California State Route 168

State Route 168 marker

State Route 168

Map of eastern California with SR 168 highlighted in red
Route information
Defined by Streets and Highways Code § 468
Maintained by Caltrans
Length: 124.00 mi[1] (199.56 km)
Existed: 1934 – present
Restrictions: The segment from Lake Sabrina east to Aspendell is subject to closure to most vehicles during the winter months due to snow removal.[2][3]
Section 1
West end: SR 41 / SR 180 in Fresno
East end: Huntington Lake
Section 2
West end: Lake Sabrina
Major
junctions:		 US 395 in Bishop
East end: SR 266 at Oasis
Location
Counties: Fresno, Inyo, Mono
Highway system
← SR 167SR 169 →

State Route 168 (SR 168) is an east-west state highway in California, USA, which is separated into three distinct segments, in part by the Sierra Nevada mountains. The westernmost segment runs from Fresno east to Huntington Lake along the western slope of the Sierras. The middle segment connects Lake Sabrina in the Eastern Sierras to the city of Bishop. And the easternmost segment of SR 168 then runs from the community of Big Pine to Oasis, just to the west of the Nevada border.

This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System[4] and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System.[5]

Route description

Highway 168 along Bishop Creek, Eastern Sierra

The westernmost segment of SR 168 begins in southeast Fresno at the interchange with State Route 180, where it is known as the Sierra Freeway until it becomes Tollhouse Road near the northeast edge of Clovis. Tollhouse Road is a 4-lane expressway from the end of the freeway to Shepherd Avenue, east of which the highway is mostly an undivided 2-lane road. This segment continues east up into the Sierra Nevada, ending at Huntington Lake along the western slope of the range.

Before the reconstruction of urban Route 168 as a freeway, the route started at SR 41 and Shaw Avenue in Fresno. SR 168 ran along Shaw Avenue, Clovis Avenue, Third Street (Clovis), and Tollhouse Road to the current end of the freeway.

SR 168 cannot be used to cross the Sierra Nevada. The closest crossings of the Sierra Nevada are SR 120 via Tioga Pass to the north and Sherman Pass to the south. Both of these passes are accessible in warmer months only.

The middle segment of SR 168 has its western terminus at Lake Sabrina on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. This rural mountain road runs east to U.S. Route 395 in Bishop. The segment of the highway from Lake Sabrina east to the community of Aspendell is subject to closure to most vehicles during the winter months, usually not opening until mid- or late-April, due to snow removal.[2][3] The winter road closure gate is actually located to the southwest of Aspendell.[6]

The easternmost segment of SR 168 begins in Big Pine at US 395, and climbs into the White Mountains through Westgard Pass, passing the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. From here it traverses Deep Springs Valley, home of Deep Springs College, before crossing into Fish Lake Valley, where the segment ends at State Route 266, just west of the Nevada Border.

History

The easternmost part of the route, from Big Pine over Westgard Pass to the Nevada state line near Lida, Nevada predates the era of numbered highways and dates to the auto trail era, as part of the Midland Trail. The Midland Trail was one of the earliest transcontinental roads in the USA. It was at Big Pine that the Midland trail forked in its westward journey to its eventual western termini, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The western descent from Westgard Pass into the Owens Valley was described as a "Welcome to California" view in the route guides for the Midland trail.[7] Though SR 168 is the original routing of the Midland Trail, the route was realigned numerous times, and signs today mark U.S. Route 6 as the routing of the Midland Trail from California east to Denver, Colorado.

When the state of California began conceiving its own route network, modern SR 168 was conceived as a trans-Sierra highway connecting Fresno and Bishop. However, the two segments were never connected. The rugged Sierra crest and eastern escarpment would have made construction very difficult and today two congressionally designated wilderness areas block the way: Kings Canyon National Park and the John Muir Wilderness.[8]

As originally designated SR 168 extended to the Nevada state line. The easternmost section of SR 168 was transferred to California State Route 266 in 1986.[9]

Major intersections

Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see the list of postmile definitions).[10] Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.

CountyLocationPostmile
[10][11][12]		Exit
[13]		DestinationsNotes
Fresno
FRE R0.29-65.84		FresnoR0.291 SR 41 (Yosemite Freeway) / SR 180 (Sequoia-Kings Canyon Freeway) – Lemoore, Paso Robles, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Kerman, MendotaWestbound exit and eastbound entrance; signed as exits 1A (west) and 1B (east); west end of SR 168; SR 41 exit 128A; SR 180 east exit, west exit 60
R0.991CMcKinley AvenueSigned as exit 1 eastbound
R2.022Shields Avenue
R3.043Ashlan Avenue
R4.264Shaw AvenueFormer SR 168; serves California State University, Fresno
ClovisR5.636Bullard Avenue
R6.877Herndon Avenue
R8.048Fowler Avenue
R9.159Temperance Avenue
 East end of freeway
​15.47Academy Avenue – Sanger, Kingsburg
​T24.70Millerton Road – Friant
PratherT30.20Auberry Road – Millerton Lake
Huntington Lake65.84Huntington Lake Road / Kaiser Pass Road – Huntington Lake, Mono Hot Springs, Edison Lake, Florence Lake
Gap in route
Inyo
INY R0.00-54.70		​R0.00Lake Sabrina
Bishop18.31
115.40[N 1]		 US 395 north (Main Street) / East Line Street – Bridgeport, RenoWest end of US 395 overlap; former US 6 north; East Line Street serves Eastern Sierra Regional Airport
Big Pine100.83[N 1]
18.32		 US 395 south / County Road – Big Pine, Independence, Los AngelesEast end of US 395 overlap; former US 6 south
​20.81Death Valley Road – Saline Valley, Eureka Valley, Scotty's Castle
Mono
MNO 0.00-1.45		Oasis1.45 SR 266 to US 95 – Fish Lake ValleySR 266 north was former SR 168 east; east end of SR 168
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
  1. 1 2 Indicates that the postmile represents the distance along US 395 rather than SR 168.

See also

References

  1. ↑ January 1, 2006 California Log of Bridges on State Highways
  2. 1 2 "Mountain Pass Closures". California Dept. of Transportation. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  3. 1 2 "Snow Leaves Eastern Sierra Mountain Roads Closed for the Season". KCET. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  4. ↑ CA Codes (shc:250-257) Archived 2012-10-14 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ CA Codes (shc:260-284) Archived 2010-11-03 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ "Bishop Area Winter Map" (PDF). Bishop Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  7. ↑ Westgard, A.L. "Motor Routes to the California Expositions". Highway History. Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  8. ↑ "State Route 168 Transportation Concept Report" (PDF). California Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-11. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  9. ↑ California State Assembly. "An act to amend Sections 318, 341, 343, 360, 366, 370, 374, 388, 389, 403, 425, 468, 548, 624, 2104, and 2107 of, to add Section 632 to, and to repeal Sections 322.1, 355.1, 417, and 622.2 of, the Streets...". 1985–1986 Session of the Legislature. Statutes of California. State of California. Ch. 928 p. 3215–3216.
  10. 1 2 California Department of Transportation. "State Truck Route List". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (XLS file) on June 30, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  11. ↑ California Department of Transportation, Log of Bridges on State Highways, July 2007
  12. ↑ California Department of Transportation, All Traffic Volumes on CSHS, 2005 and 2006
  13. ↑ California Department of Transportation, California Numbered Exit Uniform System, SR-168 Eastbound and SR-168 Westbound, accessed February 2008

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