The 99 has become a neglected, poor person’s highway. California has far more residents receiving welfare than any other state, and it has among the highest poverty rates in the nation. Most of the state’s poorest counties are bisected by the 99. About a quarter of California’s inhabitants were not born in the United States. Many are still not U.S. citizens. The result is a perfect storm that blows in daily over the 99.
California State Route 99 is the north-south highway that cuts through the great Central Valley. And it has changed little since the mid-1960s.
A half-century ago, when the state population was about 18 million — not nearly 40 million as it is today — the 99 used to be a high-speed, four-lane marvel. It was a crown jewel in California’s cutting-edge freeway system.
Not now.
The 99 was recently ranked by ValuePenguin (a private consumer research organization) as the deadliest major highway in the nation. Locals who live along its 400-plus miles often go to bed after seeing lurid TV news reports of nocturnal multi-car accidents. Then they wake up to Central Valley radio accounts of morning carnage on the 99.
The 99 is undergoing a $1 billion, multi-decade upgrade to increase its four lanes to six. Promises have been made to build off- and on-ramps in place of haphazard exits and entries from the old days of cross traffic.
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