State Route 203 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves as a spur route from U.S. Route 395 in Mono County to the town of Mammoth Lakes and Minaret Summit. Within Mammoth Lakes, State Route 203 is known as both "Minaret Road" and "Main Street." It connects to Lake Mary Road and the Mammoth Scenic Loop via secondary roads.
 State Route 203 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 SR 203 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by Caltrans | ||||
| Length | 8.67 mi[1] (13.95 km) | |||
| Restrictions | Segment from the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area west to Minaret Summit closed in winter | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end | Minaret Summit | |||
| East end |  US 395 near Mammoth Lakes | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | California | |||
| Counties | Mono | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
Route description
editThe route's western terminus is at Minaret Summit, on the border of Mono County and Madera County approximately 7 miles northeast of Devils Postpile National Monument. It then heads east and intersects with Mammoth Scenic Loop Road, before entering the town of Mammoth Lakes, where it is known as both "Minaret Road" and "Main Street". It continues east to its eastern terminus at U.S. Route 395.
West of SR 203's western terminus, the road continues locally as "Postpile Road" or "Minaret Summit Rd" for 8.5 miles passing Devils Postpile National Monument and ending at Red's Meadow Resort and Pack Station. East of US-395, the road continues for 1.7 miles as "Old Hwy" connecting utility yards and rural residences to the route.
Minaret Summit receives significant snowfall during the winter.[2] The highway usually closes between Minaret Summit and the Main Lodge of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area before Thanksgiving and usually does not open much before Memorial Day.[3] There is no actual road closure gate here, as the highway is simply not plowed past the area west of the lodge where ski lifts cross over the road.[4]
Major intersections
editExcept 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 to an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary ().[5] Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The entire route is in Mono County.
| Location | Postmile [5][1][6] | Destinations | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minaret Summit | L0.00 | Minaret Summit Road – Devils Postpile National Monument (closed in winters) | West end of SR 203 | ||
| | R0.55 | Mammoth Mountain Ski Area Main Lodge (SR 203 west closed in winters beyond this point) | |||
| | R3.80 |  Mammoth Scenic Loop Road to US 395 | |||
| Mammoth Lakes | 4.78 | Lake Mary Road – Lake Mary | |||
| | R8.67 | US 395 – Lee Vining, Bishop | Interchange; east end of SR 203 | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ a b California Department of Transportation (April 2008). "Log of Bridges on State Highways". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation.
- ^ "Subsection M261Eo - Glaciated Batholith". U.S. Forest Service. Archived from the original on 2007-08-13. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
- ^ "Winter Driving Tips". Caltrans. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
- ^ "View of westbound SR 208 at the Main Lodge of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area". Google Street View. March 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
- ^ a b California Department of Transportation. "State Truck Route List". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (XLS file) on September 5, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
- ^ California Department of Transportation, All Traffic Volumes on CSHS, 2007
External links
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