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California Highways
California Highways
www.cahighways.org

“Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Numbered Highways in California*
* But Were Afraid To Ask



Introduction

Welcome to the California Highways home page. From this page, you can access a variety of information related to California highways and California highway history that I have collected over the years. I welcome comments and corrections to this information; you may reach me by sending Email to webmaster@cahighways.org.

This site should answer most of your questions. However, there still may be a few questions that aren't covered by the areas in the site. If you question remains unanswered after reviewing the site, please check the Other Frequently Asked Questions, and if that doesn't work, please send me email at webmaster@cahighways.org. Another good source to getting questions answered is Caltrans itself (and you must use the Caltrans contacts if the question relates to potential legal issues).

[Cahighwas .NE. Caltrans]Note: This is a hobbyist website. The California Highways Site is not affilated with or sponsored by Caltrans, the California Department of Transportation, although I truly appreciate the support that Caltrans staff have provided me in doing research, and the kind words they have sent me regarding the information on this site. If you have questions concerning operation of the state highways, or that are of a legal or regulatory nature, please contact Caltrans directly at http://www.dot.ca.gov/. I'll be glad to answer any question I can, but this is a hobbyist site. If you are looking for the current status of a particular state route, try the Caltrans Highway Status page. The California Highway Patrol also maintains a Traffic Incident Page. If you have a maintenance problem to report, use the Caltrans Maintenance Report Form.

Stay Updated

Site Main Sections

State Highway Routes: Old and New

State Highway Routes: Old and New This section provides information on every state numbered route that was ever defined in California. This includes the route's current definition, as well as historical information and all known names. Visit Named Highways and Structures: An Index for an index to all highway names.

County Sign Routes

Numbered County HighwaysThis section provides information on the state's County Sign Route systems. These are the routes on the blue pentagon signs with numbers such as N4 or J7.

State Highway Types

State Highway TypesThis section provides the definitions of the various state highway types in California.

Interstate Types and History

Interstate Types/HistoryThis section provides information on the different types of Interstate highways, and gives a history in Interstate highway submissions by the state of California.

Numbering Conventions

Highway NumberingThis section explains how highways are numbered (and were numbered) in California. It includes information on Interstate, U.S., state, county, and forest routes, as well as exit numbering and post miles.

State Highway Renumberings

State Highway RenumberingsThis section provides a summary of how the numbers of state highways have changed. It focuses on two primary areas: the "great renumbering" in 1964 when the legislative route numbers were aligned with the signed route numbers, and how the U.S. highway system has changed in California.

Highway System Chronology

Chronology of Highway SystemThis section provides a history of additions and changes to the state route system. They identify, year by year, when each portion of a route was added or deleted to the state highway system.

Historical and Planning Maps

Historical and Planning MapsThis section uses historical and planning maps to tell stories about the history and development of highways in California.

Statistics

StatisticsThis section provides a variety of statistics about the routs in the State Highway system and the County Sign Route system.

Trails and Roads

El Camino RealThis section provides information on some of the more significant named roads in California, including the De Anza Trail and the El Camino Real.

Related Links and Resources

Related WWW LinksThis section provides links to other highway and highway related sites. This section also provides a link to my index of Current California Highway-Related Legislation that I find of interest, and to the recommended reading lists. I also maintain copies of Caltrans and Related Resource Links for resources that disappeared during Caltrans' 2019 accessibility rework.

Recent Changes

Recent ChangesThis section provides a summary of recent changes to the California Highway pages.

Sources and Credits

Sources and CreditsI couldn't have done it without you. No, really! This section provides credit to all the good folks that have helped me develop these pages. You may also want to look at the recommended reading lists.


Other Members of the California Highways Family

Additionally, the following sites are part of the cahighways.org family. Although not maintained by the cahighways.org webmaster, they all deal specifically with California and its highway system:

[AARoads]aaroads.cahighways.org. Formerly limited to just San Diego, Andy Field and the crew at AARoads have expanded to cover all of California.

[Santa Clarita Resources]santa-clarita.cahighways.org. Mike Ballard's "Historical Highways of Central and Southern California" pages. This includes information on US 6 and US 99, as well as information on unbuilt freeways, maps, East Los Angeles interchanges, and much, much more.

[ushighways.cahighways.org]ushighways.cahighways.org. Casey Cooper's "Historic US Highways of California". The historic US highways of California have the same magic that Route 66 has, although much of theirs is still waiting to be rediscovered. This site is a repository of information about the 18 US highways that once traversed California.



[Your Humble Author]About the Webmaster
This site has been hosted by Westhost since 2004; between 2004 and 1996, it was hosted by Pacificnet ז״ל.

© 1996-2020 Daniel P. Faigin.
Maintained by: Daniel P. Faigin <webmaster@cahighways.org>.