People in the north felt separate from people in the south. The Ridge Route healed that rift. That mountain barrier is really where Southern California begins. Anything that surmounts that has a certain drama to it. Starr compared the unifying effect of the Ridge Route with that of the federal interstate highway program initiated by President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s.
Local historians say attention to the mountain roadway is long overdue.
The national register listing will give the Ridge Route a level of protection that could keep it intact for generations, said Paul Lusignan, a National Park Service historian in Washington who helps maintain the register. P roposals to alter the roadway will require a federal review, and there is potential for rehabilitation grants that could help maintain the route, he said. The nomination papers filed by Scott and Milburn did a good job of tracing the history of the route and explaining its value, he said. So good, in fact, that Lusignan sent a copy for in-laws John and Petty Maloney to read. They live in Santa Clareta, near the southern end of the route.