🛣 Changes to the California Highways Website for January-March 2026

Before we start on the update: 2026 marks the 30^th Anniversary of this website. The changelog for 1996 shows the first “official” changes in October 1996, although it notes that “Changes before early 1996 were not specifically noted, although this site, in various forms, dates back at least as far as 1992, and possibly as early as 1986. Searching on Google Groups uncovers an early posting of the state highway list in December of 1992 to the Usenet Group ca.driving. In 1995, there was a posting of the highway list in response to a question, showing a last modified date of 1994. By October 1996, postings were being made showing the existence of the California Highways page off of Pacificnet.The earliest capture of the site on the Wayback Machine is in December 1998.” So welcome to the start of the 30^th Anniversary year, or perhaps the 40^th Anniversary year, of California Highways!

This update covers January, February, and March 2026. Before we dive into the updates to the California Highways site, an update on the California Highways: Route by Route podcast. As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Podcasters, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcaster or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Podcasters). The following episodes have been posted since the last update at the end of 2025:

• March | CA RxR 4.08: Route 12: Sonoma and Napa. Episode 4.08 is the first of three episodes focusing on Route 12. We start by exploring LRN 12, which we visited before in our episodes on Route 8, for LRN 12 became I-8 between San Diego and El Centro. We then look at Sign Route 12 and Route 12, which are mostly the same route… except, of course, in the first segment where they differ in routing between Route 1 and US 101. Episode 4.08 focuses on the first two segments of Route 12, which covers the portions between Route 1 near Valley Ford or Jenner through Sebastapol, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Napa, and into Cordelia. Episode 4.09 will cover Route 12 from I-80 near Suisan City through the Sacramento Wetlands to Lodi and Route 99. Lastly, Episode 4.10 will cover Route 12 from Route 99 to the Sierra Foothill and San Andreas, where it meets Route 49. As usual, we’ll cover historical routings, projects, and names along the route. (Spotify for Creators)
• February | CA RxR 4.07: Route 11: From Pasadena to the Border. In Episode 4.07, we examine Route 11. We’ll start by exploring LRN 11, which was essentially the first state highway, running from Sacramento to Placerville, later extended to run from Antioch to the Nevada State Line near Lake Tahoe. Today, it is primarily US 50 with a bit of Route 160. We then explore the original Sign Route 11, which was LRN 165 and LRN 205, and is today’s Route 110. It was also US 60, and is perhaps better known as the Harbor Freeway and the Pasadena Freeway / Arroyo Seco Parkway. We explore the history and various routings of Sign Route 11, including the history of the Figueroa Tunnels. Lastly, we explore the current Route 11, which is a short route near the Mexico border that connects the San Diego Freeway System (Route 905/Route 125) to the Otay Mesa East port of entry. (Spotify for Creators)
• January | CA RxR 4.06: I-10: San Bernardino Freeway. Episode 4.06 continues our exploration of Route 10. Episode 4.05 covered the first segment of Route 10: The Santa Monica Freeway between Route 1 and the I-5/US 101 junction. This episode, 4.06, covers the second segment of Route 10, from US 101 to the Arizona Border. Along the way, we explore the former I-110 segment, Route 10S, and do a deep dive into the US highways that shaped this segment of I-10: US 60, US 70, and US 99. We explore the historical routing of those highways across this segment. We also look at some of the names on the highway, and current projects along the highway. (Spotify for Creators)
• January | CA RxR 4.05: I-10: Santa Monica Freeway. With Episode 4.05, we turn our attention to Route 10. This first episode on Route 10 starts with an exploration of the 10^th route (the last ordinal route we’ll do), which was the Emigrant Gap Highway, and became the basis for LRN 37. This became part of the Lincoln Highway, then US 40, and is now part of I-80 from Sacramento to Nevada. We look at LRN 10, which became Route 198 from US 101 near San Lucas to Sequoia National Park. We then explore Sign Route 10 (which we discussed in our episode on I-5 in Los Angeles county), which ran from US 101A to US 101, later becoming Route 42 and US 101 Bypass, and eventually I-105 and I-5. Lastly, we turn to post-1964 Route 10, which is today’s I-10. In this episode, we focus on the first segment: “From Route 1 in Santa Monica to Route 5 near Seventh Street in Los Angeles”, which is today’s Santa Monica Freeway. We look at its origins as Sign Route 6, which became Sign Route 26 along LRN 173, LRN 166, and LRN 171. We focus on LRN 173 (LRN 166 and LRN 171 were discussed in our episode on I-5 in Los Angeles county, as well as our episode on Route 6), which was Olympic Blvd. We explore the history of the Santa Monica Freeway segment, the experiments tried along this highway, some significant projects along this segment, and some significant names on this segment. (Spotify for Creators)

Turning to the updates to the California Highways pages: Updates were made to the following highways, based on my reading of the (virtual) papers and my research for the fourth and fifth seasons of the podcast in January, February, and March 2026 (which are posted to the roadgeeking category at the “Observations Along The Road” and to the California Highways Facebook group) as well as any backed up email changes. I also reviewed the the AAroads forum (Ꜳ). This resulted in changes on the following routes, with credit as indicated [my research^(ℱ), contributions of information or leads (via direct mail or ꜲRoads) from andy3175⁽²⁾, ClassicsHasClass⁽³⁾, Tom Fearer [Max Rockatansky]⁽⁴⁾, Mike Palmer⁽⁵⁾, Will Poundstone⁽⁶⁾]: Route 1^(ℱ), Route 2^(ℱ), Route 4^(ℱ,4), I-5^(ℱ), Sign Route 7^(ℱ), Route 9⁽⁴⁾, I-10^(ℱ), Route 12^(ℱ), Route 14^(ℱ,6), Route 16^(ℱ), Route 24^(ℱ), Route 26^(ℱ), Route 28^(ℱ), Route 34^(ℱ), Route 37^(ℱ), Route 47^(ℱ,5), Route 49^(ℱ), US 50^(ℱ), Route 57^(ℱ), Campus Parkway/Route 59⁽⁴⁾, Route 60^(ℱ), Route 71^(ℱ), Route 74^(ℱ), I-80^(ℱ), Route 82^(ℱ), Route 84^(ℱ), Route 90^(ℱ), Route 91^(ℱ), Route 92^(ℱ), Route 93^(ℱ), Route 99^(ℱ), US 101^(ℱ), I-105^(ℱ), Route 118^(ℱ), Route 125⁽²⁾, Route 134^(ℱ), Route 138^(ℱ), Route 140^(ℱ), Route 168^(ℱ), Route 180⁽⁴⁾, I-210^(ℱ), I-215^(ℱ), Route 211^(ℱ), I-215^(ℱ), Route 217^(ℱ), Route 241^(ℱ), Route 255^(ℱ), Route 260^(ℱ), US 395⁽³⁾, I-405^(ℱ,6), I-580^(ℱ), I-680^(ℱ), I-710^(ℱ), I-880^(ℱ), LRN 7^(ℱ), LRN 77^(ℱ), LRN 221^(ℱ), County Sign Route E15^(ℱ), El Camino Real^(ℱ).
(Source: private email through 3/19/2026, Highway headline posts through and including the March 2026 Headline post (up to “Fifth Street” (HL) and “Douglas Flat” (GN)), AARoads through 3/27/2026)

Completed work on Season 4, and started work on Season 5, of the Route by Route podcast. Research for and preparation of the episodes posted or written during this period resulted in changes and updates to the following routes: I-10, Route 12, Route 13, Route 14, Route 49, Route 110, Route 112, Route 123, Route 260, I-980, LRN 8, LRN 9, LRN 10, LRN 11, LRN 12, LRN 13, LRN 14, LRN 24, County Sign Route J5.

Reviewed the Pending Legislation page, based on the California Legislature site, for bills through 2026-03-20. As usual, I recommend to every Californian that they visit the legislative website regularly and see what their legis-critters are doing. As many people are unfamiliar with how the legislature operates (and why there are so many “non-substantive changes” and “gut and amend” bills), I’ve added the legislative calendar (updated for 2026) to the end of the Pending Legislation page. This is early in the even-numbered year session, so there’s a lot of introduction of placeholder bills, and a lot of amending of those placeholder bills (and bills that remained active from the previous year). Noted the passage of the following bills / resolutions (I also identified a number of errors in bills and resolutions, and submitted comments as indicated):

• ACR 71 (Kalra) Little Saigon Freeway.
  Designates the portion of US 101 in the County of Santa Clara from Story Road (SCL 34.224) to the junction with Route 280 and Route 680 (SCL 34.873) as the “Little Saigon Freeway”. In August 2025, it was noted that Santa Clara leaders had shown support for the proposal; see here.02/20/26 Chaptered by Secretary of State – Res. Chapter 4, Statutes of 2026.

Reviewed the online agenda of the California Coastal Commission for the January through March meetings. The following items were of interest:

• February: Agenda Item W12a. February 2026 Appeal No. A-1-MEN-25-0050 (Caltrans Gualala Downtown Streetscape Project, Mendocino County). Appeals by (1) Save Gualala, and (2) Bower Limited Partnership from decision of County of Mendocino granting permit with conditions to the California Department of Transportation District 1 for the Gualala Downtown Streetscape Enhancement project that proposes to reconfigure approximately 0.5 mi. segment of Route 1, removing on-highway parking and installing two-way left turn lanes, bicycle lanes, sidewalks, pedestrian refuge islands, crosswalks, activated flashing beacons, drainage, landscaping, and other improvements from post mile 0.6 to 1.0 in unincorporated Gualala, Mendocino County. (AS-A)
• February: Agenda Item W13a. February 2026 Application No. 1-25-0828 (Caltrans Albion River Bridge Repair and Maintenance, Mendocino County). Application by the California Department of Transportation District 1 to repair and maintain the Albion River Bridge through replacement in-kind of 53 deteriorated timber scabs and inspection and potential replacement of at least three split ring connectors and one mole claw connector located at the base of the timber towers, all located above the Albion River within the Caltrans right of way on Route 1, Mendocino County. (MP-SF)

I checked California Transportation Commission page for the agenda and results of the January and March 2026 meetings of the California Transportation Commission. As always, note that I tend not to track items that do not impact these pages — i.e., pavement rehabilitation or replacement, landscaping, drainage, culverts, roadside facilities, charging stations, or other things that do not impact the routing or history, unless they are really significant. As such, the following items were of interest:

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