Looking for photo help! A section of original US 99 in Herndon near Fresno in the Central Valley may be close to being removed. The section in question is south of Herndon Ave adjacent to Weber Ave. It is likely concrete and leads to the old railroad grade crossing removed in 1927.
Photos are from 1950 and 2021. We are looking for photos of the section of paving circled. It should be accessible from Golden State Blvd. Be aware the railroad tracks are live and trains may pass through at any time. Photos of that roadway would be nice as well, as it is also going to be removed in the future.
We’ve been working on adding more to our site to help spark interest in Historic Highway 99. Our newest addition “Highway 99 Adventures” is getting its start with Southern California as the first region to be covered. If you have a point of interest along the highway you’d like to see added, let us know.
The first of two articles just came out regarding our Calexico project. We were interviewed by two papers, the Calexico Chronicle and the Desert Review. Today, the article for the Desert Review came out in their print and e-edition. It is pretty cool to get some press for our work. It was a small project but still significant for us. We will post the second article once it comes out.
Today was a great day and a big day for the Historic Highway 99 Association of California. Today we completed our first project, replacing the Historic Route signs at the south end of US 99 in Calexico, California.
We met the sign crew in Calexico at 1st St and Heffernan Ave at 7:45 am on March 24, 2021 to deliver the signs and watch them get placed. It didn’t take long for things to get moving from that point on. As the new signs were a bit larger and the pole was not tall enough, the new signs needed to be drilled. Thankfully, the new hole was in a decent spot and didn’t mess up the flow of the sign.
Ready to post with the new sign finally here.
Taking down the old sign. This took a bit of work as the old bolts were rusted and welded.
Old sign, now removed.
New sign posted with the crew doing the finishing touches.
Finally on its own. Looking really good!
The second sign, at 2nd St and Imperial Ave, was next. This one, while not quite at the end of US 99, was posted that way due to its proximity to the south end of State 111. The sign is quite visible to a lot of travelers and locals heading to Mexicali and the Calexico central business district. As this was in the morning, the sun was not in a favorable direction for photos. We still made it work.
Crew working on removing the old sign. In the process, they also straightened the END and US 99 shield making the whole assembly a lot nicer.
Down goes the old sign.
And up comes the new one! The crew is making sure the sign is upright. The final check was done by us.
Second sign posted!
After the sign crews finished their work, we went to visit Liliana Falomir, Public Works Manager for the City of Calexico. It was very good to meet her in person for the first time and speak a bit more about the project. It was great to have the opportunity to thank her in person for all the work she has done to make this happen. We also delivered a letter relinquishing the sign to the city to make it all official. The City of Calexico will also be sending out a press release in the next few days, so who knows where things might go from there?
At the BEGIN sign later in the day with better sun. Very happy we made this happen.
We want to thank all those that donated to this project and the City of Calexico for helping make this a reality. We could not have done it without all your help and look forward to more projects in the future. This was an amazing day and a new beginning for US 99 and the Historic Highway 99 Association of California.
Our signs for our Calexico project (04IMP21001) have finally arrived! These signs were made by Zumar Industriesin Santa Fe Springs, CA. We are quite pleased with how they turned out.
Our sign from Zumar.
We anticipate these to be installed in Calexico in the next month. More signs will be ordered as other projects move forward. This wouldn’t be possible without your donations and support. We want to thank everyone that donated. We would also like to thank Zumar Industries for making such a great sign. We anticipate more orders from them in the future.
