Photos progress southward.


Wonderland Blvd. isn't so wondrous as it meets a gate across old US 99 north of I-5 Exit 689.


The alignment is more continuous south of there down to Exit 687.


Heading east onto I-5 at Exit 687 on Old Oregon Trail, not US 99 but perhaps an even older route around the east side of Redding. California uses a variety of shield shapes, but this is demonstrably a 3di shield for a 1di route.


Our next visit is to a short length of abandoned two-lane concrete on the northwest corner of CA 299 and Boulder Dr. in Redding. These photos, heading south, are of the original US 99 alignment north of downtown. US 299 ran from US 101 to US 395 and actually multiplexed with this short segment of US 99, but was numbered as an x99 perhaps because that was the only 2dus it intersected. (You may want to reference the glossary to parse that sentence.) Anyway, by the 1940s it was already bypassed by a straighter alignment that is now CA 273 (see big link at bottom) and abandoned in place.


Back north toward Boulder Dr.


I find it interesting that just north of the stub end, Boulder Dr. goes from asphalt to the original concrete. You'd expect this from an old alignment, but old US 99 lay dormant for decades and was even removed from topo maps. Then, in the 1960s, development moved north from Redding and they decided to reuse the old road as part of it, so back into action it sprang. Soon after, the south end was rerouted into a "T", reabandoning the stub stretch you saw above but resulting in the northerly stretch of Boulder Dr. retaining the refurbished but seemingly original concrete slabs.


Boulder Dr. now ends at Valleyridge Drive, but old US 99 was a straight road, so it kept going through what's now Hillside Church and came out here. This photo looks east from Twin View Blvd., and you'll have to elevate your eyes to find the old alignment well above the current ground level.


Standing on that concrete soul patch, looking north and south.


Farther south, Barney Rd. SB in Anderson on the north side of I-5, then a look at the dead-end section of Barney Rd. heading north from Locust St. on the south side. Guess why it's a dead end and I'll give you a cookie. Hint: it's because of the freeway, and the cookie is from my website.

CA 273
Diestelhorst Bridge
Continue south on old US 99 to Tehama County
Back north on old US 99 into Shasta Lake

Onto I-5
Redding Non-Roads
Back to California Roads
Back to Roads