Cuesta Pass or La Cuesta Pass (Spanish for "the slope"), colloquially referred to as simply the grade, is a low mountain pass in
San Luis Obispo County
San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo.
Junípero Serra fou ...
on
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 ...
's
Central Coast. It crosses the southern
Santa Lucia Range
The Santa Lucia Range (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Mountains is a rugged mountain range in coastal Central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than fro ...
at an altitude of , and connects
San Luis Obispo
; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...
, roughly to the south, with
Atascadero
Atascadero (Spanish for "Mire") is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, located on U.S. Route 101. Atascadero is part of the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses the extents of th ...
,
Paso Robles
Paso Robles ( ), officially El Paso de Robles (Spanish for The Pass of Oaks), is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Salinas River about north of San Luis Obispo, the city is known for its hot springs, ...
, and the
Salinas Valley
The Salinas Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Salinas'') is one of the major valleys and most productive Agriculture, agricultural regions in California. It is located west of the San Joaquin Valley and south of San Francisco Bay and ...
to the north. It is traversed by
U.S. Route 101
U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the United States. It is part of the United States Numbered Highway Syst ...
and the
Coast Line of the Union Pacific Railroad, and is better known for the long slope up to the pass from San Luis Obispo, in the canyon of
San Luis Obispo Creek, which is
redundantly named the "Cuesta Grade".
The railroad line through the pass includes a segment with a 2.2% grade, the steepest point of the coast line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It traverses six tunnels, including
one
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
at an altitude of bypassing the summit of the pass.
History
The pass was long used by indigenous people, and lies on the boundary between the historical homelands of the
Northern Chumash and
Salinan
The Salinan are a Native American tribe whose ancestral territory is in the southern Salinas Valley and the Santa Lucia Range in the Central Coast of California. Today, the Salinan governments are now working toward federal tribal recognition ...
s. Sources disagree on whether the
Portolá expedition
thumbnail, 250px, Point of San Francisco Bay Discovery
The Portolá expedition was a Spanish voyage of exploration in 1769–1770 that was the first recorded European exploration of the interior of the present-day California. It was led by Gas ...
in 1769–1770 crossed the pass or found it impassible; however, soon afterwards, it was crossed by two expeditions led by
Juan Bautista de Anza
Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was a Novohispanic/Mexican expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as on ...
in 1774 and 1775–1776. It later became part of
El Camino Real connecting the
Spanish missions of California
The Spanish missions in California () formed a series of 21 religious outposts or missions established between 1769 and 1833 in what is now the U.S. state of California. The missions were established by Catholic priests of the Franciscan ord ...
. Although
stagecoach
A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
traffic used the trail from the 1840s, it remained rough, and passengers were advised to get out and walk in the steepest parts. In 1876 the city of San Luis Obispo funded the construction of an improved and smoother stagecoach road across the pass.

The
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...
line from San Francisco south through the Salinas Valley reached
Santa Margarita, near the top of the pass, in 1889, and a continuation of the line over the pass, connecting to San Luis Obispo, was completed in 1894. The construction of its original seven tunnels included the removal of a record of hand-drilled rock. One of the tunnels caved in, and was bypassed, in 1910. The tunnels were widened and reinforced with concrete in a long piecemeal process from 1940 to 1960. A fire in the summit tunnel in 1987 led to additional relining. In 1996, the Southern Pacific Railroad merged into the
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...
.
In 1914 the former route of the road from San Luis Obispo to the pass, on the west side of the canyon, was realigned to the bottom of the canyon, and widened to a full two-lane road. It was repaved in concrete in 1923, and named as part of U.S. Route 101 in 1926. In 1938, the highway was realigned again, to the east side of the canyon, and widened to four lanes; portions of the two older alignments can still be found. Another widening was made in 2004.
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{Citation , last=Coulter , first=John Wesley , title=San Luis Obispo, California , date=July 1931 , journal=Economic Geography , volume=7 , issue=3 , pages=308–318 , doi=10.2307/140896 , jstor=140896]
[{{Citation , last=Challenger Tom , title=History of Transportation in Cuesta Pass; El Camino Real, Southern Pacific Railroad and US Route 101 , date=August 24, 2019 , url=http://www.gribblenation.org/2019/08/history-of-transportation-in-cuesta.html]
[{{Citation , last=Provost , first=Steven H. , title=Hike along Cuesta Grade reveals hidden secrets of Highway 101 history , date=May 1, 2021 , url=https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/photos-from-the-vault/article250952734.html , work=The Tribune , department=Photos from the Vault]
[{{citation , last=Kelly , first=Earl Lee , date=November 2, 1938 , title=Public Works director tells story of highway project , url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/809406865/?terms=%22cuesta+grade%22&match=1 , newspaper=San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram, access-date=2023-12-24]
[{{Citation , last=Salvadori , first=Clement , title=A Short History of California's Cuesta Pass on U.S. 101 , date=August 31, 2015 , url=https://ridermagazine.com/2015/08/31/a-short-history-of-californias-cuesta-pass-on-u-s-101/ , work=Rider Magazine]
[{{Citation , last1=Freeman , first1=José , title=Salinan tribal justice , date=November 28, 2012 , url=https://calcoastnews.com/2012/11/salinan-tribal-justice/ , work=Cal Coast News , access-date=2022-08-05 , last2=Castro , first2=Gregg]
[{{Citation , title=A Five-year Wait for the Train , url=https://slorrm.com/QR-5yearwait.html , work=San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum , access-date=2022-08-05]
[{{Citation , title=Southern Pacific history remembered , date=February 4, 2022 , url=https://www.trains.com/ctr/railroads/fallen-flags/southern-pacific-history-remembered/ , work=Classic Trains , access-date=2022-08-05]
Mountain passes of California
U.S. Route 101
Santa Lucia Range
Landforms of San Luis Obispo County, California
Transportation in San Luis Obispo County, California