U.S. Route 50 in California - Route Description

Route Description

US 50 has been added to the California Freeway and Expressway System by the state legislature. The highway east of SR 49 is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System, and has been recognized as such except within the South Lake Tahoe city limits.

US 50 begins in West Sacramento, where I-80 leaves the West Sacramento Freeway onto a bypass of Sacramento. The old route of I-80 through Sacramento is signed as Business 80 (Capital City Freeway), which overlaps US 50 on the West Sacramento Freeway to the split with SR 275, then over the Sacramento River on the Pioneer Memorial Bridge and across I-5 to SR 99.

There Business 80 splits to the north, SR 99 heads south, and US 50 continues east as the El Dorado Freeway. This freeway parallels Folsom Boulevard and the American River east-northeasterly through the suburb of Rancho Cordova to near Folsom. There US 50 turns east, running cross-country through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada via El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, and Shingle Springs to downtown Placerville. The freeway temporarily ends, and US 50 has several at-grade intersections in Placerville, including SR 49.

Leaving Placerville, the freeway restarts, only to end several miles later. The final section of freeway begins as a bypass of Camino, and then heads east-northeast through Pollock Pines to near the canyon of the South Fork American River. The four-lane cross section continues with intersections until the crossover bridge to the north side of the river at Riverton. From Riverton to the crest of the Sierras, US 50 is a steadily rising mostly two-lane road, staying just north of the river except for a 1995 cutoff that crosses the river twice in quick succession west of Kyburz, the boyhood home of ski racer Spider Sabich.

Several hairpin turns take the highway up a grade east of Strawberry, after which US 50 continues east alongside the river to its source at Echo Summit. Echo Summit is the highest elevation U.S. Route 50 reaches in California at 7,377 feet (2,249 m). From Echo Summit down to the Lake Tahoe Basin, the roadway slowly descends the side of a steep hill; it then curves northeast and meets SR 89, which heads south to Luther Pass and overlaps US 50 northeast into the city of South Lake Tahoe. Where US 50 and SR 89 split, at an intersection known as "The Y", the former turns east on the four-lane Lake Tahoe Boulevard, which it follows to and along the south shore of Lake Tahoe, then it enters the state of Nevada.