California State Route 96

State Route 96
	SR 96 highlighted in red
Route information
	Defined by Streets and Highways Code § 396
	Maintained by Caltrans
Length	146.519 mi [1] (235.799 km)
Tourist; routes	Bigfoot Scenic Byway
Major junctions
West end	SR 299 at Willow Creek
East end	I-5 near Yreka
Location
Counties	Humboldt, Siskiyou
Highway system

Last updated November 17, 2019

State Route 96 (SR 96) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that follows the Trinity and Klamath Rivers between State Route 299 in Willow Creek and Interstate 5 near Yreka in Northern California. For most of the route it goes through the Karuk Tribal Reservation, the Yurok Tribal Reservation, and the Hoopa Tribal Reservation. Over half of the length is the Bigfoot Scenic Byway, passing through "the region boasting the most sightings of Bigfoot of anywhere in the country" according to the National Forest Scenic Byway Program.^[2]

A state highway, state road, or state route is usually a road that is either numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a state or province falls below numbered national highways in the hierarchy. Roads maintained by a state or province include both nationally numbered highways and un-numbered state highways. Depending on the state, "state highway" may be used for one meaning and "state road" or "state route" for the other.

In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders.

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents across a total area of about 163,696 square miles (423,970 km²), California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 9.7 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second-most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.

Route description

The route begins at a junction with State Route 299, the Trinity Highway, in Willow Creek. It heads north, following the Trinity River downstream through Hoopa, and exiting the Trinity National Forest near its confluence with the Klamath River at Weitchpec. At Weitchpec, the route intersects State Route 169 and turns northeast into the Six Rivers National Forest. The highway passes through Orleans and turns more northerly after intersecting Salmon River Road. Passing through Happy Camp, SR 96 enters the Klamath National Forest. After passing through Gottsville, the route exits the national forest. It intersects State Route 263, which heads south toward Yreka. Picking up the designation of Interstate 5 Business, SR 96 turns north. Passing the Randolf Collier Safety Roadside Rest Area, the route meets its terminus at Interstate 5.^[3]

State Route 299 is an east–west state highway in the state of California that runs across the northern part of the state. At 305.777 miles (492.100 km), it is the third longest California state highway. Route 299 begins at US 101 at the northern edge of Arcata and continues in an easterly direction through to the Nevada state line. Between Arcata and Redding, Route 299 intersects with State Route 96, and is briefly co-signed with State Route 3. In Redding, it intersects with State Route 273, State Route 44, and Interstate 5. East of Redding, it intersects with State Route 89, and a section is co-signed with State Route 139 before reaching Alturas. It is then co-signed with U.S. Route 395 northeast of Alturas, and then runs east toward the border with Nevada. A ghost town, Vya, Nevada, can be reached via this route, which after the border becomes a dirt road, which was formerly Nevada State Route 8A.

Willow Creek is a census-designated place (CDP) in Humboldt County, California, United States. The population was 1,710 at the 2010 census, down from 1,743 at the 2000 census. Residents of this small mountain town are commonly referred to as "Willow Creekers." The town is located around 30 miles (48 km) as the crow flies inland from county seat and harbor city Eureka, with the two places vastly differing in climate.

Hoopa is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Humboldt County, California. It is located 10 miles (16 km) south of Weitchpec, at an elevation of 328 feet (100 m). The ZIP Code is 95546.

SR 96 is not part of the National Highway System,^[4] a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration.^[5] SR 96 is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System,^[6] but it is not officially designated as a scenic highway by the California Department of Transportation.^[7]

The National Highway System (NHS) is a network of strategic highways within the United States, including the Interstate Highway System and other roads serving major airports, ports, rail or truck terminals, railway stations, pipeline terminals and other strategic transport facilities. Altogether, it constitutes the largest highway system in the world.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program. Its role had previously been performed by the Office of Road Inquiry, Office of Public Roads and the Bureau of Public Roads.

The State Scenic Highway System in the U.S. state of California is a list of highways, mainly state highways, that have been designated by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as scenic highways. They are marked by the state flower, a California poppy, inside either a rectangle for state-maintained highways or a pentagon for county highways.

The segment of SR 96 from Willow Creek to Happy Camp is designated as the Bigfoot Scenic Byway, a National Forest Scenic Byway that goes through a region boasting the most sightings of Bigfoot in the United States.^[2]

National Forest Scenic Byway type of highway

The National Forest Scenic Byways are roads that have been designated by the U.S. Forest Service as scenic byways. Many are also National Scenic Byways (NSB). The program was initiated in 1987.

In North American folklore, Bigfoot or Sasquatch are said to be hairy, upright-walking, ape-like creatures that dwell in the wilderness and leave footprints. Depictions often portray them as a missing link between humans and human ancestors or other great apes. They are strongly associated with the Pacific Northwest, and individuals claim to see the creatures across North America. Over the years, these creatures have inspired numerous commercial ventures and hoaxes. The plural nouns 'Bigfoots' and 'Bigfeet' are both in use.

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).^[1] 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.

California uses a postmile highway location marker system on all of its state highways, including U.S. Routes and Interstate Highways. The postmile markers indicate the distance a route travels through individual counties, as opposed to milestones that indicate the distance traveled through a state. The postmile system is the only route reference system used by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).

In 1963 and 1964, the California Division of Highways implemented a major renumbering of its state highways. The majority of sign routes—those marked for the public—kept their numbers; the main changes were to the legislative routes, which had their numbers changed to match the sign routes. Many formerly unsigned routes received sign numbers corresponding to their new legislative numbers. A smaller change was the removal and truncating of many U.S. Routes in favor of the Interstate Highways, and the renumbering of State Routes that conflicted with Interstate numbers. Some U.S. Routes that were officially removed continued to be signed until the replacement Interstates were completed.

County	Location	Postmile ^[1]^[8]^[9]	Destinations	Notes
Humboldt HUM 0.00-R44.98	Willow Creek	0.00	SR 299 – Redding, Eureka	West end of SR 96
Humboldt HUM 0.00-R44.98	Weitchpec	23.09	SR 169 (Bald Hills Road) – Martins Ferry
Siskiyou SIS R0.00-105.82	Happy Camp	41.10	Main Street
		71.33	Scott River Road – Scott Bar, Fort Jones
		103.41	SR 263 (I-5 Bus. south) – Yreka	West end of I-5 Bus. overlap
		105.82	I-5 – Portland, Redding, Randolf Collier Rest Area	Interchange; east end of I-5 Bus. overlap; east end of SR 96; I-5 exit 786
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus

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State Route 263 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that is part of Business Loop 5 in Siskiyou County, due to being a parallel route of Interstate 5 to the west. Route 263 connects State Route 3 near the north city limits of Yreka to State Route 96 eight miles north. SR 263 was once part of U.S. Route 99.

State Route 271 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs along a former routing of U.S. Route 101 in Mendocino and Humboldt counties. It also connects with State Route 1 just before that route's terminus with US 101 in Leggett. After US 101 was realigned, SR 271 was reduced to being a frontage road in discontinuous segments. While US 101 stays mostly in second growth redwoods, SR 271 is used as a scenic alternate through several old growth redwood groves.

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References

1 2 3 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.
1 2 Staff. "Bigfoot Scenic Byway". America's Byways. Federal Highway Administration. Archived from the original on October 23, 2011. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
↑ Google (April 10, 2011). "SR 96" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved April 10, 2011.
↑ Federal Highway Administration (March 25, 2015). National Highway System: California (North) (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
↑ Natzke, Stefan; Neathery, Mike & Adderly, Kevin (June 20, 2012). "What is the National Highway System?". National Highway System. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
↑ "Article 2.5 of Chapter 2 of Division 1 of the California Streets & Highways Code". California Office of Legislative Counsel . Retrieved February 6, 2019.
↑ California Department of Transportation (September 7, 2011). "Officially Designated State Scenic Highways and Historic Parkways". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
↑ California Department of Transportation (July 2007). "Log of Bridges on State Highways". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation.
↑ California Department of Transportation, All Traffic Volumes on CSHS, 2005 and 2006

External links

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[trucklist-1] 1 2 3 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.

[byways.org-2] 1 2 Staff. "Bigfoot Scenic Byway". America's Byways. Federal Highway Administration. Archived from the original on October 23, 2011. Retrieved October 23, 2011.

[3] Google (April 10, 2011). "SR 96" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved April 10, 2011.

[fhwa-nhs-4] Federal Highway Administration (March 25, 2015). National Highway System: California (North) (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved September 7, 2017.

[NHS-FHWA-5] Natzke, Stefan; Neathery, Mike & Adderly, Kevin (June 20, 2012). "What is the National Highway System?". National Highway System. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved July 1, 2012.

[scenic-6] "Article 2.5 of Chapter 2 of Division 1 of the California Streets & Highways Code". California Office of Legislative Counsel . Retrieved February 6, 2019.

[caltransscenic-7] California Department of Transportation (September 7, 2011). "Officially Designated State Scenic Highways and Historic Parkways". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. Retrieved October 7, 2017.

[bridgelog-8] California Department of Transportation (July 2007). "Log of Bridges on State Highways". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation.

[9] California Department of Transportation, All Traffic Volumes on CSHS, 2005 and 2006