy poet and writer Clark Ashton Smith. A memorial to him is located near Old Town, Auburn is home to Placer High School, which is one of the oldest high schools in California. Local dentist Kenneth H. Foxs colossal sculptures are located throughout the town, the statues chronicle Auburns history, such as a middle-aged Claud Chana gold panning in the nearby American River, and a Chinese coolie worker building the Transcontinental Railroad. Auburn is located at 38°53′55″N 121°04′28″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.2 square miles, of which 0.03 square miles, or 0. 38%, is water. Auburn is situated in the Northern California foothills of the Sierra Nevada range, approximately 800 vertical feet above the confluence of the North Fork and it is located between Sacramento and Reno, Nevada along Interstate 80. Mountainous wilderness canyons and the slope of the Sierra Nevada lie adjacent eastward
Auburn, California
–
Old Town Auburn in July 2015
Auburn, California
–
The Placer County Courthouse was constructed between 1894 and 1898.
Auburn, California
–
The
Queen Anne style Old Town Firehouse is a landmark. It originally adjoined a row of commercial buildings (now demolished). It was home to the Auburn Volunteer Fire Department.
Auburn, California
–
Rolling hills of Auburn, taken near Indian Hill Road.
25.
California State Route 89
–
State Route 89 is a California State Highway that travels in the north–south direction, and is the major thoroughfare for many mountain communities. It starts from U. S. Route 395 near Topaz Lake, winding its way up to the 8, 314-foot Monitor Pass, down to the Carson River, and up again over the 7, 740-foot Luther Pass. From that point on, the route generally loses elevation on its way past Lake Tahoe, through Tahoe, for roughly nine miles the route is then a part of State Route 36. The route then ascends to the 5, 753-foot Morgan Summit, after it enters Lassen Volcanic National Park it continues to gain elevation until it reaches its highest point in an unnamed pass in the middle of Lassen Peak and Bumpass Mountain. The road then descends and heads northwest, finally terminating at Interstate 5 at the foot of Mount Shasta at around 3,600 feet, SR89 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System. However, it is only a highway as designated by Caltrans from the El Dorado-Placer county line to a point 3.2 miles west of the US395 junction. From the junction with SR147, through the park and including the gap on SR44, to its terminus at I-5, SR89 is part of the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway, SR89 begins at an intersection with US395. The highway goes west through a few switchbacks before crossing into Alpine County, the southernmost section of State Route 89 over Monitor Pass is also closed in winter due to snow accumulation. SR89 continues by Heenan Lake before intersecting with the end of SR4 and turning northwest. SR89 continues northwest to the town of Woodfords, where it turns west, the section of SR89 from SR88 north to US50 is co-signed as US50 Alternate for use as a detour for when US50 closes. The highway continues north to Meyers, where it runs concurrently with US50 into the city of South Lake Tahoe, SR89 continues along the western shore of Lake Tahoe, where it passes through Camp Richardson, Emerald Bay, Meeks Bay, Pomins, and Tahoma. The road curves to the north through Tahoe National Forest before crossing into Nevada County and this portion of the highway has been designated the 10th Mountain Division Memorial Highway, honoring the US Army division that lost 992 soldiers during the Italian Campaign in World War II. SR89 runs concurrently with I-80 eastbound briefly before exiting to the north and continuing through the city of Truckee, SR89 continues through Calpine before crossing into Plumas County. SR70 and SR89 continue north through Keddie before SR89 splits off to the north and passes through Indian Falls, Crescent Mills, Greenville, and Canyon Dam. The section of SR89 from SR70 north to Crescent Mills was built over the railway bed of the Indian Valley Railroad. SR36 and SR89 intersect the northern terminus of SR32 and SR172 before SR36 splits off to the west, the SR89 designation does not run through the national park. The continuation of SR89 that runs through Lassen Volcanic National Park is closed in due to very heavy snowfall. When it is open, a fee is charged
California State Route 89
–
A shield of State Route 89
California State Route 89
California State Route 89
–
Start of California 89 at
Mt. Shasta
California State Route 89
–
California Route 44 & 89 Intersection
26.
Truckee, California
–
Truckee is an incorporated town in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 16,180, the town’s original name was Coburn Station, commemorating a saloon keeper. It was renamed Truckee after a Paiute chief, whose assumed Paiute name was Tru-ki-zo and he was the father of Chief Winnemucca and grandfather of Sarah Winnemucca. The first Europeans who came to cross the Sierra Nevada encountered his tribe, the friendly Chief rode toward them yelling, “Tro-kay. ”, which is Paiute for “Everything is all right”. The unaware travelers assumed he was yelling his name, Chief Truckee later served as a guide for John C. Truckee is located along Interstate 80 at 39°20′32″N 120°12′13″W, Truckee has a dry-summer continental climate. Winters are extremely snowy and cold if not severe, while summers are cool-to-warm and dry, the National Weather Service reports that Truckee’s warmest month is July with an average maximum temperature of 82.7 °F and an average minimum temperature of 42.4 °F. January is the coldest month with an maximum temperature of 40.9 °F. The record maximum temperature of 104 °F was on July 6,2007, the record minimum temperature of −28 °F was on February 27,1962. Normal annual precipitation in Truckee is 30.85 inches, measurable precipitation occurs on an average of 87.0 days annually. The most precipitation in one month was 23.65 inches in December 1955, the most snow in one month was 196.0 inches in February 1938, and the most in a season 444.30 inches between July 1951 and June 1952. The maximum 24-hour snowfall was 34.0 inches on February 17,1990, the 2010 United States Census reported that Truckee had a population of 16,180. The population density was 480.8 people per square mile, the Census reported that 16,137 people lived in households,43 lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 were institutionalized. There were 502 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 43 same-sex married couples or partnerships,1,382 households were made up of individuals and 275 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54, there were 4,168 families, the average family size was 2.98. The median age was 38.0 years, for every 100 females there were 108.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 111.3 males, there were 12,803 housing units at an average density of 380.4 per square mile, of which 4,326 were owner-occupied, and 2,017 were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3. 3%, the vacancy rate was 7. 8%
Truckee, California
–
Donner Pass Road
Truckee, California
–
First snow of winter, Trout Creek, December 2007
Truckee, California
–
The
Truckee River just east of Truckee.
Truckee, California
–
A house in Truckee.
27.
Interstate 80 (Nevada)
–
Interstate 80 traverses the northern portion of the U. S. state of Nevada. I-80 follows the routes of the California Trail, First Transcontinental Railroad. Throughout the entire state, I-80 follows the routes of the Victory Highway. The freeway corridor follows the paths of the Truckee and Humboldt Rivers and these rivers have been used as a transportation corridor since the California Gold Rush of the 1840s. I-80 enters Nevada in the canyon of the Truckee River, paralleling the California Trail, upon exiting the canyon, the freeway serves the Truckee Meadows, a name for the urban area consisting of Verdi, Reno and Sparks. The freeway passes north of Downtown Reno in a depressed alignment before intersecting Interstate 580 / U. S. Route 395, the interchange with US395 is the busiest portion, averaging 122,000 vehicles per day in 2006. The freeway passes through downtown Sparks via a viaduct over the floor of the Nugget Casino Resort. After leaving the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area the freeway resumes following the Truckee River in a canyon to Fernley, traffic volumes drop to 26,600 vehicles per day by Fernley and continue dropping to 8,400 by the time the freeway reaches the center of the state. The freeway exits the Truckee River corridor near Wadsworth, past Wadsworth, the freeway cuts across the Lahontan Valley. The Lahontan Valley is a desert, sometimes called the Forty Mile Desert. The name comes from the California Gold Rush where the emigrants who came into the Lahontan Valley via the Humboldt River. The travelers would have then to endure 40 miles without water while crossing the valley. I-80 closely approximates the path of the emigrants between the Humboldt and Truckee Rivers, per the marker, this portion was the most dreaded portion of the California Trail. For the next 246 miles, I-80 follows the Humboldt River, along the way, the freeway passes through the towns of Lovelock, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, Carlin, Elko and Wells. At Winnemucca, I-80 is joined by the Feather River Route, the freeway is within visual distance of the river for most of this run. However, there are portions where the freeway bypasses bends by cutting across or tunneling under mountains along the canyon walls, between Winnemucca and Battle Mountain, the freeway bypasses bends via side canyons and Golconda Summit,5,159 feet. The highway also bypasses Palisade Canyon via Emigrant Pass 6,114 feet, just east of Carlin, I-80 passes through the Carlin Tunnel to bypass curves of the river in the Carlin Canyon. After Wells, I-80 departs the Humboldt River, First Transcontinental Railroad, from this point east, the freeway follows the routes of the Hastings Cutoff, Feather River Route, former US40 and State Route 1
Interstate 80 (Nevada)
–
I-80 descending into
Reno from the
Sierra Nevada
Interstate 80 (Nevada)
–
Map of Nevada with I-80 in red
Interstate 80 (Nevada)
–
I-80 in Downtown Reno
Interstate 80 (Nevada)
–
I-80 eastbound on the approach to
Emigrant Pass
28.
Nevada
–
Nevada is a state in the Western, Mountain West, and Southwestern regions of the United States of America. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 34th most populous, nearly three-quarters of Nevadas people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area where three of the states four largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada is officially known as the Silver State because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the Battle Born State, because it achieved statehood during the Civil War, as the Sage-brush State, for the plant of the same name. Nevada borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid, much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe, about 86% of the states land is managed by various jurisdictions of the U. S. federal government, both civilian and military. Before European contact, Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, the first Europeans to explore the region were Spanish. They called the region Nevada because of the snow covered the mountains in winter. The area formed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the United States annexed the area in 1848 after its victory in the Mexican–American War, and it was incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a boom that became an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31,1864, as the second of two added to the Union during the Civil War. Nevada has a reputation for its libertarian laws, in 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half the population of the next least-populated state. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century, Nevada is the only U. S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in Clark County, Washoe County and Carson City. The tourism industry remains Nevadas largest employer, with mining continuing as a sector of the economy. The name Nevada comes from the Spanish nevada, meaning snow-covered, most Nevadans pronounce the second syllable of their state name using the vowel of trap. Many from outside the Western United States pronounce it with the vowel of father, although the latter pronunciation is closer to the Spanish pronunciation, it is not the pronunciation preferred by most Nevadans. State Assemblyman Harry Mortenson proposed a bill to recognize the alternate pronunciation of Nevada, though the bill was not supported by most legislators, the Nevadan pronunciation is the de facto official one, since it is the one used by the state legislature. Nevada is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province, and is broken up by many mountain ranges
Nevada
–
The quartzite of the Prospect Mountain Formation on top of Jeff Davis Peak in
Great Basin National Park
Nevada
–
Flag
Nevada
–
Mountains west of Las Vegas in the
Mojave Desert
Nevada
–
Vegetation at Timber Creek in the
Schell Creek Range
29.
San Francisco
–
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
San Francisco
–
San Francisco and the
Golden Gate Bridge from
Marin Headlands
San Francisco
–
Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores)
San Francisco
–
1853
United States Coast Survey Map
San Francisco
–
Francis Samuel Marryat, Hilltop of San Francisco, California, Looking toward the Bay, 1849. M.& N. Hanhart Chromolithograph
30.
Alameda County, California
–
Alameda County is a county in the state of California in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,510,271, Alameda County is included in the San Francisco Bay Area, occupying much of the East Bay region. The county was formed on March 25,1853, from a portion of Contra Costa County. The Spanish word alameda means a place where trees grow. The willow and sycamore trees along the banks of the river reminded the early explorers of a road lined with trees, the county seat at the time it was formed was located at Alvarado, now part of Union City. In 1856 it was moved to San Leandro, where the county courthouse was destroyed by the devastating 1868 quake on the Hayward Fault, the county seat was then re-established in the town of Brooklyn from 1872-1875. Brooklyn is now part of Oakland, which has been the county seat since 1873, much of what is now considered an intensively urban region, with major cities, was developed as a trolley car suburb of San Francisco in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The annual county fair is held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, the fair runs for three weekends from June to July. Attractions include horse racing, carnival rides, 4-H exhibits, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 821 square miles, of which 739 square miles is land and 82 square miles is water. The San Francisco Bay borders the county on the west, the crest of the Berkeley Hills form part of the northeastern boundary, and reach into the center of the county. A coastal plain several miles wide lines the bay, and is Oaklands most populous region, Livermore Valley lies in the eastern part of the county. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge A2014 analysis found Alameda County to be the 4th most racially diverse county in the United States, the 2010 United States Census reported that Alameda County had a population of 1,510,271. The population density was 2,047.6 people per square mile, Hispanic or Latino of any race were 339,889 persons,16. 4% Mexican,0. 8% Puerto Rican,0. 2% Cuban,5. 1% Other Hispanic. 26. 0% of all households were made up of individuals and 7. 3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.31. In the county, the population was out with 24. 6% under the age of 18,9. 6% from 18 to 24,33. 9% from 25 to 44,21. 7% from 45 to 64. The median age was 34 years, for every 100 females there were 96.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.00 males, the median income for a household in the county was $55,946, and the median income for a family was $65,857. Males had an income of $47,425 versus $36,921 for females
Alameda County, California
Alameda County, California
Alameda County, California
Alameda County, California
31.
Contra Costa County, California
–
Contra Costa County is a county in the state of California in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,049,025, the name is Spanish for opposite coast, referring to its position on the other side of the bay from San Francisco. Contra Costa County is included in the San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area and it occupies the northern portion of the East Bay region and is primarily suburban. In the northern part of the county, significant coal and sand deposits were formed in even earlier geologic eras, other areas of the county have ridges exposing ancient but intact seashells, embedded in sandstone layers alternating with limestone. Layers of volcanic ash ejected from geologically recent but now extinct volcanoes, compacted and now tilted by compressive forces, may be seen at the site of some road excavations. This county is an agglomeration of several distinct geologic terranes, as is most of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, younger deposits at middle altitudes include pillow lavas, the product of undersea volcanic eruptions. There is an extensive but little recorded human history pre-European settlement in this area, the earliest definitively established occupation by modern man appears to have occurred six to ten thousand years ago. However, there may have been human presence far earlier, at least as far as non–settling populations are concerned, extensive trading from tribe to tribe transferred exotic materials such as obsidian throughout the region from far distant Californian tribes. Unlike the nomadic Native American of the Great Plains it appears that these tribes did not incorporate warfare into their culture but were generally cooperative. Within these cultures the concept of individual or collective land ownership was nonexistent, early European settlers in the region, however, did not record much about the culture of the natives. Most of what is known comes from preserved contemporaneous and excavated artifacts. Although there were no missions established within this county, Spanish influence here was direct and extensive, in 1821 Mexico gained independence from Spain. Mission lands extended throughout the Bay Area, including portions of Contra Costa County, between 1836 and 1846, during the era when California was a province of independent Mexico, the following 15 land grants were made in Contra Costa County. Rough surveying was based on a map, or diseño, measured by streams, shorelines, and/or horseman who marked it with rope, lands outside rancho grants were designated el sobrante, as in surplus or excess, and considered common lands. The law required the construction of a house within a year, fences were not required and were forbidden where they might interfere with roads or trails. Locally a large family required roughly 2000 head of cattle and two leagues of land to live comfortably. Foreign entrepreneurs came to the area to provide goods that Mexico couldn’t, Rancho Canada de los Vaqueros was granted to Francisco Alviso, Antonio Higuera, and Manuel Miranda. Two ranchos, both called Rancho San Ramon, were granted by the Mexican government in the San Ramon Valley, in 1833, Bartolome Pacheco and Mariano Castro shared the two square league Rancho San Ramon
Contra Costa County, California
–
The west face of
Mount Diablo, the most notable natural landmark in Contra Costa County
Contra Costa County, California
–
Seal
Contra Costa County, California
–
Mount Diablo from the Shell Ridge Open Space
Contra Costa County, California
–
View of the Shell Martinez oil refinery
32.
Solano County, California
–
Solano County is a county located in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 413,344, Solano County comprises the Vallejo-Fairfield, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area. Solano County is the county in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area region. A portion of the South Campus at the University of California, Solano County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Chief Solano at one time led the tribes between the Petaluma River and the Sacramento River, the chief was also called Sem-Yeto, which signifies brave or fierce hand. The Chief was given the Spanish name Francisco Solano during baptism at the Catholic Mission, Solano is a common surname in the north of Spain, especially in Navarra, Zaragoza and La Rioja. Travis Air Force Base is located just east of Fairfield, Solano County is the easternmost county of the North Bay. As such, it is reported by news agencies as being in the East Bay. Additionally, a portion of the county extends into the Sacramento Valley, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 906 square miles, of which 822 square miles is land and 84 square miles is water. Service also connects with BART stations in Contra Costa County, transit links are provided to Napa, Yolo and Sacramento counties as well. Greyhound and Amtrak provide long-distance intercity service, general aviation airports in Solano County which are open to the public are the Nut Tree Airport and Rio Vista Municipal Airport. The following table includes the number of reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense. The 2010 United States Census reported that Solano County had a population of 413,344. The racial makeup of Solano County was 210,751 White,60,750 African American,3,212 Native American,60,473 Asian,3,564 Pacific Islander,43,236 from other races, and 31,358 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 99,356 persons, at 52,641 Filipinos in the County making up 12% of the population, Solano County has the largest percentage Filipino population of any County in all of the United States. As of the census of 2000, there were 394,542 people,130,403 households, the population density was 476 people per square mile. There were 134,513 housing units at a density of 162 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 56. 4% White,14. 9% Black or African American,0. 8% Native American,12. 8% Asian,0. 8% Pacific Islander,8. 0% from other races, and 6. 4% from two or more races
Solano County, California
Solano County, California
Solano County, California
Solano County, California
33.
Napa County, California
–
Napa County is a county located north of San Pablo Bay in the northern portion of the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 136,484, the county seat is the City of Napa. Napa County was one of the counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the territory were given to Lake County in 1861. Napa County comprises the Napa, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland. It is one of four North Bay counties, in prehistoric times, the valley was inhabited by the Patwin Native Americans, with possible habitation by Wappo tribes in the northwestern foothills. Most villages are thought to have been constructed near the floodplains of watercourses that drain the valley and their food consisted of wild roots, acorns, small animals, earthworms, grasshoppers, and bread made from crushed California buckeye kernels. In winter they would construct huts made of tree branches, in summer they camped near rivers and streams. In winter months, they were clad in wild animal skins. The maximum prehistoric population is not to have exceeded 5000 persons. In 1776, a fort was erected by the Spanish Governor, Felipe de Neve a short distance northwest of Napa, francis Castro and Father Jose Altimura were the first Europeans to explore the Napa Valley in 1823. When the first white settlers arrived in the early 1830s, there were six tribes in the valley speaking different dialects, the Mayacomos tribe lived in the area where Calistoga was founded. The Callajomans were in the area near where the town of St. Helena now stands, further south, the Kymus dwelt in the middle part of the valley. The Napa and Ulcus tribes occupied part of the area where the City of Napa now exists while the Soscol tribe occupied the portion that now makes up the end of the valley. Many of the native peoples died during an epidemic in 1838. Settlers also killed several over claims of cattle theft, during the era between 1836 and 1846, when California was a province of independent Mexico, the following 13 ranchos were granted in Napa County, George C. Yount was a settler in Napa County and is believed to be the first Anglo-Saxon resident in the county. In 1836 Yount obtained the Mexican grant Rancho Caymus where he built what is said to be the first log house in California, soon afterward, he built a sawmill and grain mill, and was the first person to plant a vineyard in the county
Napa County, California
Napa County, California
Napa County, California
Napa County, California
34.
Yolo County, California
–
Yolo County, officially the County of Yolo, is a county located in the northern portion of the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 200,849, Yolo County is included in the Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county is located in the Sacramento Valley, much of Yolo County remains a relatively rural agricultural region. In the original act of 1850 the name was spelled Yola, Yolo is a Native American name variously believed to be a corruption of a tribal name Yo-loy meaning a place abounding in rushes or of the name of the chief, Yodo, or of the village of Yodoi. Yolo County was one of the counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. The county is governed by a board of five district supervisors as well as the governments of its four incorporated cities, Davis, West Sacramento, Winters, and Woodland. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 1,024 square miles. Transportation in Yolo County is based on a system of numbered county roads, the numbering system works in the following way, North–south roads have numbers from 41 to 117 and increase from west to east. East–west roads have numbers from 1 to 38A, and then from 151 to 161, each integer road number is generally one mile apart, with letters designating occasional roads less than one mile apart. County roads entering urban areas generally are named once they cross the city boundary, some examples include County Road 101 in Woodland being renamed Pioneer Ave and County Road 102 in Davis being named Pole Line Road. Yolobus runs buses throughout Yolo County and into Sacramento, and Sacramento International Airport, the University of California, Davis and the city of Davis jointly run Unitrans, a combination local city bus and campus shuttle. Fairfield-Suisun Transit Line 30 also stops in Davis on its runs between Fairfield and Sacramento, amtrak has a station in Davis. It is 79 nautical miles northeast of San Francisco, and is centered in the California Central Valley, the following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense. Yolo is a strongly Democratic county in Presidential and congressional elections, the last Republican Presidential candidate to win a majority in the county was Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, which is the longest drought for Republicans in any California county. However, some Republican Governors have carried Yolo county since then, in the United States House of Representatives, Yolo County is split between Californias 3rd and 6th congressional districts, represented by John Garamendi and Doris Matsui, respectively. In the California State Senate, the county is split between the 3rd and 6th Senate districts, represented by Bill Dodd and Richard Pan, respectively. In the California State Assembly, the county is split between the 4th and 7th Assembly districts, represented by Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and Kevin McCarty, respectively. In November 2008, Yolo was one of just three counties in Californias interior in which voters rejected Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage, Yolo voters rejected Proposition 8 by 58.4 percent to 41.6 percent
Yolo County, California
Yolo County, California
Yolo County, California
Yolo County, California
35.
Sacramento County, California
–
Sacramento County is a county in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,418,788 and its county seat is Sacramento, which has been the state capital of California since 1854. Sacramento County is included in the Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, the county covers about 994 square miles in the northern portion of the Central Valley, on into Gold Country. The southernmost portion of Sacramento County has direct access to San Francisco Bay, Sacramento County was one of the original counties of California, which were created in 1850 at the time of statehood. The county was named after the Sacramento River, which forms its western border, the river was named by Spanish cavalry officer Gabriel Moraga for the Santisimo Sacramento, referring to the Catholic Eucharist. Alexander Hamilton Willard, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, is buried in the old Franklin Cemetery. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 994 square miles. Most of the county is at a close to sea level. The highest point in the county is Carpenter Hill at 828 feet, Carpenter Hill is the lowest high point of any county in California. Major watercourses in the county include the American River, Sacramento River, Cosumnes River, a tributary of the Mokelumne River and Dry Creek, Hispanic or Latino of any race were 306,196 persons. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,223,499 people,453,602 households, the population density was 1,267 people per square mile. There were 474,814 housing units at a density of 492/sq mi. The racial makeup of the county was 64. 0% White,10. 6% Black or African American,1. 09% Native American,13. 5% Asian,0. 6% Pacific Islander,7. 5% from other races, and 5. 8% from two or more races. 19. 3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,10. 2% were of German,7. 0% English,6. 7% Irish and 5. 1% American ancestry according to Census 2000. 75. 7% spoke only English at home,10. 0% spoke Spanish,1. 5% Hmong,1. 4% Chinese or Mandarin,1. 3% Vietnamese,1. 2% Tagalog and 1. 2% Russian. 26. 7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8. 0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.24. In the county, the population was out with 27. 6% under the age of 18,9. 5% from 18 to 24,31. 0% from 25 to 44,20. 9% from 45 to 64. The median age was 34 years, for every 100 females there were 95.9 males
Sacramento County, California
Sacramento County, California
Sacramento County, California
Sacramento County, California
36.
Placer County, California
–
Placer County, officially the County of Placer, is a county located in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 348,432, Placer County is included in the Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is located in both the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada regions, in what is known as the Gold Country and it stretches from the suburbs of Sacramento to Lake Tahoe and the Nevada border. The discovery of gold in 1848 brought tens of thousands of miners from around the world, in addition to many more thousands intending to provide goods and services to the miners. Only three years after the discovery of gold, the county was formed from portions of Sutter. Placer County took its name from the Spanish word for sand or gravel deposits containing gold, miners washed away the gravel, leaving the heavier gold, in a process known as placer mining. Gold mining was a major industry through the 1880s, but gradually the new residents turned to farming the fertile soil, harvesting timber. Auburn was settled when Claude Chana discovered gold in Auburn Ravine in May 1848 and later became a shipping, the cornerstone of Placers beautiful and historic courthouse, which is clearly visible from Interstate 80 through Auburn, was laid on July 4,1894. The building itself was renovated during the late 1980s and continues to serve the public today with courtrooms, a sheriffs office. Loomis and Newcastle began as mining towns, but soon became centers of a booming fruit-growing industry, penryn was founded by a Welsh miner, Griffith Griffith, who turned from mining to establish a large granite quarry. Rocklin began as a town and became home to a number of granite quarries. Lincoln and Sheridan continue to support ranching and farming, Lincoln also is the home of one of the countys oldest businesses, the Gladding, McBean terra cotta clay manufacturing plant established in 1875. The 1960 Winter Olympics were hosted in Squaw Valley, which is located in Placer County. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 1,502 square miles. Watercourses in Placer County include the American River and Bunch Creek, Lake Tahoe has 40. 96% of its surface area in Placer County, more than in any of the four other counties in which it lies. El Dorado National Forest in part Tahoe National Forest in part The 2010 United States Census reported that Placer County had a population of 348,432. The racial makeup of Placer County was 290,977 White,4,751 African American,3,011 Native American,20,435 Asian,778 Pacific Islander,13,375 from other races, Hispanic or Latino of any race were 44,710 persons. As of the census of 2000, there were 248,399 people,93,382 households, the population density was 177 people per square mile
Placer County, California
Placer County, California
Placer County, California
Placer County, California
–
Gold specimen from the Eagle's Nest Mine, a famous source of specimen gold in Placer County
37.
Nevada County, California
–
Nevada County is a County located in the Sierra Nevada of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 98,764, the county seat is Nevada City. Nevada County comprises the Truckee-Grass Valley, CA Micropolitan Statistical Area and it is located in the Mother Lode Country. Created in 1851, from portions of Yuba County, Nevada County was named after the town of Nevada City. The word nevada is Spanish for snowy or snow-covered, Nevada City was the first to use the word Nevada in its name. In 1851 the newly formed Nevada County used the name as the county seat. The bordering state of Nevada used the name in 1861. The region came to life in the Gold Rush of 1849, many historical sites remain to mark the birth of this important region in Californias formative years. Among them are the Nevada Theatre in Nevada City, the oldest theater built in California in 1865 and it operates to this day and once hosted Mark Twain among other historical figures. The Old 5 Mile House stagecoach stop built in 1890, also operates to this day as a provider of hospitality spanning three centuries, the gold industry in Nevada County thrived into the post WWII days. The county had many firsts and historic technological moments, the first long-distance telephone in the world, built in 1877 by the Ridge Telephone Company, connected French Corral with French Lake,58 miles away. It was operated by the Milton Mining Company from a building on site that had been erected about 1853. The Pelton wheel, designed to power gold mines, still drives hydro-electric generators today, Nevada City and Grass Valley were among the first California towns with electric lights. The Olympics, NASA, and virtually every television station around the country utilizes video/broadcasting equipment designed and manufactured by Grass Valley Group, founded in Grass Valley. The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad was built in 1876, and was the railroad in the West that was never robbed. The rail line closed in 1942 and was torn up for scrap, in Grass Valley the historic Holbrooke Hotel opened in 1851 and housed Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and four U. S. presidents. The Community of Rough and Ready seceded from the Union for a time and became the Great Republic of Rough and Ready. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 974 square miles
Nevada County, California
Nevada County, California
Nevada County, California
Nevada County, California
38.
Sierra County, California
–
Sierra County is a county located in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 3,240 making it the second-least populous county in California, the county seat is Downieville, and the only incorporated city is Loyalton. The county is located in the Sierra Nevada, northeast of Sacramento on the border with Nevada, Sierra County was formed from parts of Yuba County in 1852. The county derives its name from the Sierra Nevada, prior to the California Gold Rush, the area was home to both the Maidu and the Washoe peoples. They generally summered in the elevations to hunt and fish. After the discovery of gold in the Sierra foothills sparked the California Gold Rush, most mining settlements in the county sprung up along the North and Middle Forks of the Yuba River, both of which had rich deposits of gold. While some of the boom towns faded away once gold fever died down, other settlements such as Downieville. Notable gold nuggets found in the county include a 26.5 pound specimen, avoirdupois, found by a group of sailors at Sailor Ravine, a 51-pound specimen was found in 1853 by a group of Frenchmen in French Ravine. The 106 pound Monumental Nugget was found in Sept.1869 at Sierra City, the Bald Mountain drift mine in Forest City was founded in Aug.1864, and was the largest of its kind in the state at the time. The Bald Mountain Extension was located in 1874 east of Forest, the Monte Cristo Mine was located in 1854. The largest quartz-mine is the Sierra Buttes Gold Mine was located in 1850 near Sierra City, the Gold Bluff Mine was located near Downnieville in 1854. By 1880 the county was crushing 70,000 tons of quartz and had 266 miles of mining ditches. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 962 square miles. In more recent times it is a strongly Republican county in Presidential and congressional elections, the last Democrat to win a majority in the county was Jimmy Carter in 1976. On November 4,2008 Sierra County voted 64. 2% for Proposition 8, U. S. Sierraville-Dearwater Field Airport is a general aviation airport located near Sierraville. The following table includes the number of reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense. As of 2015 the largest self-reported ancestry groups in Sierra County, California are, The 2010 United States Census reported that Sierra County had a population of 3,240. The racial makeup of Sierra County was 3,022 White,6 African American,44 Native American,12 Asian,2 Pacific Islander,75 from other races, Hispanic or Latino of any race were 269 persons
Sierra County, California
Sierra County, California
Sierra County, California
39.
Interstate Highway System
–
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways is a network of controlled-access highways that forms a part of the National Highway System of the United States. The system is named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who championed its formation, construction was authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, and the original portion was completed 35 years later, although some urban routes were cancelled and never built. The network has since been extended and, as of 2013, as of 2013, about one-quarter of all vehicle miles driven in the country use the Interstate system. In 2006, the cost of construction was estimated at about $425 billion, the nations revenue needs associated with World War I prevented any significant implementation of this policy, which expired in 1921. In the plan, Mehren proposed a 50, 000-mile system, the system would include two percent of all roads and would pass through every state at a cost of $25,000 per mile, providing commercial as well as military transport benefits. As the landmark 1916 law expired, new legislation was passed—the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 and this new road construction initiative once again provided for federal matching funds for road construction and improvement, $75 million allocated annually. The Bureau of Public Roads asked the Army to provide a list of roads that it considered necessary for national defense. A boom in construction followed throughout the decade of the 1920s. As automobile traffic increased, planners saw a need for such a national system to supplement the existing, largely non-freeway. By the late 1930s, planning had expanded to a system of new superhighways, in 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave Thomas MacDonald, chief at the Bureau of Public Roads, a hand-drawn map of the United States marked with eight superhighway corridors for study. He recognized that the system would also provide key ground transport routes for military supplies. The publication in 1955 of the General Location of National System of Interstate Highways, informally known as the Yellow Book, assisting in the planning was Charles Erwin Wilson, who was still head of General Motors when President Eisenhower selected him as Secretary of Defense in January 1953. The Interstate Highway System was authorized on June 29,1956 by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate, three states have claimed the title of first Interstate Highway. Missouri claims that the first three contracts under the new program were signed in Missouri on August 2,1956, the first contract signed was for upgrading a section of US Route 66 to what is now designated Interstate 44. On August 13,1956, Missouri awarded the first contract based on new Interstate Highway funding, kansas claims that it was the first to start paving after the act was signed. Preliminary construction had taken place before the act was signed, the state marked its portion of I-70 as the first project in the United States completed under the provisions of the new Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The Pennsylvania Turnpike could also be considered one of the first Interstate Highways, on October 1,1940,162 miles of the highway now designated I‑70 and I‑76 opened between Irwin and Carlisle. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania refers to the turnpike as the Granddaddy of the Pikes, October 12,1979, The final section of the Canada to Mexico freeway Interstate 5 is dedicated near Stockton, California
Interstate Highway System
–
A rural stretch of
I-5, with two lanes in each direction separated by a large grassy
median and with cross-traffic limited to overpasses and underpasses
Interstate Highway System
–
Interstate Highways in the 48 contiguous states.
Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico also have Interstate Highways. (
See version with numbers.)
Interstate Highway System
–
I‑55 under construction in Mississippi, photo from May 1972
Interstate Highway System
–
Interstate highway in
New Jersey built to modern standards
40.
List of Interstate Highways
–
Primary Interstate Highways of the United States are numbered with one- or two-digit designations. Their associated auxiliary highways have three-digit numbers, routes divisible by 5 are major routes, often running coast-to-coast or border-to-border. Five pairs of numbers are duplicated throughout the system, the highways are separated by large distances which prevent confusion. Below, these are differentiated from each other by West and East, the main list is followed by sections listing the primary Interstate highways in Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. There are 68 primary Interstate Highways listed in the table below, in addition to the 48 contiguous states, Interstate Highways are found in Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico. The Federal Highway Administration funds four routes in Alaska and three routes in Puerto Rico under the program as the rest of the Interstate Highway System. They are fully controlled-access routes built to the standards as the mainland Interstate Highways. Alaskas Interstate Highways are unsigned, although all have state highway numbers that do not match the Interstate Highway numbers. Like Alaska, Puerto Rico signs its Interstate Highways as territorial routes, many of the territorys routes are freeway-standard toll roads. The title of interactive fiction I-0 refers to the fictional Interstate Zero
List of Interstate Highways
–
Interstate Highways in the 48 contiguous states
41.
List of auxiliary Interstate Highways
–
The auxiliary Interstate Highways are a supplemental subset of the freeways within the Interstate Highway System of the United States. Auxiliary routes are classified as spur routes, bypasses, or beltways. There are some routes which connect to the parent route at one end and these shorter auxiliary routes branch off of main routes and are numbered based on the number of the parent route, such that all I-x95 routes are supplemental routes for I-95. While some exceptions do exist, generally spur routes are numbered with an odd hundreds digit, while bypasses, because longer interstates may have many such supplemental routes, the numbers may repeat in each state along their route, but they will not repeat within a state. The basic tenets of the auxiliary Interstates are divided into three branches, spur, loop, and bypass routes, each one signifies a different characteristic of the auxiliary route. The first digit of the three digits usually determines whether a route is a bypass, spur, or beltway, the last two digits are derived from the main Interstate Highway. For instance, I-515 contains an odd number in the first digit, the last two digits signify the highways origin. In this case, the 15 in I-515 shows that it is a supplement to I-15, numerous exceptions to the standard numbering guidelines exist in many places. This can be for a number of reasons, in some cases, original routes were changed, extended, or abandoned, leaving discrepancies in the system. In other cases, it may not be possible to use the number because there are none available. An Interstate Highway spur routes number usually has an odd number for its first digit and it may represent the first portion of a contemplated extended freeway, one that downgrades to below Interstate standards with plans to upgrade it later on. An example is I-540 in Arkansas and it may connect two unrelated Interstate highways—such as I-390 in New York State and I-355 in Illinois do. Note that states differ on their interpretation of the convention in this case. In the I-390 example above, the route has both ends at Interstates, but not at the same Interstate on both ends, and is assigned an odd first digit. Another example is I-275 in Tennessee, it is a connector between I-40 and I-75 and is assigned an even first digit, examples of Interstate Highway spur routes are listed below. I-110 in California links I-10 with the Port of Los Angeles and this freeway was built before Interstate Highways as the Harbor Freeway. Later, it was adopted into the Interstate Highway System, i-180 in North-Central Pennsylvania connects Williamsport and Lycoming County with I-80 in Milton, which does not actually enter Lycoming County. I-180 also serves as a connection to those traveling to New York and I-86 via U. S. Route 15, i-190 in New York connects the cities of Niagara Falls and Buffalo with I-90
List of auxiliary Interstate Highways
–
Interstate Highways in the 48 contiguous states
42.
Future Interstate Highways
–
Future Interstate Highways include various proposals to establish new mainline Interstate Highways in the United States. This does not include the numerous auxiliary Interstate Highways that are in various stages of planning, planned expansion of existing mainline interstates are also not included here. Several Congressional High Priority Corridors have been designated as parts of the Interstate System by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. By law, they will become interstates when built to Interstate standards, Interstate 3 is the proposed designation of an Interstate Highway Corridor under development in the southeastern U. S. It is planned to run from Savannah, Georgia, to Knoxville and its number does not follow standard numbering conventions, under established numbering conventions I-3 would normally run west of I-5 along the Pacific Coast. The unnumbered Interstate was established by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act, the Interstate 3 designation has not been officially accepted by AASHTO or the FHWA, but is being used by the Georgia Department of Transportation and others to identify the highway. The number comes from the 3rd Infantry Division which is based in Georgia, Interstate 7 or Interstate 9 has been proposed by Caltrans for State Route 99 in central California. This also serves as a connector to the northern portion of Highway 99. Interstate 11 is the designated route number for an Interstate connecting Phoenix, Arizona, to Las Vegas or Reno. Their rationale was that the Phoenix and Las Vegas metro areas were two of the largest urban regions in adjacent states not featuring direct Interstate connection, the corridor would be approximately 285 miles in length and would most likely subsume the existing I-515 freeway facility in the Las Vegas area. Plans to connect I-11 to the existing Interstate network in the Phoenix region have yet to be determined, the proposed routing for I-11 is part of the CANAMEX high-priority corridor. The projects contained within this portion of the overall Canamex corridor include the recently completed Hoover Dam Bypass project, at the same time, it extended the southern terminus of the corridor from Phoenix through Tucson to Nogales generally via the I-10 and I-19 corridors. The Regional Transportation Alliance expected this corridor to be called I-46 or another suitable designation. At a meeting in La Grange, North Carolina, on March 17,2016, the rationale for the I-50 numerical selection was cited as a number not in conflict with either an existing Interstate designation or currently applied to a U. S. Highway within North Carolina. This recommendation was forwarded to NCDOT for submission to AASHTO, for the AASHTO Special Committee on U. S. Route Numbering meeting in May 2016, NCDOT proposed I-36 for this route. However, AASHTO instead designated the route Interstate 42, in November 2012, NCDOT requested the addition of the corridor to the Interstate Highway System through administrative options with the Federal Highway Administration as I-44. Congressman G. K. Butterfield introduced legislation in June 2014 to add the corridor to the Interstate Highway System through Congressional authority and this corridor was officially designated as a future Interstate with the passing of the FAST Act. Had the I-44 designation been approved, it would have been discontinuous with the current I-44, however, subsequent review of available and preferred route numbers produced two other candidates, I-56 if an east–west designation was chosen, or I-89 if a north–south designation was chosen
Future Interstate Highways
–
Interstate Highways in the 48 contiguous states
43.
State highways in California
–
The state highway system of the U. S. state of California is a network of highways that are owned and maintained by the Highway Division of the California Department of Transportation. Each highway is assigned a Route number in the Streets and Highways Code, most of these are numbered in a statewide system, and are known as State Route X. United States Numbered Highways are labeled US X, and Interstate Highways are Interstate X. Under the code, the state assigns a unique Route X to each highway, the California Highway Patrol is tasked with patrolling all state highways to enforce traffic laws. Californias highway system is governed under the states Streets and Highways Code, since July 1 of 1964, the majority of legislative route numbers, those defined in the Streets and Highways Code, match the sign route numbers. For example, Interstate 5 is listed as Route 5 in the code, the state may relinquish segments of highways and turn them over to local control. The state may also delete a highway completely and turn over a state route to local control. Business routes are not maintained by the state unless they are also assigned legislative route numbers, State Route 14U, an old alignment of State Route 14, is the only one signed as such. Both types of suffixed routes are also considered spurs, current or former unsigned suffixed routes include State Route 156U, signed as State Route 156 Business through Hollister, and State Route 180S, the freeway replacement for State Route 180 in Fresno. The first legislative routes were defined by the State Highway Bond Act in 1909, passed by the California State Legislature and these, and later extensions to the system, were numbered sequentially. No signs were erected for these routes, the United States Numbered Highways were assigned by the American Association of State Highway Officials in November 1926, but posting did not begin in California until January 1928. These were assigned to some of the legislative routes in California. In 1934, after the expansion of the state highway system in 1933 by the California Legislature. The California sign route numbers were assigned in a geographical system, odd-numbered routes ran north–south and even-numbered routes ran east–west. A rough grid was used inside the two regions, with the largest numbers — all less than 200 - in eastern California, the Interstate Highway System numbers were assigned by AASHO in late 1959. In 1963 and 1964, a renumbering of the legislative routes was made. Some changes were made to the sign routes, mostly related to decommissionings of U. S. Since the 1990s, many routes, especially in urban areas, have been deleted and turned over to local control. This transfers the cost of maintaining them from state to local budgets, not all cities have been prepared to accept such routes from Caltrans simultaneously, so many have been decommissioned from the state system one fragment at a time
State highways in California
–
Route shield signs at the intersection of SR 123 and SR 13 in Berkeley
State highways in California
–
Standard California state route shields. They are in the shape of a miner's
spade to honor the
California Gold Rush.
State highways in California
–
U.S. Route 395 looking south at
Mono Lake
44.
List of Interstate Highways in California
–
This is a list of Interstates in the U. S. state of California that have existed since the 1964 renumbering. It includes routes that were defined by the California State Legislature but never built, each state highway in California is maintained by the California Department of Transportation and is assigned a Route number in the Streets and Highways Code. Under the code, the state assigns a unique Route X to each highway, portions of some routes have been relinquished to or are otherwise maintained by local or other governments, and may not be included in the length listed below. Several routes are broken into pieces, and their lengths may not reflect the overlaps that would be required to make them continuous. If a route was renumbered, the old or new number is given in the notes column, the years are when legislative action was taken, not when real-world changes were made. Since the 1990s, a number of piecemeal relinquishments have been made and these are generally reflected in the length but not the termini. Former termini are not shown if they are along the current route, one Interstate Highway—Interstate 305—is defined only federally, the state calls it part of US50. It is signed as part of Business Interstate 80, the only state-maintained Interstate business route in California
List of Interstate Highways in California
–
Standard route signage in California
45.
List of U.S. Routes in California
–
Routes in the U. S. state of California. It includes routes that were defined by the California State Legislature but never built and it also includes the routes that were decommissioned during the 1964 state highway renumbering. Each U. S. Route in California is maintained by the California Department of Transportation and is assigned a Route number in the Streets and Highways Code. Under the code, the state assigns a unique Route X to each highway, portions of some routes have been relinquished to or are otherwise maintained by local or other governments, and may not be included in the length listed below. Several routes are broken into pieces, and their lengths may not reflect the overlaps that would be required to make them continuous. If a route was renumbered, the old or new number is given in the notes column, concurrences are not explicitly codified in the Streets and Highways Code, such highway segments are listed on only one of the corresponding legislative route numbers. Since the 1990s, a number of piecemeal relinquishments have been made and these are generally reflected in the length but not the termini. Former termini are not shown if they are along the current route, a U. S. Route may be partially signed as an Interstate Highway, while the remaining segment is signed as a U. S. Route
List of U.S. Routes in California
–
Standard route signage in California
46.
List of state highways in California
–
This is a list of state highways in the U. S. state of California that have existed since the 1964 renumbering. It includes routes that were defined by the California State Legislature but never built and it does not include the few routes that were relinquished before 1964 or the larger number of sign routes that were renumbered in or before 1964. Each state highway in California is maintained by the California Department of Transportation and is assigned a Route number in the Streets, under the code, the state assigns a unique Route X to each highway, and does not differentiate between state, US, or Interstate highways. Routes and Interstate Highways that traverse California are also defined in the California Streets and this list does not include these state routes as they are listed separately. A few cases exist, such as SR110, where a defined California State Route partially overlaps with a federally defined Interstate Highway and this table only addresses the portion signed as a California State Route in these cases. Lengths for each state route were initially measured as they existed during the 1964 state highway renumbering, the years listed reflect when the route was affected by legislative action, this is not necessarily the same year as the actual construction or signing changes to the route. Concurrences are not explicitly codified in the Streets and Highways Code, for example, the I-80/I-580 concurrency, known as the Eastshore Freeway, is only listed under Route 80 in the highway code while the definition of Route 580 is broken into non-contiguous segments. Some highways are not contiguous as the state has relinquished control of sections to local governments. The stated length of the highway may or may not reflect the portions under local control, California Roads portal Media related to State highways in California at Wikimedia Commons
List of state highways in California
47.
Deleted state highways in California
–
State Route 21 closely followed the route of current Interstate 680. It began in San Jose heading northeast from I-280 and US101, from there, SR21 headed northeast toward Pleasanton and intersected I-580. SR21 then headed northwest to Concord and Martinez, California, intersecting SR24, in Benicia, SR21 intersected with SR141 and ended in Fairfield at I-80. The Bureau of Public Roads approved urban routes of the Interstate Highway System on September 15,1955, including a loop around the San Francisco Bay, only I-680 was built along SR21. A southerly extension, bypassing downtown Walnut Creek to South Main Street, opened on March 22,1960, SR21 then ceased to exist in 1973 and was deleted from the California legislature in 1976. State Route 30 ran from Interstate 210 in San Dimas to Interstate 10 in Redlands through San Bernardino. It was built to freeway standards between Interstate 215 in San Bernardino and Interstate 10 and between the current terminus of State Route 57 in San Dimas to Foothill Blvd. in La Verne. When the freeway section between Foothill Blvd. and Interstate 215 was completed in 2007, the route was decommissioned and renumbered SR210 and it is expected to be included into the interstate highway system at some later date as an extension to Interstate 210. State Route 31 ran from State Route 91 near Corona to Interstate 15 in Devore through San Bernardino, the route was deleted in 1974, when it was added to the interstate system. State Route 42 ran from State Route 1 west of Inglewood to State Route 91 in Santa Ana Canyon near Norwalk, largely along Manchester Avenue, the segment east of Interstate 5 was added to State Route 90. The segment west of Interstate 5 was added to the system as Interstate 105. The freeway would not be opened until 1993, which resulted in the route continuing to be signed as State Route 42. To this day, Route 42 is still signed in many places. State Route 69 began at SR198 amid Tulare County and it then headed north and intersected SR216 in Woodlake and CR J27 amid farmland in the county. The route continued to meet SR201 in Elderwood, after several miles through Tulare County, it crossed into Fresno County, where it met its north end at State Route 180. In 1972, this highway was decommissioned and renumbered SR245, State Route 106 was originally created in 1964, and ran from State Route 38 in Redlands to State Route 18 in Running Springs. Prior to 1964, the highway was a part of Legislative Route 190, after 1964, the route was split in half. The western portion became State Route 30, the eastern portion was combined with Legislative Route 207, and became State Route 106
Deleted state highways in California
–
Standard route signage in California
48.
California Freeway and Expressway System
–
The California Freeway and Expressway System is a system of existing or planned freeways and expressways in the U. S. state of California. It encompasses both State highways and federal highways in California and it is defined by the Streets and Highways Code, sections 250-257. The following is a list of defined by the Streets and Highways Code, sections 250-257. Some of the routes listed may still be in the stages of being fully upgraded to freeways or expressways. State Route 1 State Route 2 State Route 3 State Route 4 Interstate 5 U. S. S. S, Route 95 State Route 96 U. S. Route 97 State Route 98 State Route 99 State Route 100 U. S. S. S
California Freeway and Expressway System
–
Map of the system
US 101 in San Francisco
I‑80 at Nevada state line.svg)
→
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
I-880 south (Nimitz Freeway) – Alameda, San Jose
I-580 east (MacArthur Freeway) to SR 24 – Downtown Oakland, Hayward, Stockton
SR 13 (Ashby Avenue) / Shellmound Street
SR 4 east – Hercules, Stockton
SR 29 (Sonoma Boulevard)
I-780 to I-680 / Curtola Parkway – Benicia, Martinez
SR 37 west / Auto Mall Columbus Parkway – Napa, San Rafael, Novato
SR 12 west – Napa, Sonoma
I-505 north – Winters, Redding
SR 113 south (First Street) / Currey Road – Dixon
US 50 east (I-305 east / I-80 Bus. east) – Sacramento, South Lake Tahoe
I-5 to SR 99 – Los Angeles, Redding
SR 65 north – Lincoln, Marysville
SR 193 west – Lincoln
SR 49 north (SR 193 east) – Grass Valley
SR 174 – Colfax, Grass Valley
SR 20 west – Nevada City, Grass Valley
SR 89 south – Tahoe City, Lake Tahoe, Squaw Valley
SR 89 north / SR 267 south – Sierraville, Lake Tahoe
