[Update.] The plaque was placed in a bulb-out on the south side of Newhall Ranch Road, just east of Interstate 5 (see red circle on map below) and dedicated October 8, 2002. Photo and map courtesy of Sydney Croasmun, 2020. Text of plaque: THE RIDGE ROUTE The super highway of its day when first opened in 1915, the Ridge Route, California’s first mountain highway, has been credited by some (for better or worse) as saving the state from being divided into two separate states. Constructed, graded, and paved at a cost of about $1,500,000, it was considered one of the most scientifically constructed mountain roads in the world. From Castaic in the south to Grapevine in the north the Ridge Route was 48 miles long and had 39,441 degrees of curves, roughly equating to 110 complete circles. The strictly enforced speed limit was 15mph. The road was replaced by the Alternate Ridge Route (later known as US-99) in 1933, which in turn was replaced by I-5 in the 1960s. Dedicated October 8, 2002 Platrix Chapter No. 3, E. Clampus Vitus and the Ridge Route Preservation Organization (Note: Platrix is Chapter 2, not 3.) Click to enlarge.

BILL NUMBER: ACR 98 INTRODUCED

BILL TEXT

INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Runner

JULY 20, 2001

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 98 Relative to the 1915 Ridge Route Highway Historical Monument.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

ACR 98, as introduced, Runner. 1915 Ridge Route Highway Historical Monument.

This measure would request the Department of Transportation to grant, without charge, an encroachment permit authorizing an appropriate historical monument and plaque to commemorate the 1915 Ridge Route Highway, to be placed within the rights-of-way of State Highway Route 126 and Interstate Highway 5, where those highways converge.

Fiscal committee: yes.

WHEREAS, Begun in 1914 and completed in late 1915, the Ridge Route Highway, officially named the "Castaic-Tejon Route," connected Castaic Junction in Los Angeles County to Bakersfield; and

WHEREAS, The 1915 Ridge Route Highway was one of the first products of the newly formed State Bureau of Highways, paid for through the passage of a 1910 bond act; and

WHEREAS, The 1915 Ridge Route Highway was considered an engineering marvel of its day and was the first mountain highway built in California; and

WHEREAS, Many credit the 1915 Ridge Route Highway, which opened up travel and commerce between the Los Angeles basin and the San Joaquin Valley, with having prevented California from separating into two separate states; and

WHEREAS, Workers carved out the original 20-foot wide roadway by using horse and mule drawn scrapers and graders, going from ridge top to ridge top across the western San Gabriel mountains; and

WHEREAS, Originally completed as an oiled, graded gravel road, the 1915 Ridge Route Highway was paved in 1919; and

WHEREAS, The 1915 Ridge Route Highway was well known for its 697 curves, the most notorious of which was Deadman's Curve near Tejon, that if added together, would make 110 complete circles; and

WHEREAS, The 1915 Ridge Route Highway was replaced in 1933, by a straighter, three-lane highway, which was later widened and became State Highway 99; and

WHEREAS, On September 25, 1997, 17.6 miles of the 1915 Ridge Route Highway south of Gorman, was accepted into the National Registry of Historic Places; and

WHEREAS, The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus has proposed to construct and dedicate, at no cost to the public, a monument and plaque in honor of the historical significance of the 1915 Ridge Route Highway; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate concurring, That the Department of Transportation is requested to grant, without charge, the necessary encroachment permit authorizing an appropriate historical monument and plaque dedicated to commemorate the 1915 Ridge Route Highway, to be placed within the rights-of-way of State Highway Route 126 and Interstate Highway 5, where those highways converge; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit a copy of this resolution to the Director of Transportation, the Director of Parks and Recreation, the Ridge Route Preservation Organization, and to the Platrix Chapter No. 2, Queen of the Cow Counties of the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus.