U.S. Route 99
Pacific Highway Golden State Highway
Route information
Maintained byCaltrans
Length	754 mi (1,213 km)
Existed	1926–1972[1]
Major junctions
South end	Fed. 5 atMexican border inCalexico[2]
Major intersections	US 80 inEl Centro[2] US 60 fromIndio toBeaumont, andPomona toLos Angeles US 70 fromIndio toLos Angeles US 6 /US 66 /US 101 in Los Angeles[3] US 399 /US 466 inBakersfield US 50 fromFrench Camp toSacramento US 40 fromDavis toRoseville US 299 inRedding
North end	US 99 at theOregon state line
Location
Country	United States
State	California
Counties	Imperial,Riverside,San Bernardino,Los Angeles,Kern,Tulare,Fresno,Madera,Merced,Stanislaus,San Joaquin,Sacramento;Tehama,Shasta,Siskiyou
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Special Divided State highways in California Interstate US State Scenic History Pre‑1964 Unconstructed Deleted Freeways
←SR 98 →SR 99

U.S. Route 99 (US 99) was the main north–southUnited States Numbered Highway on theWest Coast of the United States until 1964, running fromCalexico, California, on theMexican border toBlaine, Washington, on theCanadian border. Known also as the "Golden State Highway" and "The Main Street of California", US 99 was an important route inCalifornia throughout much of the 1930s as a route forDust Bowl immigrant farm workers to traverse the state. It was assigned in 1926 and existed until it was replaced for the most part byInterstate 5 (I-5). A large section in theCentral Valley is nowState Route 99 (SR 99).

The highway started at the border withBaja California inCalexico, California. It then continued north along the western shore of theSalton Sea. The stretch is now known asSR 86. US 99 continued along present-daySR 111 throughCoachella to its intersection at Dillon Road with another major US route signed as bothUS 60 andUS 70.

Now signed as US 60/US 70/US 99, the highway continued north throughIndio and turned west through theSan Gorgonio Pass towardLos Angeles paralleling the route of modernI-10. InBeaumont, US 60 split off on its own westward trek to Los Angeles. The highway through Banning and Beaumont (known as Ramsey Street in Banning and Sixth Street in Beaumont) was bypassed by the new superhighway version of US 60/US 70/US 99 that would later become part of I-10. The edges of the old US 60 shield at the replacement interchange's overhead sign at one point were visible underneath theSR 60 shield that covers it; however, in 2020, the sign was removed in exchange for a modern retroreflective sign.^{[citation needed]} Prior to the construction of the superhighway, US 99 entered Los Angeles onValley Boulevard, multiplexed with US 70.

US 70 ended in downtown LA while US 99 turned north once again more or less following the route of today'sI-5 (San Fernando Road in theSan Fernando Valley before the construction of I-5), up and over theTehachapi Mountains to theSan Joaquin Valley. US 99's original alignment over the rugged Tehachapi Mountains was known in its earliest days as theRidge Route, the first highway directly linking theLos Angeles Basin to the San Joaquin Valley. Built in 1915, the alignment betweenCastaic andSR 138 toGorman is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places. The original Ridge Route at the south and the Grapevine at the north was an exceptionally twisty and narrow two-lane concrete road that was very slow to travel along the ridge precipices and was considered dangerous to drive in the days of the Model A Ford and overheating trucks. It was bypassed in 1933 by the three-lane "Alternate Ridge Route", some of which now sits at the bottom ofPyramid Lake. Dropping down from the Tehachapis, US 99 entered the San Joaquin Valley at the bottom of the steep Grapevine grade (the foot of the Tejon Pass) and continued north.

When it was first designated in late 1926, US 99 ran withUS 66 fromSan Bernardino viaPasadena toLos Angeles, turning north there toSan Fernando.^[4] The route was signed in 1928. This alignment remained through 1933,^{[citation needed]} but by 1942 it had moved to its own alignment (concurrent withUS 70, as well asUS 60 west ofPomona) from San Bernardino to Los Angeles. This alignment usedGarvey Avenue from Pomona, turning ontoRamona Boulevard inAlhambra to reach Macy Street (now Cesar E. Chavez Avenue) near downtown Los Angeles. It turned north atFigueroa Street, running through theFigueroa Street Tunnels and turning off at Avenue 26 to reachSan Fernando Road.^{[citation needed]} When theSan Bernardino Freeway,Santa Ana Freeway andPasadena Freeway were completed, it was routed onto them, continuing to exit at Avenue 26.^[5] In 1962, with the completion of theGolden State Freeway northeast of downtown, US 99 was moved onto it, bypassing the Santa Ana Freeway,Four Level Interchange and Figueroa Street Tunnels.

From Los Angeles US 99 followedSan Fernando Road throughGlendale andBurbank to Sylmar. From 1937 to 1964 it shared this routing withUS 6; the remaining stretch of the highway through the Santa Clarita Valley is named "The Old Road". The Old Road starts near theNewhall Pass Interchange, just south of Santa Clarita, eventually crossing under present-day I-5. As the road now winds north, passing by Pico Canyon Road, it reaches McBean Parkway near theCalifornia Institute of the Arts,College of the Canyons andSix Flags Magic Mountain. InCastaic the Old Road becomes a suburban street and ends at Oak Hill Court, just outside Castaic. A substantial portion of the road is submerged beneathPyramid Lake; the northern side is now the lake's public access road, while the southern side is access to the dam.^[6]

US 99 then headed overTejon Pass to theSan Joaquin Valley. Just north of the route's entry to the valley,I-5 splits off from US 99, and US 99 continued on most of the current route ofSR 99, toBakersfield,Fresno, andSacramento, though much of SR 99 routing was freeways adjacent to the old route. Many older segments of the highway between the "Grapevine" and Sacramento still exist as local streets, many of them having "Golden State" in their names (such as Golden State Avenue, Golden State Boulevard, Golden State Highway). In Sacramento, the U.S. 99 routing ran north along what is now Stockton Boulevard to Broadway, west to 16th Street, north on 16th to L Street, and L/M Streets west out of town co-signed withU.S. Route 40.

North of Sacramento, the route divided into US 99W and US 99E. US 99W co-routed with US 40 west toDavis, in the city as Olive Drive. The route continued as Richards Boulevard, 1st Street, B Street, and Russell Boulevard before turning north on what is nowSR 113 intoWoodland to meet and parallelI-5 near the town ofYolo. From there, the route parallels the current I-5, enteringCorning from the south as Old Corning road, turning east onto Solano Street before turning north again on 3rd street continuing toRed Bluff, where it became Main Street. All of the old inter-town original roadway still exists, signed as 99W, CR 99 or CR 99W.

From Sacramento, US 99E followedI-80 (first the current business route, then the actual route) toRoseville, then north alongSR 65 toOlivehurst, from where it followedSR 70 toMarysville. From Marysville, it followedSR 20 across theFeather River toYuba City, then along the currentSR 99 north toRed Bluff, where it rejoined 99W at Main Street and Antelope Boulevard.

From Red Bluff, US 99 continued north along the same route as I-5, except that it went throughRedding along presentSR 273. andSR 263 fromYreka to near Black Mountain.

From Redding, the highway went through the small town of Mountain Gate, before plunging into what is nowShasta Lake.^[7] In drought years, many of the old bridges, road cuts, and guardrail can be seen when the water in the lake recedes. After passing Shasta Lake, the highway had to be designed around very difficult terrain. TheSacramento River Canyon was a big task to overcome, but to this day, many bridges can still be found and visited, reminding us of how far our engineering has come. Once intoSiskiyou County, the highway meanders throughDunsmuir, heading north toMount Shasta, and from there, up toWeed. In Weed, the highway becomesSR 265 for a very short distance, before heading north towards the town ofGazelle.^[8]

A 22.7-mile-long (36.5 km) stretch of two-lane county road known as "Old Highway 99" exists in Siskiyou County, between Weed andYreka, in the same form as it did when it was US 99. It roughly parallels I-5, but at one point diverges from it by a distance of several miles. Once north of Yreka, the highway becomesSR 263, merges withSR 96, and heads north toHornbrook. Much of the old highway between Hornbrook andOregon has been demolished or currently sits on private property.

By 1925, the future Route 99 was 99% paved from Los Angeles to Sacramento; the rest of the state was finished about 1932. Sections were expanded to four lanes starting in the late 1930s and by 1961 Los Angeles to Sacramento was all four-lane, much of it being full freeway.

By 1968, US 99 was decommissioned with the completion of I-5 in Washington and California, but the highway's phasing out actually began July 1, 1964, thanks to the passage of Collier Senate Bill No. 64 on September 20, 1963. The bill launched a program to simplify California's complicated highway numbering system and eliminate concurrent postings like the aforementioned US 60/US 70/US 99. The highways that replaced it are:

• SR 111 and SR 86 between theMexican border and Indio.
• I-10, replacing US 60 and US 70 between Indio and Los Angeles as well.
• US 101 andSR 110 in downtown Los Angeles.
• I-5 from north of downtown all the way to its modern-day split inWheeler Ridge before US 99's final decommissioning in 1968.

The 424-mile (682 km) stretch between Wheeler Ridge and Red Bluff is signed asSR 99 which makes it California's second-longest state highway behindSR 1. However, the newly enactedHistoric U.S. Route 99 extends fromIndio starting from I-10 in theCoachella Valley all the way down theImperial Valley toCalexico on the Mexican border withMexicali, Baja California, Mexico.

County	Location	mi[9]	km	Destinations	Notes
United States–Mexico border		0	0.0	Fed. 5 –Mexicali	Continuation into Mexico
				Calexico Port of Entry
Imperial	Calexico	1	1.6	SR 98 –Yuma,San Diego
	Heber	5	8.0	SR 111 north –Brawley
	El Centro	12	19	US 80 east (Main Street) –Yuma	Southern end of US 80 overlap
		13	21	US 80 west (Adams Avenue) –San Diego	Northern end of US 80 overlap
	Brawley	26	42	ToSR 111 (Main Street)
	​	47	76	SR 78 west –Julian,Oceanside
Riverside	Torres–Martinez Reservation	79	127	SR 195 east
	Coachella	94	151	SR 111 south –Brawley	Southern end of SR 111 overlap
	Indio	95	153	US 60 east /US 70 east –Blythe,Phoenix	Southern end of US 60 and US 70 overlaps
		96	154	SR 74 west /SR 111 north	Northern end of SR 111 overlap
	Whitewater	126	203	SR 111 south –Palm Springs
	Beaumont	144	232	US 60 west –Riverside	Northern end of US 60 overlap
San Bernardino	Colton	166	267	US 91 /US 395 /SR 18 –San Bernardino,Riverside
Los Angeles	Pomona	195.5	314.6	SR 71 (Garey Avenue)
		197	317	US 60 east –Pomona	Southern end of US 60 overlap
	Rosemead	215.5	346.8	SR 19 (Rosemead Boulevard)
	Monterey Park	219.5	353.3	SR 15 (Atlantic Boulevard)
	Los Angeles	225	362	US 101 south (Boyle Avenue) US 60 east /US 70 east	National western termini of both US 60 and US 70; northern end of US 60 and US 70 overlaps; southern end of US 101 overlap
		226.5	364.5	US 6 west (Figueroa Street) /US 66 west /US 101 north (Sunset Boulevard)	Northern end of US 101 overlap; southern end of US 6 and US 66 overlaps
		228.5	367.7	US 66 east (Figueroa Street)	Northern end of US 66 overlap
		231.5	372.6	SR 2 (Fletcher Drive)
		233	375	SR 134 east (Colorado Boulevard)	Southern end of SR 134 overlap
		238.5	383.8	SR 134 west (Alameda Avenue)	Northern end of SR 134 overlap
	San Fernando	240.5	387.0	SR 118 east (Maclay Avenue)
	Newhall	245	394	US 6 east –Palmdale,Lancaster	Northern end of US 6 overlap
	Castaic Junction	255	410	SR 126 west
	Gorman	286	460	SR 138 east –Lancaster,Palmdale
Kern	​	298	480	SR 166 west –Maricopa,Taft
	Panama	312	502	US 399 south –Taft,Ventura
	Bakersfield	320	510	US 466 east /SR 178 –Mojave	Southern end of US 466 overlap
	Famoso	340	550	US 466 west –Wasco,Paso Robles	Northern end of US 466 overlap
				SR 65 north –Porterville
Tulare	Tipton	372	599	SR 190 east –Tipton,Porterville
	Visalia	391	629	SR 198 –Visalia,Hanford
Fresno	Fresno	427	687	SR 41 –Lemoore,Yosemite,Paso Robles
				SR 180 –Mendota,Kings Canyon
Madera	Fairmead	462	744	SR 152 west –Los Banos,Gilroy
Merced	Merced	484	779	SR 140 east –Mariposa,Yosemite	Southern end of SR 140 overlap
				SR 59
		485	781	SR 140 west	Northern end of SR 140 overlap
Stanislaus	Modesto	521	838	SR 132 east –Empire,Waterford	Southern end of SR 132 overlap
				SR 132 west –Vernalis	Northern end of SR 132 overlap
San Joaquin	Manteca	538	866	SR 120 –Sonora,San Francisco
	Stockton	551	887	US 50 west /SR 4 –Oakland,Berkeley,Angels Camp	Southern end of US 50 overlap
		552	888	SR 8 east –Linden
		553	890	SR 88 north –Jackson
	Lodi	563	906	SR 12 –Fairfield
Sacramento	Galt	577	929	SR 104 east –Jackson
	Sacramento	599	964	US 50 east /SR 16 east –Woodland,Jackson,Lake Tahoe	Northern end of US 50 overlap; southern end of SR 16 overlap
				US 40 east /US 99E north –Yuba City,Marysville,Reno US 40 west /US 99W north /SR 16 west –Woodland,Redding,San Francisco	US 99 splits into US 99E and US 99W
See US 99E and US 99W
Tehama	Red Bluff	599	964	US 99E south /SR 36 east –Chico US 99W south –Sacramento	US 99E and US 99W join to form US 99; southern end of SR 36 overlap
		600	970	SR 36 west –Fortuna	Northern end of SR 36 overlap
Shasta	Redding	630	1,010	US 299 west /SR 44 east –Eureka,Susanville	Southern end of US 299 overlap
		632	1,017	US 299 east –Burney,Alturas	Northern end of US 299 overlap
Siskiyou	Mount Shasta	693	1,115	SR 89 south –McCloud
	Weed	704	1,133	US 97 north –Klamath Falls
	​	742	1,194	SR 96 west –Willow Creek
Siskiyou Pass		754	1,213	Siskiyou Summit, elevation 4,466 ft (1,361 m); California–Oregon state line
				US 99 north –Grants Pass	Continuation into Oregon
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Route transition

U.S. Route 99W
Location	Central Valley toStockton
Existed	1929–1933

U.S. Route 99E
Location	Central Valley toStockton
Existed	1929–1933

U.S. Route 99W was a short-lived alternate of US 99 in theCentral Valley of California, running from north ofManteca viaFrench Camp toStockton. At the same time, from roughly 1929 to 1933,^{[citation needed]}U.S. Route 99E ran to the east, having the same termini as US 99W.

US 99W ran along French Camp Road and El Dorado Street, while US 99E used presentSR 99 and Mariposa Road.^{[citation needed]} The northern end of each in Stockton is unclear; it may have been at Charter Way and Wilson Way or at Harding Way and Wilson Way.^{[citation needed]}

Prior to the establishment of theUnited States Numbered Highways in 1926, the mainLos Angeles-Sacramento route,pre-1964 Legislative Route 4, ran from Manteca to Stockton viaFrench Camp (later US 99W). At French Camp,pre-1964 Legislative Route 5 split to the southwest to reach theSan Francisco Bay Area viaAltamont Pass.^[10][11][12] TheLincoln Highway used Route 4 from Sacramento to French Camp and Route 5 over Altamont Pass.

In November 1926, Route 4 was defined as part of US 99 and Route 5 (toSan Jose) becameUS 48.^[4] California's U.S. Routes were not marked until 1928,^[13] and US 99 had not yet been split into US 99E and US 99W.^[14]

Around 1929, Route 4 was realigned between north of Manteca and Stockton. This became US 99E, and the old route became US 99W. Route 5 was extended north from French Camp to Stockton, but US 48 continued to end at US 99W. US 48 became an extension ofUS 50 c. 1931,running concurrently with US 99 from Sacramento to Stockton and US 99W to French Camp.^{[citation needed]} Around 1933, US 99W was dropped, and US 99E became part of US 99. Most of former US 99E is now part of SR 99 but former US 99W has been bypassed by I-5.

County	Location	mi[9]	km	Destinations	Notes
Sacramento	Sacramento	0	0.0	US 99 south –Stockton US 40 west /US 99W north /SR 16 west –San Francisco	Southern end of US 40 overlap; northern end of SR 16 overlap
Placer	Roseville	18	29	US 40 east –Reno	Northern end of US 40 overlap
Yuba	Marysville	52	84	SR 20 east /SR 24 north	Southern end of SR 20 and SR 24 overlaps
Sutter	Yuba City	54	87	SR 20 west /SR 24 south	Northern end of SR 20 and SR 24 overlaps
Butte	Chico	101	163	SR 32 –Orland,Chester
Tehama	Red Bluff	138	222	SR 36 east –Susanville	Southern end of SR 36 overlap
		141	227	US 99 north /SR 36 west –Redding US 99W south –Sacramento	Northern end of SR 36 overlap
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

County	Location	mi[9]	km	Destinations	Notes
Sacramento	Sacramento	0	0.0	US 99 south /SR 16 east –Stockton US 40 east /US 99E north –Reno	Southern end of US 40 overlap
				SR 16 north /SR 24 –Woodland,Isleton	Northern end of SR 16 overlap
Yolo	Davis	14	23	US 40 west –San Francisco	Northern end of US 40 overlap
	Woodland	26	42	SR 16 east /SR 24 –Sacramento,Marysville	Southern end of SR 16 overlap
		28	45	SR 16 west –Madison	Northern end of SR 16 overlap
Colusa	Williams	66	106	SR 20 –Colusa,Clear Lake
Glenn	Orland	108	174	SR 32 east –Chico
Tehama	Red Bluff	139	224	US 99 north /SR 36 west –Redding US 99E south /SR 36 east –Chico
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

• California Roads portal
• National Register of Historic Places portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related toU.S. Route 99 in California.

• Museum of the Siskiyou Trail
• Information on the Ridge Route
• Ridge Route Preservation Organization
• "History of Hwy 99 in North Los Angeles County". Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. (Photos, text, TV shows)
• Clark's Travel Center and Route 99 Museum, Indio, California
• Finding Historic Route 99
• Virtual Tour of US 99 in Southern California
• US-99 endpoint photos
• California @ AARoads.com - Historic U.S. Route 99^{[permanent dead link]}
• California Highways: US 99
• Historic Highway 99 Association of California

• U.S. Route 99
• Interstate 5
• Interstate 10
• Historic trails and roads in California
• Former U.S. Highways in California
• Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in California
• Transportation in Bakersfield, California
• National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California

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