| Pacheco Pass | |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 1,300 ft (396 m) |
| Traversed by | State Route 152 |
| Location | |
| Location | Santa Clara County, California, USA |
| Range | California Coast Ranges |
Pacheco Pass, elevation 1,300 ft (400 m), is a mountain pass located in the Diablo Range in southeastern Santa Clara County, California. It is the main road over the hills separating the Santa Clara Valley and the Central Valley.
As with most passes in the California Coast Ranges, it is not very high when compared to those in other mountain areas within the state. The road that traverses Pacheco Pass is State Route 152, which runs for 106 miles (171 km) between SR 1 in Watsonville and SR 99. Pacheco Pass Road, the western section between Gilroy and the pass itself (a distance of approximately 14 miles), is single-lane state highway in each direction and is the site of many accidents. Congestion over Pacheco Pass often forces traffic to take the longer route via the Altamont Pass.
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The pass was named for Francisco Perez Pacheco of the Rancho Ausaymas y San Felipe. In the 1850s, an informal variant name for the pass was Robber's Pass attributed to the frequent hold-ups experienced by travelers using the route.
Pacheco Pass was the site of one of the stage stations on the route of the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach route which connected the Saint Louis, Missouri with San Francisco from 1858 until 1861. Other stage lines used the route thereafter until completion of the railroads within the state.
There are no major communities between Gilroy and Los Banos in the Central Valley.
Where Pacheco Pass Road switches to the two-lane highway west of the pass itself lies Casa de Fruta, an extensive trading post. Originally a site devoted to selling locally produced fruit and nuts to travelers, Casa de Fruta has expanded to include a delicatessen, truckstop, RV park, and other facilities. A rural locale named Bell Station is along the route.
On the eastern slope of the pass lies the San Luis Reservoir, which stores water for the Central Valley Project and the California State Water Project. The San Luis Reservoir and O'Neill Forebay operate as a pumped storage hydroelectric plant. The entrances to the San Luis Reservoir state recreational area and Pacheco State Park require caution entering or exiting because there are no stop signs or traffic lights and two lanes of heavy traffic in each direction.
There is a windfarm located at the top of the pass. The turbines can be seen from Dinosaur Point Road, which is used for street luge, and can approached fairly closely from the eastern side of Pacheco State Park. The wind farm is fairly small compared to the ones at Altamont, San Gorgonio and Tehachapi Passes.
The Pacheco Pass American Viticultural Area is nearby.
Pacheco Pass has been tentatively selected as the route that the proposed California High-Speed Rail will take between the Bay Area and the Central Valley.