![]() ![]() Today, most drivers would avoid such a road. Slowed by a strictly enforced speed limit, drivers crawled around 697 curves at 15 miles per hour. To save money by minimizing road cuts and bridges, a 36-mile stretch of the route traveled atop the mountain ridges between Castaic and Gorman. Motorists on the highway's first iteration, which opened to traffic in 1915, faced a daunting, 12-hour drive between Los Angeles and Bakersfield on a one-way, unpaved road. Navigating the gentle curves and easy grades along today's eight-lane highway - once called the Ridge Route and today popularly known as the Grapevine - gives little indication of the difficulty early travelers experienced in their journey between Southern California and the Central Valley. Today, motorists traveling on Interstate 5 between Southern California and points north seemingly glide over the rugged San Gabriel and Tehachapi mountains. Courtesy of the Metro Transportation Library and Archive. 1920 view of the Ridge Route ascending Grapevine Canyon.
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