Ridge Route Preservation Organization

08/21/2026

🚨TOMORROW’S VOLUNTEER DAY POSTPONED🚨

Heads up, it’s going to be a toasty one tomorrow so we will be postponing our volunteer event to August 29th at 7AM. This is for the safety of our crew of volunteers and board members. Emails have gone out to those currently registered.

Stay safe and cool this weekend! We hope to see you on the next one!

08/15/2026

It has become a summer tradition to fill potholes on the Old Ridge Route and over the last 3 years, so many people have volunteered time, donated bags of cold patch or funded this project!

This year’s round of the Pothole Project will be coming to a close soon and we will shift gears towards preparing for winter. If you want to leave your mark on the road, there’s no better way than to fill a pothole! Come join us on August 22nd, bright and early to avoid the heat. We’ll take a drive down the road and make repairs as we go! If you’re unable to join but still want to be a part of the restoration, we welcome donations on our website!

We do often get asked why our organization is the one making the repairs and not the state of California - long story short, the Old Ridge Route is within the Angeles National Forest, which is under federal funding from the US Forest Service. They are stretched quite thin but the good news is, we are here to look after the road! Our organization has an agreement that allows us to work and make repairs - and in the last 3 years, that has resulted in over 200 potholes filled thanks to efforts from our volunteers and SoCalGas crews!

If you’re interested in being a part of this massive restoration effort, come join us! More information and dates at ridgeroute.org/events

08/02/2026

Check out this great article by Patt Morrison of the LA Times! She explores life on the Old Ridge Route, restoration efforts and its eventual bypass.

Two versions of the Ridge Route over the Tejon Pass were built before the Interstate 5 was completed in 1970, connecting L.A. to Central California.

07/12/2026

🏁 Fastest road crew in the west! 🏁

8 potholes filled before 9:30AM! Beat the heat and the rain

Beautiful day and wonderful crew, we are so thankful to our volunteers! Ian, Jerry and Jim put in the work today! This road has really come a long way with their help. One pothole at a time, we’re getting it in good shape.

Thank you to those who donated too - it’s the best way to be part of the restoration effort if you are unable to in person. Each donation goes towards supplies to make much needed repairs! Thank you to Gail B. who donated towards today’s event!

It really is a beautiful thing to have such a community behind this road!

07/08/2026

This Sunday, bright and early, we're all meeting up to go fill potholes on the Old Ridge Route. Just north of Castaic, this 111 year old road (no, that's not a typo!) was credited for uniting a dividing California and was paved later by WWI veterans with experimental road surfaces.

I know, you're probably thinking "who would use their weekend to do manual labor" - turns out, it's a lot of people! And honestly, some of the most incredible people from all walks of life. So grab your gloves, buckle up, and let's go track down the ghosts of Model T's, speakeasies and roadside bandits!

Really, this road is something everyone should see at least once in your life

RSVP here: https://ridgeroute.org/events/

06/15/2026

Surveying and the Road Ahead… and Before. (Part 1)

Through the desert, through the mountains, through the mud, up grades of 30%, and a 170 mile treacherous journey. A journey so unpredictable that San Francisco merchants were preferred over Los Angeles Merchants, even as far as Bakersfield. Travel times over the mountains were unreliable and the stagecoach road was not fit for the Automobile, nor the rapidly changing times.

Preliminary surveys were ordered on January 25th, 1912. Aptly named, W. Lewis Clark, Highway Department Engineer Division VII, set out to map out the LA County section of this revolutionary new road. Clark specialized in the “sublime and ridiculous” and was tasked with “such a choice array of road-building problems.” [1920 California Highways]

He selected 5 potential routes for this stretch of Inland Route. One by one eliminated due to drainage problems. With all existing options disqualified, “Mr. Clark girtled his loins, cinched up some pack mules and went over the top via what is today the Ridge Route”, bush whacking through the mountains to map out a brand new path.

JB Woodson took the Grapevine portion of the road. He went with the safe route - or so one would think. (We’ll talk more about that later.) His survey stuck closely to the old stagecoach road, looking for solid hillside benches and planned for concrete culverts to cross Grapevine Creek.

Concrete blocks with the letter “C” were placed at every angle and curve point, along with intervals on straight lines to mark the right of way of this new highway. 444 of them, just barely peeking out of the ground, marked the path of the road that would change the course of history.

Now, why go through such drastic measures when it comes to surveying?

More to come in part 2!
PHOTO: Old Ridge Route, Castaic CA. 8N04 Ridge Route Gallery Collection.

06/12/2026

Battle of the routes - The Tehachapi Compromise Route VS Castaic-Tejon Ridge Route (Part 2)

The other side wasn’t exactly squeaky clean either. A response was published in the Tehachapi News - come to find out that Beale’s Tejon Ranch owned over 200,000 acres where the Tejon Route was proposed. It was stated that this particular alignment was of great benefit to Beale and some 100 residents instead of the over 12,000 residents that the Tehachapi Route would benefit.

There was back and forth with landowners, about who deserved the highway more and who needed the highway more.

In June of 1913, the Automobile of Southern California sent in what would become a history altering letter. “The compromise (Tehachapi) Route for said Los Angeles-Bakersfield Highway, as proposed by the Board of Supervisors would be at least thirty miles longer than the Ridge Route, would cost at least a quarter million dollars more of our state funds to construct”

“There would have been no advantage [of the Tehachapi route], only a longer line and probably a larger expenditure. The Ridge Route is absolutely the best that could have been chosen, both for commercial and scenic reasons.”

“The Automobile Club, composed of 6000 members, the most of whom would probably at some time use the said Los Angeles-Bakersfield highway, protest against the action of the Supervisors of Los Angeles County in recommending the compromise route.” [Letter from the Automobile Club of Southern California to the California Highway Commission, June 20, 1913]

You couldn’t argue - the Ridge Route was the clear choice for the Inland Route.

Photo: Automobile Club of Southern California map of the Inland Route, covering the Old Ridge Route

06/09/2026

Battle of the routes - The Tehachapi Compromise Route VS Castaic-Tejon Ridge Route (Part 1)

“Fraud Alleges in Battle for State Highway” reads a headline from April 3rd, 1913. A great debate had been under way over the path of Californian’s future superhighway. The Castaic-Tejon “Ridge Route” vs the Tehachapi “Compromise Route”. Both mountain passes, both rough logistically but an absolute necessity for the continuation of the state.

A photo previously appeared in the papers showing snow up to the running boards of a vehicle on the Tejon Pass - claiming overwhelming amounts of snow surely would cause problems with travel. Come to find out the occupants of the car had piled snow on the running boards to make it appear deeper than the actual 2-3 inches. It was published all over by proponents of the Tehachapi Route.

Now does this scandal get any deeper than snow? Well turns out E.T. Earl, owner of the paper which had published the photo and much more anti-Tejon Route material, had plans for land just north of Tehachapi. 1800 acres in Antelope Valley owned by Earl and his brother. The man was forward thinking and realized that with a major highway passing through the area, his land would greatly increase in value. By showing the Tejon Route as impassable during the winter, he hoped to swing opinions in his favor - and was caught!

But this wasn’t exactly a one sided scandal….

Check back in a few days for the next chapter in the story of the Old Ridge Route.

Photo: Headline on the San Fransisco Examiner, April 3rd, 1913

06/07/2026

Sunday drive

A Santa Maria Ford Model A Club member up at Liebre Summit, the highest point on the Old Ridge Route

05/20/2026

- Origins of the Old Ridge Route - (Part 2)

While this was going on, The Automobile Club of Southern California had been campaigning for Good Roads. Southern California’s Good Roads campaign was called the most advanced "west of the Mississippi". They were actively working with the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce to push for improvements. They had signed many routes and made maps to make travel safer.

But soon came the explosion of the automobile, and California had already been planning for it.
1908, the Model T was made widely available. This was the game changer in transportation. The automobile became a serious contender for the railroads and stagecoaches of the time.

After 14 years of the Auto Clubs campaigning, the 1909 California First Highway State Bond Act was passed. Bringing $18 Million of funding to construct the new State Highway System. With the intent of creating a “continuous and connected state highway system”. “No longer will counties be spoken of as being ‘remote or inaccessible”. They prioritized the most direct routes, with doable grades and good drainage.

The goal was to have passable, all weather routes, connecting a rapidly dividing state. This particular route being one of two “trunk roads” - the primary north-south. Sister roads, the Coastal Route and our, yet to be determined, Inland Route.

But could they agree on the path it would follow?

Check back in a few days for the next chapter in the story of the Old Ridge Route.
Photo: Old Ridge Route, near Frazier Park. collection