Sifter
Blood alleys
Which is a safer route to Sacramento, Highway 99 or Highway 70? Both are bad. Every week or so, it seems, we learn of another fatal accident on one of them or on Highway 149, which connects them north of Oroville. As the following chart shows, such grisly accidents don’t happen that often, but they certainly happen more often than they should—about 20 deaths per year, on average.
STATE ROUTE 70
County From To Miles No. of fatalities
Sutter SR 99 Y Sut./Yuba Co. line 8.25 7
Yuba Sut./Yuba Co. line Jct. SR 20 14.7 42
Yuba Jct. SR 20 Yuba/Butte Co. line 11.1 38
Butte Yuba/Butte Co. line Jct. SR 149 20.5 52
Total 139
STATE ROUTE 99
Sutter SR 70 Y SR 20 30.6 53
Sutter Jct. SR 20 Sut./Butte Co. line 11.8 17
Butte Sut./Butte Co. line Jct. SR 149 21.8 41
Total 111
STATE ROUTE 149
On SR 149 6
Overall total 256
Butte County total 99
Source: California Highway Patrol figures from 1992 through Oct. 2004.
