State Scenic Highway System (California)


The State Scenic Highway System in the U.S. state of California is a list of highways, mainly state highways, that have been designated by the California Department of Transportation as scenic highways. They are marked by the state flower, a California poppy, inside either a rectangle for state-maintained highways or a pentagon for county highways.
The California State Legislature makes state highways eligible for designation as a scenic highway, listing them in the Streets and Highways Code, sections 260-284. For a highway to then be declared scenic by Caltrans, the local government with jurisdiction over abutting land must adopt a "scenic corridor protection program" that limits development, outdoor advertising, and earthmoving, and Caltrans must agree that it meets the criteria. The desire to create such a designation has at times been in conflict with the property rights of abutters, for example on State Route 174.
Any county highway that is believed to have outstanding scenic qualities is considered eligible, and the county with jurisdiction must follow Caltrans' same approval process as state highways to be declared scenic.

California Historic Parkways

California Historic Parkways are defined in the Streets and Highways Code, sections 280-284, as a subset of the State Scenic Highway System. Such historic parkways must have been constructed prior to 1945, and have been determined by either Caltrans or the Office of Historic Preservation in the California Department of Parks and Recreation to have historical significance. They must not at time of designation be traversed by more than 40,000 vehicles per day on an annual daily average basis. They also must be "bounded on one or both sides by federal, state, or local parkland, Native American lands or monuments, or other open space, greenbelt areas, natural habitat or wildlife preserves, or similar acreage used for or dedicated to historical or recreational uses".
;State Route 110
;State Route 163
;State Route 1
on SR 2 from the south
;State Route 2
;State Route 3
;State Route 4
;Interstate 5
;Interstate 8
;State Route 9
;Interstate 10
;State Route 12
;State Route 14
;Interstate 15
;State Route 16
;State Route 17
;State Route 18
;State Route 20
;State Route 24
;State Route 25
;State Route 27
;State Route 28
;State Route 29
;State Route 33
;State Route 35
;State Route 36
;State Route 37
;State Route 38
;State Route 39
;Interstate 40
;State Route 41
;State Route 44
;State Route 46
;State Route 49
;U.S. Route 50
;State Route 52
;State Route 53
;State Route 57
;State Route 58
;State Route 62
;State Route 68
;State Route 70
;State Route 71
;State Route 74
;State Route 75
;State Route 76
;State Route 78
;State Route 79
;Interstate 80
  • I-280 in San Francisco to SR 61 in Oakland
  • SR 20 near Emigrant Gap to Nevada
;State Route 84
;State Route 88
 overlooking Lake Tahoe
;State Route 89
;State Route 91
;State Route 92
;State Route 94
;State Route 96
;U.S. Route 97
;U.S. Route 101
;State Route 108
;State Route 111
;State Route 116
;State Route 118
;State Route 120
;State Route 121
;State Route 125
;State Route 126
;State Route 127
;State Route 138
;State Route 139
;State Route 140
;State Route 142
;State Route 146
;State Route 150
;State Route 151
;State Route 152
;State Route 154
;State Route 156
;State Route 158
;State Route 160
;State Route 161
;State Route 163
;State Route 166
;State Route 168
;State Route 173
;State Route 174
  • Bear River to Grass Valley
;State Route 178
  • Death Valley National Park to SR 127 near Shoshone
;State Route 180
 and access roads to SR 190 at Hells Gate
;State Route 190
;State Route 197
  • US 199 near Hiouchi to US 101 near Smith River
;State Route 198
;U.S. Route 199
  • US 101 near Crescent City to Oregon
;State Route 203
;State Route 209
  • Point Loma to I-5 in San Diego
;Interstate 210/State Route 210
  • I-5 in Sylmar to SR 134 in Pasadena
  • SR 330 San Bernardinoto I-10 in Redlands
;State Route 221
  • SR 29 near Napa to SR 121 in Napa
;State Route 236
;State Route 239
  • I-580 near Tracy to SR 4 near Brentwood
seen from SR 243 near Banning
;State Route 243
;State Route 247
;State Route 251
;State Route 254
;State Route 266
;Interstate 280
;State Route 299
;State Route 330
;U.S. Route 395
;Interstate 580
;Interstate 680
;County Route A18
;County Route G14
;County Route G20
;County Route N1
in the distance
;Mulholland Highway
;River Road