CA: US101Bus Paso Robles

[bejacob]

I just drove US 101 from LA to Paso Robles. I noticed that for the entire length of US101BusPas, there were no US101 Business shields posted. The signage along the route is "Historic US 101." Other business routes like Ventura, Arroyo Grande, and Pismo Beach were well marked both at the points where they joined US101 and along the business routes. Naturally this difference got me thinking.

What determines whether a route is a Business Spur/Loop? If it's based on signage, US101BusPas might need to be removed, or renamed and added to the usaush system.

On a somewhat related note, there is signage posted in Riverside for Historic US395 which does not appear in the HB, though other segments do. I noticed the shield along University Ave and on Market St. Not sure if this is a priority, but since I saw it on my recent travels, I thought I'd mention it.

[oscar]

GMSV (May 2016 imagery) shows a sign on SB 101 for the Spring St. exit, with a "Route 101 Business" sign underneath, which is the usual Caltrans signage for nusiness routes.

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.659549,-120.6981458,3a,60.4y,199.24h,102.16t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s6miSbLCG6THH-0DD5ep6uA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Did you drive north on US 101 after completing the business route, and see that sign assembly without the "Route 101 Business" sign?

Most of California's business routes are locally-maintained but Caltrans-designated. To me, the signage on Caltrans-maintained mainlines is more important, though in the typical lifecycle of California business routes, once the locality stops caring about its business route, the mainline signage eventually disappears as well.

You sometimes have the opposite situation, like with some of the I-10 business routes, where there is remnant BL signage on the locally-maintained business route itself but none on the mainline. I removed those from the HB as part of a late 2015 California cleanup.

[bejacob]

Did you drive north on US 101 after completing the business route, and see that sign assembly without the "Route 101 Business" sign?

My route planned route took me north on US101 to CA46 (exit 231B). I chose to continue to exit 232 and drive US101Bus south through Paso Robles. I had been watching for the business route signs along NB US101. I expected to see one at exit 229. When I didn't, I paid a bit more attention than I normally would. There is no doubt the route through town is the old alignment of US101 and in almost every other similar case, that route is marked as US101Bus. This one seemed to be the exception.

I won't contradict your GMSV evidence. I know I didn't see anything like this heading NB on US101. It should have been posted at exit 229 and/or at 232, but as far as I recall, it wasn't.

Don't get me wrong. I drove it and would be glad to have another clinch. I just wondered if it really belongs given the lack of signage. Quite frankly, it's these confusing issues between signage and "official" designation that give me the most headaches.  For now, if they're in the HB, I try to drive them.

[oscar]

Don't get me wrong. I've drove it and would be glad to have another clinch. I just wondered if it really belongs given the lack of signage. Quite frankly, it's these confusing issues between signage and "official" designation that give me the most headaches.  For now, if they're in the HB, I try to drive them.

I'm not sure what the "official" business route designations are in California. They aren't defined legislatively. The most recent business route list I'm aware of is more than a quarter-century old. Many of those routes are now unsigned on the mainlines they are associated with, which as a practical matter means they are defunct (after all, legally and practically, the whole point of a business route is to have signs steering mainline travelers to local businesses, especially the ones that were unhappy about getting bypassed). If so, I normally omit them from the HB for that reason alone, without getting into whether that's because somebody at Caltrans decided to stop recognizing them. The exceptions, like CA 99 Business in Chico (good signage on the route itself, but none on the CA 99 mainline) probably will not stay in the HB for long.

I need to check with Caltrans on whether there's a newer statewide list, or its twelve districts on whether they have their own lists of what they try to sign. Then hope they return my e-mails (the response rate seems inconsistent).

So all I really have to go on is signage in the field. In the context of Ca;trans' signage practices, I'll settle for "Route XX Business" signage at just one end, at least for a simple business route like in Paso Robles which is easy to follow without additional signage on the business route itself.