Route Description
The road begins at a remote interchange with US 101 south of King City in the Salinas River Valley. Leaving US 101, SR 198 passes through the Priest Valley, climbs the barren Coast Range as a two-lane road, and crosses over an unnamed pass; it then descends along Warthan Canyon to the town of Coalinga in the agricultural Central Valley, where it briefly runs concurrently with SR 33. On both sides of Coalinga the road passes through the enormous Coalinga Oil Field.
SR 198 then intersects Interstate 5 (I-5) in Fresno County near the Harris Ranch Airport before becoming a freeway west of Lemoore. The landscape becomes a bit less rural as it goes through Hanford and passes near the Hanford Municipal Airport, where it quickly reverts to a two-lane road at the intersection with SR 43 until entering Tulare County. SR 198 encounters a freeway-to-freeway interchange with SR 99 as it enters Visalia, the largest city it passes through, and goes by the Visalia Municipal Airport. It remains a freeway until east of Visalia, intersecting SR 63 and passing by College of the Sequoias. The road starts to climb the forested Sierra Nevada and ends at Sequoia National Park, near Lake Kaweah. This is one of the main routes providing access to Sequoia National Park, the other being SR 180 to the north.
SR 198 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System as designated by the California State Legislature; however, it is not a scenic highway as defined by Caltrans.
Read more about this topic: California State Route 198
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