West end: I-5 near Taft Length 51.37 km | East end: SR 58 near Arvin | |
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State Route 223 (SR 223) is a state route in Kern County, California, and is locally known as Bear Mountain Boulevard. It is a truck route, connecting the agricultural land south of Bakersfield and east of SR 99/I-5, and the city of Arvin, to three major transportation corridors without having to drive through Bakersfield. It connects to I-5 (Westside Freeway) for goods traveling north and east of Sacramento. It connects to SR 99 for goods traveling to major San Joaquin Valley communities. It also connects to SR 58, for goods traveling to all points southeast, except for Los Angeles. For goods traveling south, trucks use SR 99 while cars can use Wheeler Ridge Road, which is a north-south county road that connects to I-5 south of SR 99.
Contents
Map of CA-223, California, USA
Route description
State Route 223 begins at Interstate 5. From there it travels east through relatively flat agricultural land. It crosses SR 99 and Union Avenue (SR 99 Business). It then crosses Weedpatch Highway (SR 184)/Wheeler Ridge Road, which is the local north-south highway serving the region. Continuing east, it crosses through the only city served by the route, the agricultural community of Arvin. It continues through agricultural land, before reaching the eastern end of the San Joaquin Valley. The terrain changes to rolling hills, as the road climbs the Tehachapi Mountains. The highway terminates at SR 58.
History
Bear Mountain Boulevard was constructed in 1915, as the bypass to White Wolf Road to the south; the road still exists, but is on private property. It is not known when White Wolf Road was constructed. The road was a part of the Midway Route, which was the most direct route between the San Joaquin Valley and Los Angeles via Tehachapi Pass and the Mojave Desert. After the Ridge Route was constructed in 1915, the Midway Route was still important as the primary bypass to the newly constructed highway. Bear Mountain Boulevard served as part of the Midway Route until 1933, when Bena Road was constructed to provide a more direct connection to Bakersfield. Today, the Midway Route is served by SR 58 and SR 14.
In 1933, Bear Mountain Boulevard was adopted as an unsigned state highway. It was a part of Legislative Route 140, which ran from Taft to US 99 (locally known as Taft Highway), and from US 99 to US 466. The Taft Highway portion was signed as US 399, but the Bear Mountain Boulevard section was unsigned. It was dropped from the route in 1959, and became Legislative Route 264. In 1964, with the renumbering of California’s state routes, Bear Mountain Boulevard became a signed route as SR 223, and was extended west to I-5.
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). Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The entire route is in Kern County.