Prior to 1964, US 101 had two routings down the Peninsula, US 101 and US 101 Bypass. US 101 followed its original path down current State 82. US 101 Bypass followed the Bayshore Freeway. This sign, since replaced, shows a US 101 shield under the 280, reflecting its earlier routing.
Many Californians, up to a million so far, have been affected by the recent power outages. What sort of damages will result from it remain to be seen, but will undoubtedly be high and for some, long term. These haven’t been brought about by a natural disaster this time, but hopefully have prevented the likes of the Paradise (Camp) Fire of 2018. Sometimes drastic measures must be taken, though this could have well been prevented through better management of the utilities, such as mandating undergrounding of the lines when possible. Nonetheless, this will be a -problem that will pass. We will learn from it and move forward as we always do. We are Californians after all, are we not?
This state has gone through a lot in its history, far worse than this. All disasters teach us something and we grow stronger from them. For example, on March 10, 1933, the southern Los Angeles area, focusing on Long Beach, was struck by a major earthquake. The damage was great but the lives lost were rather low. Had the event occurred just a couple hours earlier, many hundreds of lives, most of which would have been school children, would have lost their lives due to poor construction of schools. One month to the day, the Field Act was passed creating stronger codes for school construction and empowered the Division of the State Architect to ensure their proper construction. As a result, no lives have been lost as a result of earthquake damage at a school since. Keep this in mind as we all deal with this event. It will pass. It may take time for it to do so. It may happen again soon. But it will pass.
For additional information about these power outages, contact your local power company for details. They may have already contacted you as well.
The California Integrated Seismic Network has many of their seismometers online and are available at:
http://www.scsn.org/index.php/earthquakes/live-seismogram-feed/index.html
There is currently a wildfire in the Sacramento River Canyon between Delta, just north of Lakehead, and Dunsmuir in Shasta County. This fire has I-5 closed in both directions. The area involved, so far, includes Delta, La Moine, and Pollard Flat. So far, the fire has not reached Gibson. In addition to whatever damage the fire has done to buildings and I-5, portions of historic US 99 also run through here. Most of the sections remain as frontage roads or are completely bypassed and relegated to return to nature.
It will be some time before I am able to survey the damage, so if anyone in the area can help assess damage specific to old US 99 regarding wooden railing, bridges, and other roadway appurtenances, your help will be greatly appreciated.
Additionally, as the freeway is closed, detours are limited. For most traffic, use State 44 to State 89 NB and the reverse SB.
More information regarding the fire:
CalFire – the state fire agency, is a good resource for fire maps and updated information.
Hello all,
Just as SoCalRegion.com has covered Southern California, NorCalRegion will cover the northern half of the state. Both sites will be expanded as time goes by. Watch for updates, as they will be coming. NorCalRegion, at least at first, will focus on the highways of the northern half of the state. In time, geology, railroads, and more will be added. NorCalRegion will also have more contributors than SoCalRegion, so it will be a bit more diverse in content. I look forward to posting soon!
Michael Ballard