US 97 begins in Weed at an interchange with Interstate 5. It runs on Weed's Business Loop of Interstate 5, which all of the loop used to be U.S. Route 99. At the junction with California State Route 265, U.S. Route 97 ends its concurrency with the Business Loop and turns right, heading to the northeast into the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, and later the Klamath National Forest. US 97 passes by Grass Lake as it travels through the mountains before descending into the community of Macdoel. The route continues into the city of Dorris before intersecting with California State Route 161 near Indian Tom Lake before it crosses the Oregon state border and leaves California.[2]
View of US 97 from the viewpoint near Mount Shasta.
US 97 was created in 1926 and originally terminated near Ashland, Oregon, but was extended from Klamath Falls to Weed in 1935.[9]
In 2002, Caltrans allocated $23.7 million to construct a 2.6-mile (4.2 km) bypass of Dorris to carry US 97 traffic, replacing a set of city streets with three turns that caused tractor trailers to flip over.[10] The proposal was rejected by the city government in 2003 due to fears it would affect business traffic, which had already been struggling in Dorris.[11]
Major intersections
Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers to an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see California postmile § Official postmile definitions).[1] Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The entire route is in Siskiyou County.
^ abcCalifornia Department of Transportation. "State Truck Route List". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. Archived from the original(XLS file) on June 30, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
^California Road Atlas (Map). Thomas Brothers. 2008.
^"Article 2 of Chapter 2 of Division 1". California Streets and Highways Code. Sacramento: California Office of Legislative Counsel. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
^Federal Highway Administration (March 25, 2015). National Highway System: California (North)(PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
^Natzke, Stefan; Neathery, Mike & Adderly, Kevin (June 20, 2012). "What is the National Highway System?". National Highway System. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway
I-5 in Weed
SR 161 near Hatfield
US 97 at Oregon state line towards Klamath Falls, OR.svg)
