Current and historic endpoints of US highway 97 in Weed, CA
Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive
collection of historical road atlases, much of the info below is based on
the research of Robert Droz; click
here to view his site. Photo credits: Chris
Elbert; Alex
Nitzman; Mark
Roberts; Michael
Summa
It seems likely that traffic in 1934 would've been routed through downtown
via Main Street; if so, the photo below shows where US 97 originally ended:
Elbert, July 2004
There we're looking south on Main at Weed Boulevard (old US 99). Below is a
shot from the opposite direction:
Elbert, July 2004
Old US 99 runs across the bottom of the photo; it's possible the south beginning
of US 97 was straight ahead. At any rate, today's US 97 skirts the west edge
of town; where that meets old US 99 is likely a former terminus as well:
Elbert, July 2004
Today, since US 99 is gone, the US 97 designation continues left to I-5's interchange
747. But it may have ended here back when US 99 was still around.
Below we're looking north on old 99:
Elbert, July 2004
US 97 may have begun to the right; the signage is shown close-up below:
Elbert, July 2004
The photo below was looking the opposite direction (southbound on old US 99);
to the left was the old south beginning of US 97:
Summa, 1983
By the time Chris was there, that sign had been changed:
Elbert, July 2004
That's Mount Shasta in the background. Today US 97 also goes straight ahead
along old 99, ending at the I-5 interchange. Here's a photo from there:
Elbert, July 2004
That's looking south on US 97 (old US 99) at I-5; the assembly at far right
is shown close-up below:
Nitzman, Mar. 2005
The northbound onramp is to the right; southbound traffic goes under and then
makes a left turn:
Elbert, July 2004
That would mark the current south end of US 97. Here's a view approaching the
south beginning as seen from I-5:
Nitzman, Mar. 2005
Note the exit number: that's a long way from San Diego. (There are only two
interstates that are long enough through a single state to have exit numbers
that high: this one (I-5 in CA) goes up to exit 796, and I-10 in Texas goes
up to exit 880.) Anyway, signage at the exit itself is shown below:
Roberts, Sep. 2004
It's likely that sign won't be with us much longer, as CalTrans is replacing
its older signs along the interstates, and of course they no longer use button
reflector signage. At the stop sign at the end of the offramp, this assembly
is posted:
Nitzman, Mar. 2005
To view photos and get info about US 97's current north end and historic south
end, please see my main
US 97 page.
Page (in its original form) created 21 September 2001; last updated
01 November 2006.
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