|
}} The Ridge Route, officially the Castaic-Tejon Route, was a two-lane highway between Los Angeles and Kern counties, California. Opened in 1915 and paved with 15-ft concrete between 1917 and 1921, the road was the first paved highway directly linking the Los Angeles Basin with the San Joaquin Valley over the Tejon Pass and the rugged Sierra Pelona Mountains ridge south of Gorman. Much of the old road runs through the Angeles National Forest, and passes by many historical landmarks, including the National Forest Inn, Reservoir Summit, Kelly's Half Way Inn, Tumble Inn, and Sandberg's Summit Hotel. North of the forest, the Ridge Route passed through Deadman's Curve before ending at Grapevine. Most of the road was bypassed in 1933–34 by the three-lane Ridge Route Alternate, then U.S. Route 99 (US 99), to handle increased traffic and remove many curves. The four-lane US 99 was completed in 1953 and replaced by a freeway, Interstate 5 (I-5) around 1968. The portion of the road within the Angeles National Forest was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, following the efforts of Harrison Scott. Much of the road has been closed by the U.S. Forest Service; other remnants of the road are used by local traffic. ==Route description== The Ridge Route was officially the Castaic-Tejon Route. The official limits of the Ridge Route, as built in the 1910s, were SR 126 at Castaic Junction and the bottom of the grade at Grapevine.〔Scott, pp. 74–75〕 Until 1930-31 the road from San Fernando to Castaic Junction ran through the Newhall Tunnel at San Fernando Pass and along San Fernando Road, Magic Mountain Parkway (both part of SR 126 until the early 2000s) and Feedmill Road to a former bridge over the Santa Clara River.〔Scott, pp. 89–91〕 A 1930 bypass of the tunnel and Newhall through Weldon Canyon is now part of The Old Road.〔Scott, pp. 60–61〕 From Castaic Junction north to Castaic the Ridge Route has been largely buried by the Ridge Route Alternate and Interstate 5.〔Scott, pp. 93–94〕 At Castaic the Ridge Route Alternate turned northwest from the old road at , now the intersection of Castaic Road and Neely Street. The first piece of Ridge Route Road out of Castaic has been realigned as recently as the late 1990s when the North Lake housing development was built.〔Scott, pp. 100 and 289〕 The road begins to climb after passing North Lake; a portion was straightened in 1924 and now is next to the southbound lanes of I-5.〔Scott, p. 102〕 In this area, known as the Five-Mile Grade, the four-lane Ridge Route Alternate became the northbound lanes of I-5, while the added four-lane alignment, built to the east (next to the old Ridge Route), had lower grades and became the southbound (downhill) lanes to cut down on runaway trucks. Two bridges were built to allow traffic to cross to the left side.〔Scott, p. 283〕 Near the north end of this area, the Ridge Route curves away from the newer bypass.〔 The road enters the Angeles National Forest about south of Templin Highway, with the Forest Service road designation 8N04. Establishments in the forest included the National Forest Inn, Kelly's Half Way Inn, Tumble Inn, and Sandberg's Summit Hotel. The National Forest Inn was on the west side of the road. A popular place along the route, composed of white clapboard buildings, it was described in a 1932 highway beautification pamphlet as "the sort of filling station that gets into a national forest and is no addition thereto". On October 14, 1932, a fire began in the garage, and took over a day to put out. When the Ridge Route Alternate bypassed the site to the west, the inn was not rebuilt, and all that remains are concrete steps.〔Scott, pp. 114–119〕 About north of the National Forest Inn is Serpentine Drive, where the road curves around the sides of hills as it climbs out of a low point in the route (about above sea level). North of the curves, the road passes through Swede's Cut, also called Big Cut, Culebra Excavation, or Castaic Cut. The cut was the largest on the route, with a depth of .〔Scott, pp. 71, 119–120〕 Reservoir Summit, also called Reservoir Hill, is above sea level. The Reservoir Summit Café was a popular high-class restaurant on the east side of the road, closed in the late 1920s; the foundation remains. The summit was named after a now-dry reservoir, one of three probably built for the concrete used in paving the road.〔Scott, pp. 43–45, 121–126〕 Kelly's Half Way Inn was roughly halfway between Los Angeles and Bakersfield. Located on a small knoll with a single tree on the east side of the road, all that remains is remnants of the foundation.〔Scott, pp. 126–130〕 The Tumble Inn, later Mountain View Lodge, was on the west side of the road, and closed when the Ridge Route Alternate opened in 1933. Steps, including the top step with "TUMBLE INN" in the concrete, and a retaining wall remain.〔Scott, pp. 135–138〕 The Sandberg's Summit Hotel, later Sandberg's Lodge, was located just north of Liebre Summit, the highest point () on the road, at above sea level. The hotel was built in 1914, and thus served travelers from the opening of the road in 1915. Built of logs, it was a high-class hotel. The place, which had become a ceramics factory, burned down on April 29, 1961, from a fire started by the new owner—who was converting it into a "camp-type operation" for underprivileged children—burning trash in the fireplace. The lease from the U.S. Forest Service was canceled in 1963, and only portions of the foundation and a rock wall remain. The name "Sandberg" is still used by the National Weather Service for an automated weather station a short distance to the north at Pine Canyon Road.〔Scott, pp. 144–160〕 Pine Canyon Road (CR N2) marks the end of the forest and the beginning of county maintenance, and CR N2 uses the old Ridge Route alignment to reach SR 138 near Quail Lake.〔 The Ridge Route crosses the West Branch California Aqueduct with SR 138, splitting to the northwest on Gorman Post Road. It rejoins the path of I-5 at Gorman, and, from Gorman to the end at Grapevine, most of the old road has been covered over by the Ridge Route Alternate or I-5. The path of the Ridge Route is now named Peace Valley Road and Lebec Road, passing over Tejon Pass and past Lebec and Fort Tejon. Past Fort Tejon, the route descends through Grapevine Canyon to Grapevine (named for grapevines in the area〔Scott, pp. iii-iv〕). The best-known curve on the road, Deadman's Curve or Death Curve, is visible from Digier Road on the west side of I-5. The next part of the old road that still exists is near the bottom of the grade, where a number of curves brought the road down to Grapevine. The original plan was to build the road nearer to the center of the canyon, but a March 1914 flood destroyed the work, and the grading was redone higher up. Deadman's Curve and the Grapevine loops were both bypassed by the Ridge Route Alternate, which was built directly over most of the old road in this area. At Grapevine, the land suddenly flattens out, and the road north of Grapevine was the longest straight section of road in the state——in 1926. Most of this road lies under I-5 and SR 99, but the southernmost piece in Grapevine was bypassed by the Alternate, and is now in the median of I-5.〔Scott, pp. 162–224〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ridge Route」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|