US 395: The Three Flags Highway @ Floodgap Roadgap

QUICK LINKS:
- Old Highway 395 in Southern California - Modern US 395 in Southern California - US 395 in Nevada - US 395 in Northern California - US 395 in Oregon - US 395 in Washington State
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Three countries, one road

For some people, US 66 was the Mother Route -- but not for me. No, the road I call the mother route is far different, a road we travelled on many a family vacation and a highway that I still drive every day under another name. It was the road that got us there and back, and it's still the same road that stretched back into my childhood. That highway, for me, is US Highway 395 (and what was once US 395), and this forty-nine-part photoessay seeks to preserve in photographs the highway that more than anything else represents the whole reason I got into roadgeeking in the first place. It's the desire to reach the road's end I'd never seen that compelled me to hit the asphalt with my Saturn, Nikon and Apple iBook, and it's the desire to share the fabulous and fascinating trip I had through the history and sights of the road that never let me down that brings this photoessay to you.

[Callbox at dawn in San Bernardino county, California.] US 395, the Three Flags Highway, is a 1,305-mile ribbon of asphalt running through some of the most scenic and far-flung reaches in the western United States. At its longest (1,490 miles), it stretched all the way from the San Diego bay near the California-Mexico border to the Canadian border in Washington state, earning its name as a route that nearly touches all three nations effortlessly. Despite being cut back in 1969 for Interstate 15, it still maintains its importance as a major north-south arterial along the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains and the "deserts" of Oregon and Washington, serving towns and smaller cities in areas devoid of other national highways for hundreds of miles in any direction.

In addition to the 18-part Old Highway 395 exhibit and the special epilogue in British Columbia, we will systematically travel from south to north every inch of asphalt that carries a US 395 sign today through the thirty parts of the main photoessay along with selected former alignments. We will also explore the former routings of US 395 in Southern California to San Diego and US 395's companion highway in Canada along with commentary on the history of where we're going to and through, archival photographs of the road and the region where available, maps of former and future routings and links to explore further. All in all, the chance to see the end of my childhood highway was priceless and every minute was a treasure. I hope you enjoy this exhibit as much as I did traveling it. Please take a second to drop me a line when you're done. -- Cameron Kaiser

Photography completed from July 2005 to November 2005, with writeups completed from October 2005 to March 2006, additional photography and writeups completed from September 2007 to September 2008, and additional photography and writeups completed April, September and November 2009.


Features

US 395 History
A brief timeline of major events in the development of US 395, from the establishment of its component alignments to its present-day upgrades.

US 395 in Popular Culture
It may not be the cultural phenomenon that Route 66 is, but US 395 has made its own inroads into other oeuvres. Includes the Highway 395 movie and comic book, along with its cameo appearances in Out of the Past, High Sierra, Back to the Future, Saboteur and Mission: Impossible.

US 395 Links
Jump to the bottom of this page for other great US 395 sites, entries and references about this mighty highway.
[US 395 shield in San Bernardino county, California.]

Sections

Old Highway 395 in Southern California

 This section covers the former routing(s) of US 395 from its historical southernmost terminus in San Diego, CA to its modern southern terminus in Hesperia, CA.

  • Our original Old Highway 395 exhibit, the first US 395 exhibit featured on Roadgap, has its own portal page and an eighteen part look at the former routings then and now.
[Postmile 104.5 in Mono county, California, along US 395 at night.]

Modern US 395 in Southern California

 This section covers US 395 from its present day southern terminus of Hesperia, CA up to the Nevada border at Topaz Lake.

US 395 in Nevada

 This section covers US 395 from the California state line through the Carson Valley, Carson City and Reno to northern California.

US 395 in Northern California

 This section covers US 395 from the Nevada state line through Lassen and Modoc counties into Oregon.

US 395 in Oregon

 This section covers US 395 from the California state line through the eastern Oregon Outback, including Burns, John Day and Pendleton to the Washington state line over the Columbia River.

US 395 in Washington State

 This section covers US 395 from the Oregon state line through eastern Washington state, including the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco, Richland), Cheney, Spokane and Colville to and through the Canadian border.
[US 395 through Oregon, between Burns and John Day.]

Links

Fellow roadgeeks' US 395 pages

Other US 395 specific links

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[Main page] All images, photographs and multimedia, unless otherwise stated, are copyright © 2004-2010 Cameron Kaiser. All rights reserved. All writeups are copyright © 2004-2010 Cameron Kaiser. All rights reserved. Unauthorized copying or duplication without express consent of the copyright holder is strictly prohibited. Please contact the sitemaster to request permission if you wish to use items from this page.

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