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Road Trippin': SR 132, from the Valley to the Foothills

CT News reprises Road Trippin', which rolls along and photographs California's many Caltrans-overseen state highways. This time we sample some of the visual highlights beside SR 132, which range from Central Valley typical to somewhat-gritty-city Modesto to gently sloping hills that lead to the Sierra Nevada. This 75-mile roadway has a dark past: On March 5, 1983, near SR 132's eastern terminus at Coulterville, three Secret Service agents who were providing advance security for British Queen Elizabeth's visit to nearby Yosemite National Park died in a head-one collision just past La Grange.

Gallery

sr132-01 (Screen shot courtesy of Google Maps)
sr132-02 Southbound motorists on Interstate 580 come upon the State Route 132 exit a few miles south of Tracy..
sr132-03 Although State Route 132 dates from the the 1930s, this four-mile segment west of SR 33 wasn't added until 1963.
sr132-04 The majority of the highway's 75 miles are logged within the Central Valley; motorists must wait for the visual payoff of foothills.
sr132-05 Trucks of various sizes tend to dominate portions of SR 132, which is lined with agricultural endeavors.
sr132-06 A few miles west of Modesto, State Route 132 does a left-turn, right-turn maneuver before continuing to point eastward.
sr132-07 Modesto proudly posts its mantra "WATER WEALTH CONTENTMENT HEALTH" above various roads, including SR 132.
sr132-08 State Route 132 runs into, but does not share pavement with, the north-south transportation juggernaut Highway 99.
sr132-09 Modesto's starkly tall hotel Doubletree Inn looms over the corner where State Routes 132 and 108 team up for a short urban stretch.
sr132-10 A Del Monte processing plant -- ketchup on your fries, anyone? -- sits just south of SR 132 as it passes through Modesto.
sr132-11 Agricultural scenes and free flow return to dominance after State Route 132 has exposed motorists to innumerable stoplights in Modesto.
sr132-12 Every now and then, an old oak graces the side of State Route 132.
sr132-13 The Tuolumne, which upstream is dammed in Yosemite National Park's Hetch Hetchy Valley, passes under SR 132,
sr132-14 A few hundred yards south of Highway 132, a second bridge crosses the Tuolumne River.
sr132-15 The small community of La Grange, which as the plaque explains means "the barn" in French, was established in 1852.
sr132-16 The Mariposa County line makes a few appearances along this bucolic stretch of State Route 132.
sr132-17 The Secret Services agents killed on SR 132 in 1983 were were George P. Labarge, 41, of Dayton, Ohio; Donald W. Robinson, 38, of Newark, N.J.; and Donald A. Bejcek, 29, of Chicago.
sr132-18 Caltrans Maintenance yards pop up throughout the state, of course, including at this spot near the end of SR 132 in Coulterville.
sr132-19 State Route 132 dead-ends at SR 49, which traverses the Gold Country and is among California's most famous roadways.