On Thursday, February 12, 1998 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-5, Oscar Voss wrote:
NFARS wrote:
Hmm...considering that CA 58 was originally planned to be part of I-40, I had
an idea to make I-40 continue to at least I-5, even US 101:
[snip -- the part to Bakersfield is fine with me]
Bakersfield to the Coast: Plan A calls for I-40 following CA 58 from Rosedale
to San Luis Obispo. A new freeway will be built parallel to CA 58's current two lane road. Mckittrick will be bypassed; but the 4 lane freeway will go through California Valley, a small town off of CA 58. Somewhere east of Samta
Margarita Lk. I-40 will then follow a small road leading up to the south shore,
hitting Pozo. There it will then be extended to 101 in SLO, going through the
forest.
I drove the winding SR 58 from Bakersfield to San Luis Obispo last
October. Plan A, which follows 58 halfway to SLO, would cut a freeway
through a lot of mountainous terrain -- which my topographic atlas
suggests is much more difficult than your Plan B route.
Plan B calls for I-40 following US 466's old route. I-40 will go up CA 99 to
Famoso, where it hits CA 46. The freeway will directly replace CA 46 to Paso
Robles, except for some small sections connecting CA 41. The freeway will end
at 101 in Paso Robles.
If there must be a new freeway to the San Luis Obispo area (which I
question -- see below), this is probably the best route.
Plan C [snipped -- I have no opinion]
A more basic question -- why should I-40 go to the Central Coast area
around San Luis Obispo at all? US 101 already provides convenient
access from SLO to the Bay Area and Monterey to the north, and Santa
Barbara and LA to the southeast. The demand for travel between SLO and
the Central Valley (Bakersfield, Fresno, etc.) seems far more modest
(though I hear the Central Valley folks like to hit the beaches around
SLO to beat the summer heat). Moreover, the Central Coast doesn't have
that much population -- less than 300,000 for SLO County and Santa Maria combined. I've done a lot of business in that area over the past year,
and I've never gotten the impression that the locals really need -- or
even want -- anything more than some widenings and safety upgrades
(which are about to be built) to the existing CA 46 route to the Central Valley.
If you really want I-40 to run coast-to-coast, a much easier way to do
it is to extend it to I-5, multiplex I-40 with I-5 up to I-580, renumber I-580 to I-40 up to the Bay Bridge, and multiplex I-40 with I-80 those
last few miles into San Francisco.
--
Oscar Voss, Arlington, Virginia
ov...@erols.com
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