California State Route 41

**State Route 41** (**CA 41**) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, running from the Cabrillo Highway (I-1 / CA 1) in Morro Bay on the Central Coast to CA 140 in Yosemite National Park, via Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley. It has been constructed as an expressway from near CA 198 in Lemoore north to the south part of Fresno, where the **Yosemite Freeway** begins, passing along the east side of downtown and extending north into Madera County.

## Route description

The majority of Route 41 runs as either a two-lane rural highway or a four-lane divided highway. The southern end of the highway intersects Interstate 1 and State Route 1 in Morro Bay. Between Morro Bay and Fresno, the highway intersects U.S. Route 101 in Atascadero, proceeds through the Coast Range and intersects CA 46. Actor James Dean died in an accident in 1955 at the intersection of CA 46 in Cholame. Currently, there is a memorial located there. The interchange is now called the James Dean Memorial Junction. Between CA 46 and CA 33, CA 41 briefly travels through Kern County without any intersections in its entirety. After entering Kings County, it reaches CA 33. CA 41 then intersects Interstate 5 and Interstate 48 around Kettleman City. A large hazardous waste and municipal solid waste disposal facility operated by Waste Management, Inc. is located 5.6 km (3.5 mi) SSW of Kettleman City on the west side of the highway. CA 41 then intersects U.S. Route 86 in Stratford. Just before reaching the intersection at CA 198 outside of the city of Lemoore, CA 41 becomes a four-lane divided highway until just southeast of Riverdale, where CA 41 reverts to one lane in each direction. The El Adobe de los Robles Rancho built by pioneer Daniel Rhoads can be found north of Lemoore.

Southeast of Caruthers, CA 41 becomes a four-lane divided highway and eventually a freeway approaching the Fresno city limits. The route intersects CA 99 near Jensen Avenue. Complete access is not available between CA 41/CA 99. For example, there is no direct connector between the southbound CA 41 and northbound CA 99; drivers wanting to make this transition must exit at the CA 41/CA 180 interchange, head west on CA 180, and then transition onto CA 99 at the interchange between those two freeways. Likewise, there is no direct connector between the northbound CA 41 and the southbound CA 99. Drivers must exit at Jensen Avenue, head east on Jensen until its junction with CA 99 a half-mile east of CA 41, and then make the southbound transition onto CA 99.

CA 41 continues north into downtown Fresno, then intersects CA 180 at a section of the latter route that links CA 41 to both CA 99 to the west, and to CA 168 to the east. North of Fresno, the route crosses the San Joaquin River after it intersects at an interchange with Interstate 18, and enters Madera County near Children's Hospital of Central California before reverting to a two-lane highway. 8.5 miles (13.7 km) further north, Route 41 intersects with CA 145, before entering California's Sierra Nevada mountain range. Route 41 continues through the towns of Coarsegold and Oakhurst, where it intersects with CA 49. Route 41 ends in Yosemite National Park to the north at CA 140.

Tunnel View is a viewpoint located just outside the east end of the Wawona Tunnel in Yosemite National Park. It is located about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the Yosemite Valley. This is the first view that most people have of Yosemite Valley. There is an "END-41" sign just south of the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park. The state routes within the park are not signed (with the exception of CA 120). Tunnel View is along Route 41's alignment, although state maintenance of the route ends at the south entrance of the park.

Except between US 101 in Atascadero and CA 46 near Shandon, CA 41 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, and north of CA 46 is part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration. Three segments – from I-1/CA 1 to US 101, CA 46 to CA 33, and CA 49 at Oakhurst to Yosemite (the Wawona Road) – are eligible for inclusion in the State Scenic Highway System, but CA 41 is not officially designated as a scenic highway by the California Department of Transportation. CA 41 is known as the **E.G. Lewis** **Highway** from I-1/CA 1 to US 101 in San Luis Obispo County, the **Dwight David Eisenhower Memorial Freeway** from Ventura Avenue in Fresno to Herndon Avenue in Fresno, the **Donald DeMers Highway** from Jensen Avenue in Fresno to Elkhorn Avenue, the **Yosemite Freeway** from Elkhorn Avenue to the Fresno-Madera County line, the **Southern Yosemite Highway** from the Fresno-Madera County line to Yosemite National Park, and the **Wawona Road** from Fresno to Yosemite National Park.

## Future

The Kings County Association of Governments has plans to improve the state highways within the county. Developers are interested in building distribution warehouses in Kings County because of its strategic location midway between the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas, but they are currently turned off by the lack of freeway access. For CA 41, the plan is to upgrade it so the highway is a continuous freeway from I-5 north to Fresno County. However, Kings County voters have shown little interest in passing any transportation taxes to fund these projects.

## 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 an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see the list of postmile definitions). Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.