California State Route 198

State Route 198
Sequoia Freeway
Route information
Defined by S&HC § 498
Maintained by Caltrans
Length: 141.273 mi[1] (227.357 km)
(plus about 8.5 mi (14 km) on SR 33)
Major junctions
West end: US 101 near San Lucas
  SR 33 in Coalinga
I-5 near Coalinga
SR 41 in Lemoore
SR 43 near Hanford
SR 99 in Visalia
SR 63 in Visalia
East end: Sequoia National Park
Highway system

State highways in California(list • pre-1964)
History • Unconstructed • Deleted • Freeway • Scenic

← SR 197 US 199 →

State Route 198 is an east–west state highway that connects the California Central Coast to the mid-Central Valley at Visalia, although the most-traveled portion is in the Central Valley itself.

This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System[2] and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System.[3]

Contents

Route description

The road begins at a remote interchange with U.S. Route 101 south of King City in the Salinas River Valley. Leaving Route 101, SR 198 passes through the Priest Valley, climbs the Coast Range as a two-lane road, and crosses over an unnamed pass; it then descends along Warthan Canyon to the town of Coalinga, where it joins with SR 33.

Portions of the highway between U.S. Route 101 and Coalinga contain several switchback turns making freight hauling difficult through this part of the Coast Range. Freight haulers are advised to use SR 46 to the south instead.

On both sides of Coalinga the road passes through the enormous Coalinga Oil Field, which was the largest-producing field in California in the first decade of the 20th century. Production continues there, as is evident from the number of nodding donkeys a traveler sees in this vicinity. After going through Coalinga, the road becomes flatter.

SR 198 then intersects Interstate 5 in Fresno County before becoming a freeway west of Lemoore. The landscape become a bit less rural as it goes through Hanford, where it quickly reverts to a two-lane road at the intersection with SR 43 until entering Tulare County and the freeway-to-freeway interchange with SR 99 as it enters Visalia, the largest city it will intersect. It will remain a freeway until east of Visalia, where the road starts to climb the Sierra Nevada and it ends at Sequoia National Park. This is the main route from both the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas to Sequoia National Park.

Ground was broken on November 19, 2009 on a project that will widen the two-lane, 10-mile section of SR 198 between SR 43 and SR 99 into a four-lane expressway. It is expected to be completed in the Spring of 2012. The project will cost $91.4 million.[4]

History

All of SR 198 was added to the state highway system in the three bond issues floated to pay for the construction of the system. The first bond issue, approved by the state's voters in 1910, included the road from Visalia west to Hanford, connecting the two county seats with the central north–south highway (Route 4, now State Route 99). As part of the 1916 bond issue, the route was extended west from Hanford through Coalinga to the coast trunk highway (Route 2, now U.S. 101) near San Lucas, and assigned it the Route 10 designation. The third bond issue, passed in 1919, included a further extension east from Visalia to Sequoia National Park.[5] The entire length of Route 10 was marked as Sign Route 198 in 1934,[6] and this number was adopted legislatively in the 1964 renumbering.[7] The portion east of Interstate 5 near Coalinga was added to the California Freeway and Expressway System in 1959,[8] and parts of it have been built as such.

Major intersections

Note: Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured in 1964, based on the alignment as it existed at that time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.
County Location Postmile
[1][9][10]		 Exit
[11]		 Destinations Notes
Monterey
MON R0.00-25.79		 San Lucas R0.00 Lockwood-San Lucas Road, Bunte Road Continuation beyond US 101
R0.11 US 101 Interchange
14.00 SR 25 north – Pinnacles, Hollister
Fresno
FRE 0.00-42.73		 Coalinga 22.37 Polk Street – Stratford, Taft
22.65
15.71[N 1]		 SR 33 south (Fifth Street) to I-5 south / Coalinga Plaza (Fifth Street) West end of SR 33 overlap
24.32[N 1]
22.66		 SR 33 north (Coalinga-Mendota Road) to I-5 north / Shell Road – Mendota, Los Banos East end of SR 33 overlap
26.81 I-5 – Sacramento, Los Angeles Interchange
34.66 SR 269 (Lassen Avenue) – Five Points, Huron
Kings
KIN 0.00-28.33		 3.01 Lemoore NAS
West end of freeway
4.99 73 Stratford, Avenal
Lemoore R8.90 77 SR 41 – Lemoore, Paso Robles, Fresno
Short gap in freeway
R10.56 79 18th Avenue, Lemoore Avenue – Central Lemoore
R12.11 81 Houston Avenue, D Street – Lemoore
R14.77 83 14th Avenue – Armona
R15.75 84 Hanford-Armona Road, 13th Avenue – Armona
Hanford R16.91 85 12th Avenue
R17.91 86 11th Avenue – Hanford Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
R18.3 87A Redington Street – Central Hanford Westbound exit and entrance
R18.51 87 Douty Street – Central Hanford No westbound exit
R18.96 87B 10th Avenue Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
Short gap in freeway
R20.98 89 SR 43 – Selma, Corcoran
East end of freeway
23.32 6th Avenue – Kingsburg
Tulare
TUL 0.00-44.16		 CR J25 (Road 68) – Goshen
West end of freeway
R3.83 101 SR 99 – Los Angeles, Sacramento Signed as exits 101A (south) and 101B (north) westbound
Visalia R4.80 102 Plaza Drive
5.76 103 Shirk Road
6.76 104 Akers Street
7.76 105A Demaree Street
R8.75 105B SR 63 south (Mooney Boulevard) – Tulare West end of SR 63 overlap
R9.97 107A SR 63 north (Court Street) – Cutler, Orosi, Kings Canyon, Central Visalia East end of SR 63 overlap
R10.73 107B Ben Maddox Way – Woodlake
R11.72 108 SR 216 east (Lovers Lane, CR J15) – Visalia
R13.74 110 Road 156 – Ivanhoe
R14.65 111 Farmersville Boulevard – Farmersville
East end of freeway
R18.76 SR 65 south / CR J27 (Road 196) – Exeter, Lindsay, Porterville
R19.76 SR 245 north / Road 204 – Woodlake, Kings Canyon
27.96 SR 216 west – Woodlake
44.16 Sequoia National Park boundary
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
     Concurrency terminus •      Closed/Former •      Incomplete access •      Unopened
  1. ^ a b Indicates that the postmile represents the distance along SR 33 rather than SR 198.

References

  1. ^ a b California Department of Transportation, State Truck Route List (XLS file), accessed February 2008
  2. ^ CA Codes (shc:250-257)
  3. ^ CA Codes (shc:260-284)
  4. ^ Hanford Sentinel, November 20, 2009
  5. ^ Howe & Peters, Engineers' Report to California State Automobile Association Covering the Work of the California Highway Commission for the Period 1911-1920, pp. 11-16
  6. ^ California Highways and Public Works, State Routes will be Numbered and Marked with Distinctive Bear Signs, August 1934
  7. ^ "An act...relating to routes on the state highway system.", 1963 chapter 385, p. 1185
  8. ^ "An act to amend...the Streets and Highways Code, relating to state highways, providing for a California Freeway and Expressway System...", 1959 chapter 1062, p. 3112: "Route 10 from Route 238 [I-5] near Coalinga to Sequoia National Park."
  9. ^ California Department of Transportation, Log of Bridges on State Highways, July 2007
  10. ^ California Department of Transportation, All Traffic Volumes on CSHS, 2005 and 2006
  11. ^ California Department of Transportation, California Numbered Exit Uniform System, State Route 198 Freeway Interchanges, Retrieved on 2009-02-07.

External links