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DULZURA
CURVES AND IMPROVEMENTS Going thru Dulzura in the
early days was like following a snake trail. The road weaved between the stream and the mountains and was
never straight. In 1983 Caltrans opened
bids for Highway 94 for widening and realignment to be done on a safety
project near Dulzura. The
project in Dulzura was just west of Dulzura Creek Bridge and ending just
before Freezer Road. This job
was for roadway curves to be straightened, widened, including the addition
of eight foot shoulders. Sight
distance was also improved. Maybe
some of you remember how narrow and crooked the road was just east of the
Dulzura Creek Bridge. They
were not severe curves but curved closer to the creek bed and bad enough
to impair vision. A lot of
cars hit trees and ending up in the creek bed.
The job was finished about 1985 (?) with road shoulders constructed
and wide enough to pull over if necessary.
This made the road safer. Another
stretch that was extremely dangerous was called “School House
Curve”. The old road was
south of current SR94 so the school house is not seen today from the road.
Many people were killed on this curve.
The original small one room schoolhouse in Dulzura was started in
1887 and the schoolhouse (on the curve) was rebuilt in 1935. Classes were
taught until 1965 when students were bussed to Jamul-Las Flores School.
This old school house is currently a residence.
This was a narrow sharp curve in front of the schoolhouse and if
one went very fast it was hard to negotiate without having an accident.
Many trucks had a problem here.
There were accidents and roll overs ranging from passenger cars,
motorcycles, beer trucks and semi trucks.
Unfortunately numerous people were taken to the hospital by life
flight and there were many fatalities. The SchoolHouse Curve
project widened and realigned Route 94 from Marron Valley Road to 0.8
miles east with a 0.6 mile eastbound truck lane.
Caltrans stated it was a safety
project funded by State and Federal Funds. The estimated cost was $2 million and finished in 1994.
Most of the new road was a new alignment and did not disrupt
traffic during construction. It
is the reason you cannot see the schoolhouse from the road now.
Some people in Dulzura do not like this as drivers
tend to speed through. For
those going further east it is the only safe place to pass between Jamul
and Barrett. If there were
more passing lanes, drivers might not be so intent on passing there. “Gasoline” curve which
is west of downtown Dulzura is another bad curve. It used to be extremely narrow and sharp and many long mobile
homes got hung up on the rock while making the turn going east.
The road has been widened to make it a safer curve for long
trailers and trucks, but it is still sharp.
It is still necessary to go slowly and stay on the correct side of
the yellow line. No pictures
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