State Route 17 in California
| SR-17 | |||
| Get started | Santa Cruz | ||
| End | San Jose | ||
| Length | 26 mi | ||
| Length | 43 km | ||
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According to Directoryaah, State Route 17 or SR-17 is a state route in the U.S. state of California. The highway forms a north-south connection in the San Francisco Bay Area, running from the coastal city of Santa Cruz to the major city of San Jose. The road is known as the Santa Cruz Highway, and is 43 kilometers long.
Travel directions
The highway begins at a major interchange with I-280 and I-880, in San Jose. San Jose is the largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a population of 930,000. The highway has 3+4 lanes here. One soon arrives at Campbell, a suburb of 39,000 inhabitants. On the south side of this, one intersects with SR-85, which forms a western bypass around San Jose. After this, the highway narrows to 2×2 lanes, and you arrive in the suburb of Los Gatos, which has 29,000 inhabitants. After Los Gatos you leave the Bay Area conurbation and you enter the coastal mountains. This part is a scenic route. The road ends in Santa Cruz, a coastal city of 55,000 inhabitants.
Safety
A combination of narrow emergency lanes, heavy traffic, tight curves, and obscure curves, along with roaming wildlife such as deer and mountain lions, make the SR-17 a dangerous road with numerous collisions. It is one of the most unsafe roads in the state of California. In winter the road can be very slippery due to snow. The expressway section between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz is to be upgraded to a highway, at an estimated cost of $200 million.
History
State Route 17 was opened in 1940 as a connection between San Jose and Santa Cruz. San Jose was still a small city at the time. The original State Route 17 ran from San Rafael to Santa Cruz. This was later renumbered to I-580 and I-880.
The section between I-280 and State Route 85 in the southern suburbs of San Jose was later upgraded to a full-fledged freeway. Most of this happened in 1994. The section between Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz was upgraded in 1955-1957. In the middle section, the road still mostly follows the substandard route from the 1940s.
Traffic intensities
| Exit | Place | 2008 | 2013 | 2016 |
| Exit 1 | Santa Cruz | 65,000 | 63,000 | 70,000 |
| Exit 19 | Los Gatos | 60,000 | 61,000 | 68,000 |
| Exit 22 | Campbell ( SR-85 ) | 97,000 | 94,000 | 97,000 |
| Exit 26 | San Jose ( I-280 ) | 183,000 | 181,000 | 176,000 |
State Route 18 in California
| SR-18 | |||
| Begin | San Bernardino | ||
| End | Pearblossom | ||
| Length | 117 mi | ||
| Length | 189 km | ||
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According to ehotelat, State Route 18 is a state route in the U.S. state of California. The road forms a route through Southern California, from San Bernardino across the mountains to the Mojave Desert and then west to near Pearblossom. State Route 18 is 189 kilometers long.
Travel directions
State Route 18 begins in the city of San Bernardino, one of the more important cities in the Inland Empire east of Los Angeles. In the built-up area of San Bernardino, State Route 18 is largely a five-lane road with a center turn lane. The road then follows a spectacular ascent into the San Bernardino Mountains. This part has 2×2 lanes and is partly grade-separated. Through sharp bends the road rises over a short distance from 400 to 1,300 meters altitude, this part is called the Rim of the World Highway.
Then follows a spectacular route along the canyons of the San Bernardino Mountains, high above the city. This section opens up numerous holiday villages and tourist destinations around Lake Arrowhead. This part is single lane. The road then rises even further and runs to above 2,000 meters altitude, where there are even ski areas. The road follows a winding spectacular route around a canyon and then passes the Big Bear Lake, a high-altitude reservoir at almost 2,100 meters.
After Big Bear, State Route 18 curves north and then descends nearly 1,000 meters into the Mojave Desert, where the landscape changes dramatically from forest to desert. There is also very little construction here. The road heads north to the hamlet of Lucerne Valley, then curves west, passing through Apple Valley and Victor Valley, distant suburbs of Los Angeles. In Victorville the road has 2×2 lanes or five lanes with a center turn lane. One then crosses Interstate 15. State Route 18 then continues west through the desert at approximately 1,000 meters, with long straights. This part of the road is single carriageway. There are many scattered buildings in the area. East of the hamlet of Pearblossom, State Route 18 then turns into theState Route 138 toward Palmdale.
History
State Route 18 has largely been in existence since 1917, when the number was assigned. Small sections of the route in San Bernardino have been scrapped after the freeways were completed. The Rim of the World Highway north of San Bernardino is special. The road rises here for a short distance almost 1,000 meters as a 2×2 divided highway. This section was constructed as such in the 1980s or earlier to open up the tourist areas in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Future
The section in the Mojave Desert will eventually be replaced by the High Desert Corridor, a new freeway to be built from Palmdale to Apple Valley.
Traffic intensities
Every day, 16,000 to 25,000 vehicles drive the section from San Bernardino to Lake Arrowhead. The part further to Big Bear Lake has about 6,000 vehicles per day. The quietest part is from Big Bear to Lucerne Valley, where there are barely 2,000 vehicles per day. This rises sharply to 25,000 to 42,000 vehicles per day in Victorville. The part west of US 395 has more than 5,000 vehicles per day.
