California State Highway 17

State Route 17, commonly known locally as Highway 17, is a freeway and expressway that runs between San Jose, California and Santa Cruz, California. Highway 17 carries substantial commuter and vacation traffic between San Jose and Santa Cruz.

Route description

From its northern terminus in San Jose near Interstate 280 to Los Gatos, Route 17 is a freeway with as many as eight lanes at some points.

Between Los Gatos and Scotts Valley, Route 17 is a four-lane expressway that twists and turns through the Santa Cruz Mountains. The road crosses the Santa Clara/Santa Cruz county line through the Patchen Pass, commonly referred to as "The Summit", at an elevation of 1,800 feet (545 m).

After exiting the mountains, most of the remaining southern portion from Scotts Valley southward is four-lane freeway. Route 17 terminates at a junction with State Route 1 in Santa Cruz.

Currently the section between SR 9 and SR 85 is in need of major repair after record rains in March of 2006 opened up a large number of cracks and potholes through this section. Caltrans has authorized emergency repaving to this section of the road.

The highway is sometimes shut down in the Santa Cruz Mountains whenever there is heavy snow over the summit.

Safety

Highway 17's combination of narrow shoulders, dense and high-speed traffic (despite a posted lower speed limit of 50 mph (80 km/h) in most sections), sharp turns, blind curves, and sudden changes in traffic speeds have to led to driving conditions that result in a number of accidents and fatalities, leading to the reputation of Highway 17 as one of the most dangerous highways in the state. In the winter months, since Highway 17 crosses a high precipitation area in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the roadway can become very slippery and slick due to rain or snow, making the road worse. Some sections of 17 have become so notoriously dangerous that they have attained nicknames amongst the locals. (i.e. Northbound 17 after Summit Road with its sharp turns and steep slope has been deemed "Valley Surprise" for the fact that many unfamiliar drivers hit the median on their way to the Silicon Valley)

Efforts to improve safety have included adding electronic speed monitoring signs and warnings lights on curves, removing trees to improve visiblity around blind curves, and increased patrol and enforcement of traffic laws. The portion between Los Gatos and Scotts Valley has been designated the Highway 17 Safety Corridor by Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol.

Gillian Cichowski Memorial Overcrossing Bridge over Route 17 near Los Gatos at Lexington Reservoir, was named by California Senate Concurrent Resolution 32, Chapt. 70 in 1994. Gillian Cichowski was killed in an accident at this location in 1992. This is one of the few highway constructions in California named for a woman. The overpass was in response to a campaign by friends of Gillian Cichowski to make the intersection safer. The overpass was open to northbound traffic July 18, 1996 and opened to southbound traffic August 29, 1996. Margaret Green of Sunnyvale, California died in a similar accident near the same location during overpass construction.

The cost of improving the treacherous expressway segment to modern freeway standards has been estimated to be at least $200 million.

History

The earliest connection between Santa Cruz and San Jose was an old Native America foot trail. The first road that could be navigated by a wagon was a dirt toll road built by Charley McKeirnan, known as "Mountain Charley" by the locals, some time around 1853. Portions of his road still exists as Mountain Charlie Road, which still exists to the west of Highway 17 and south of Summit Road. Several other stage lines were built as competitors, such as the San Jose Turnpike (1863), which follows the route of present day Soquel Road.

Highway 17 was opened in 1940, replacing several other modes of transportation, including the old Glenwood Highway from 1919 (which still exists in the sleepy town of Glenwood), and the railroad which went all the way from Santa Cruz to San Francisco and Oakland. The railroad stopped operating in 1940 and the tunnels that it passed through were soon after sealed. Nearly all the tunnel entrances still exist, but are unusable at the tunnels themselves are collapsed. The rise in the use of automobiles made the railroads unprofitable.

Parts of the original Highway 17 lie underwater in Lexington Reservoir. When the reservoir was built, the highway was rerouted to higher ground, and the two towns along its path (Alma and Lexington) were abandoned. When the reservoir levels are extremely low, the old highway pavement is visible as well as some stone and concrete foundations of buildings.

Until the mid-1980s, Highway 17 extended from its current southern terminus at State Route 1 in Santa Cruz through Oakland and across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to San Rafael. The roadway still exists (apart from the mile-long Cypress section in Oakland, destroyed in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake) but parts have been redesignated. The section between Interstate 80 and US 101 in San Rafael was renumbered as an extension of Interstate 580. Prior to the redesignation, this part of 17 followed Richmond streets, including an expressway called Hoffman Boulevard, to the bridge; a freeway built to Interstate standards was completed in 1990 after the corridor became 580's northwestern leg. Additionally, Highway 17 between Interstate 280 in San Jose and the freeway's new northern terminus in Oakland was re-designated as Interstate 880 later that year. Before the Freeway was built in Milpitas, Fremont, Hayward and Oakland, 17 followed what is now Old Oakland Road (San Jose), Main Street (Milpitas) and Warm Springs Blvd (southern Fremont); from the Irvington section of Fremont, the route proceeded along what is now Fremont Blvd, which becomes Alvarado Blvd in Union City. From there, the route proceeded along Hesparian Blvd in Hayward and Washington Avenue in San Leandro, joining with E 14th Street as it proceeded into Oakland. From Oakland, 17 would follow U.S 40 (Now Interstate 80) San Pablo Avenue up to its split in Albany. Route 17 then followed what is now Interstate 580 over the San Rafael Bridge (Before the late 50's it was a ferry crossing) Terminating at U.S 101 in San Rafael.

Exit list

Highway 17 has Cal-NExUS numbered exits on its freeway portion. The non-freeway portion has exits and turnoffs which are not numbered. As of 2005, only one exit (23) has numbered signs, which is only numbered in the northbound direction.

State Route 1 North - Half Moon Bay; San Francisco State Route 1 South - Watsonville; Monterey State Route 35 north - Summit Road State Route 9 west - Saratoga State Route 85 - Mountain View; Gilroy Interstate 280 South - Downtown San José Interstate 280 North - San Francisco Interstate 880 North - Oakland

Postmile	Municipality	#Cal-NExUS Interchange Exit Numbering	Destinations	Notes
SCR 0.00	Santa Cruz		Ocean Street	Southbound left exit and northbound entrance
		1A	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		1B	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
SCR 0.74		1C	Pasatiempo	Exit 1 northbound
SCR 3.44	Scotts Valley	3	Mt. Hermon Road
SCR 5.45	Scotts Valley	5	Granite Creek Road
End freeway and begin expressway
SCL 0.11		–	non-freeway exit. Currently unsigned as SR-35.
SCL 4.30		–	Bear Creek Road	non-freeway exit
End expressway and begin freeway
SCL 6.16	Los Gatos	19	Santa Cruz Avenue	Northbound left exit and southbound entrance
SCL 7.07		20A	East Los Gatos	Cloverleaf interchange with Los Gatos Saratoga Road
SCL 7.07		20B		Cloverleaf interchange with Los Gatos Saratoga Road
SCR 8.89		21	Lark Avenue
SCR 9.32		22
SCR 10.50	Campbell	23	Camden Avenue; San Tomas Expressway
SCR 12.34	Campbell	25	Hamilton Avenue
SCR 13.93	San José	26A	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		26B	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			Northbound exit and southbound entrance

State law

Legal Definition of Route 17: California Streets and Highways Code, Chapter 2, Article 3, Section 317

References

CalNEXUS report for 17N and 17S
Richard Beal: Highway 17: The Road to Santa Cruz. Aptos, California: Pacific Group, 1990. ISBN 0-962-99740-4

External links

California state highways | California Freeway and Expressway System