San Gabriel Mountains - Transportation

Transportation

The main road that runs through the San Gabriel Mountains is the Angeles Crest Highway, State Route 2. It starts in the southwest at the city of La Cañada Flintridge and ends at its junction with State Route 138, just past Wrightwood, near the Victor Valley and the West Cajon Valley. Past its junction with Angeles Forest Highway, traveling east, Angeles Crest Highway features blind curves, various bumps, and potholes. This section of the "Crest" is closed during the winter due to rockfall and avalanche hazards. State Route 2, just past Mountain High, is called the Big Pines Highway all the way to the Route 138 junction.

Another key county route which connects Angelenos to, and through, the mountains is Angeles Forest Highway. Angeles Forest Highway begins 11 miles northeast of La Cañada Flintridge at its Angeles Crest Highway junction. Ending near Acton, it allows easy access to the central Forest and the fast growing Antelope Valley. Because the "Forest" and the 11 mile "Crest" portion leading to La Cañada Flintridge is well traveled by Antelope Valley commuters, its road maintenance is much better, and it is open much of the winter.

State Route 39 connected the city of Azusa with the Angeles Crest Highway until it was seriously damaged by landslides, first in 1978, and again in 2005. The highway was opened to emergency crews in February 2003. The proposed State Route 39 Roadway Rehabilitation Project would begin five miles (8 km) north of Crystal Lake Recreation Area Campground.

According to the Caltrans District Seven "Inside Seven" Newsletter, work will continue through 2009 and 2010 on reconstruction. As written in the newsletter, "Two projects that will address those issues and get the highway reopened are scheduled for construction soon. The first, building two retaining walls near the city of Azusa from Old San Gabriel Canyon Road to approximately four miles south of SR-2, could begin in mid-2009. The second, a $45 million project to reconstruct the roadway, construct soldier pile retaining walls, repair drainage systems, install rock fall protection, and provide asphalt concrete overlay and traffic striping, should begin in fall 2010."(source)

People heading to Mount Waterman must now travel west to Pasadena and then travel on the Angeles Crest Highway (Highway 2) in La Canada Flintridge - a nearly two-hour trip. Reopening Highway 39 would cut the drive-time to the Waterman Ski Area in half and shorten the trip east to Wrightwood. The segment connecting the Crystal Lake Recreation Area to Route 2 is not scheduled to reopen before 2015.