County routes in the U.S. state of
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
are controlled and maintained by the respective counties in which they are located. However, they are generally patrolled by the state's
California Highway Patrol
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is the principal state police agency for the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary jurisdiction, including patrol and Criminal investigation, investigations, over all California Controlled-access highw ...
. They are typically major thoroughfares in rural areas, although many run through urban areas as well. Most are two-lane highways, and can accommodate high speeds and large volumes of traffic.
County route
A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the County (United States), county highway departm ...
s are typically designated with a letter (A, B, D, E, G, J, N, R, or S, depending on the region of the state, with several counties split between two region prefixes) followed by a number (example:
G2). Therefore, the county routes are sorted alphabetically, from the northernmost region of California to the southernmost region. Routes with letters (A, B, D) are in the region of
Northern California
Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...
, letters (E, G, J) are in
Central California
Central California is generally thought of as the middle third of the U.S. state of California, north of Southern California (which includes Los Angeles and San Diego) and south of Northern California (which includes San Francisco and San Jose, ...
, and (N, R, S) are in
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
. Routes in
Lake
A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...
and
San Bernardino
San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...
Counties are designated by numbers only.
The level of signage varies by county. In
San Diego County
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its border with Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634; it is the second-most populous ...
,
reassurance marker
A reassurance marker or confirming marker is a type of traffic sign that confirms the identity of the route being traveled on. It does not provide information found on other types of road signs, such as distances traveled, distances to other locat ...
s are placed as frequently as they would be on state highways. In other counties, some county routes are completely unsigned. For most county routes, signage may be found at the beginning and end and at major junctions; reassurance markers are rare and are placed at distant intervals. With a handful of exceptions (one example being
S2), county routes are typically referred to by their street name (e.g.
Angeles Forest Highway or
Kanan Dume Road) rather than their route designation.
These routes are all part of the
California Route Marker Program
California () is a state in the Western United States that lies on the Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the sou ...
, which was established in 1958. This program was incorporated into the
National Uniform County Route Marker Program created by the
National Association of Counties
The National Association of Counties (NACo) is an organization that represents County (United States), county governments in the United States. in 1967. Not all counties choose to use the same marker; some have different systems of numbering their county routes.
Lake County maintains of county roads,
which are not listed here.
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List
The county routes are alphabetically sorted by the prefix letter in its shield, followed by the corresponding number.
See also
*
References
External links
CAHighways.org
{{CCR-zones
Lists of roads in California