Highway 17 State Route California

Highway 17 is the local name for the State Route number 17 in California, U.S.A. This expressway connects San Jose with Santa Cruz, running in a north-south direction, the northern terminal at San Jose being situated slightly towards the east with respect to its southern terminal, which in turn is located in Santa Cruz.

The expressway is divided into four lanes and it crosses the Santa Cruz Mountains, its highest point being at 'The Summit', which is situated at an altitude of 545 meters above the sea level. Highway 17 crosses the counties of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. As such, it bears a number of exit points leading off to the different regions in each county. These include two southbound exits at Santa Cruz, one northbound exit designated as Pasatiempo Drive and also one highway exchange, all in the county of Santa Cruz. In the county of Santa Clara, the exits are primarily northbound. The freeway joins SR1 in Santa Cruz.

Opened in 1940, Highway 17 provided an alternative route that led from San Jose to Santa Cruz. Formerly, the Old Glenwood Highway used to be one of the principal routes between the cities. The railroad passing from San Francisco to Santa Cruz was also closed down. The original route taken by State Route 17 had a segment passing under the Lexington Reservoir. That segment was sealed off after the reservoir was constructed and the overpass built for traffic across it.

Divided into eight separate lanes at some zones, Highway 17 necessitates additional caution for speeding vehicles. The twisting route is marked by a number of blind turns and narrow shoulders. The traffic is quite dense along this freeway and occasionally, animals like mountain lions and deer tend to enter the lanes. Moreover, the winter precipitation in the mountains can also make the road quite slippery during that season. These factors tend to jeopardize the safety of the vehicles plying on this highway.

The risk that vehicles, unfamiliar with the terrain, take in order to ply through Highway 17 is evident in local names like Valley Surprise. This name has been given to a section of the highway following Summit Road en route to Silicon Valley. There have been a number of efforts to improve safety by improving the monitoring of speed and the enforcement of law along this highway.

A number of accidents have earned Highway 17 its reputation of notoriety. The Gillian Cichowski Memorial Overcrossing Bridge commemorates the accident that killed Gillian Cichowski. Other accidents have also taken place in this region. It has been estimated that almost 200 million U.S. dollars will be required to upgrade the freeway segment near this location to modern standards of expressway construction. California State Route 17