Altamont Pass, formerly Livermore Pass, is a low mountain pass in the Diablo Range of Northern California between Livermore in the Livermore Valley and Tracy in the San Joaquin Valley. The name is actually applied to two distinct but nearby crossings of the range. The lower of the two, at an elevation of 741 ft (226 m), carries two railroad rights-of-way (ROWs) and Altamont Pass Road, part of the old Lincoln Highway and the original alignment of US 50 before it was bypassed in 1937. The bypass route travels over the higher summit, at 1,009 ft (308 m), and now carries Interstate 580, a major regional highway heavily congested by Central Valley suburbanization.[3][4]
Of the two railroad lines through the old pass, one is still in use: the ex-Western Pacific line built in 1908 over the pass, which is sometimes known as the Altamont Corridor, now owned by Union Pacific. It carries freight trains as well as the Altamont Corridor Express, which gives its occasional name (ACE) and operates between Stockton, Livermore, Pleasanton, Fremont, and San Jose. The other and older right-of-way was the line built in 1869 with a 1,200-foot-long (370 m) summit tunnel by the original Western Pacific Railroad (1862–1870) as part of the transcontinental railroad. After 1879, when a sea level ferry crossing at the Carquinez Strait replaced the 1869 route, it remained in use for other purposes by the Southern Pacific. In 1984 it was abandoned and deeded to Alameda County by Southern Pacific Railroad in favor of trackage rights on the aforementioned ex-Western Pacific line.[5]
From 1966 to 2008, the Altamont Pass area was home to the Altamont Speedway, which became famous as the site of the 1969 Altamont Free Concert, a large outdoor concert featuring The Rolling Stones and marred by violence.[6] The pass is also known for the Altamont Pass Wind Farm, one of the largest concentrations of wind turbines in the world.[7]
^U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Altamont Pass
^United States Geological Survey. Altamont, California (Topographic map). 7.5-minute. Reston, Virginia: United States Geological Survey. Retrieved December 22, 2013 – via TopoQuest.
^Cano, Ricardo. "These Bay Area commuter highways are approaching 2019 traffic levels". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
^Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Nale, Bill. "Livermore History - Railroads 1:Brief History of the Railroads through the Valley". elivermore.com. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
^"Wayback Machine" (PDF). web.archive.org. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
^"Search - The Encyclopedia of Earth". editors.eol.org. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
AltamontPass, formerly Livermore Pass, is a low mountain pass in the Diablo Range of Northern California between Livermore in the Livermore Valley and...
The AltamontPass wind farm is located in the AltamontPass of the Diablo Range in Northern California. It is one of the earliest wind farms in the United...
Stockton and San Jose during peak hours only. ACE is named for the AltamontPass, through which it runs. Service is managed by the San Joaquin Regional...
rail service east from here into the northern San Joaquin Valley over AltamontPass and to help alleviate traffic congestion and reducing greenhouse gas...
Altamont Speedway The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture rock concert in the United States, held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the...
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Altamont may refer to: Altamont, British Columbia Altamont, Manitoba Altamont Road, in south Mumbai Altamont, California AltamontPass, in California Altamont...
Airport and attended a homecoming party at the Mountain House, a bar at AltamontPass in Livermore, at which Johnny Paycheck performed. To celebrate the end...
areas of lower pressure and flatter land. Passes used for wind farms like the San Gorgonio Pass and AltamontPass are known for their abundant wind resource...
was generated at AltamontPass. By the end of 1986 about 6,700 wind turbines, mostly less than 100 kW, had been installed at Altamont, at a cost of about...
primary regions: AltamontPass wind farm (east of San Francisco); Tehachapi Pass wind farm (south east of Bakersfield) and San Gorgonio Pass wind farm (near...
but this is much less heavily used than the AltamontPass even farther north. On the west side of the pass lies Casa de Fruta, an extensive trading post...
Pacheco Pass – Central California AltamontPass – Northern Central California, in the Diablo Range Allison Pass – British Columbia Austin Pass – Washington...
D. E. & Culp, L. 1995. A pilot Golden Eagle population study in the AltamontPass Wind Resource Area, California. Predatory Bird Research Group, University...
density for a breeding population near Livermore, California, and the AltamontPass Wind Farm is among the highest in the world for golden eagles, with...
Alta Wind Energy Center, the AltamontPass Wind Farm and the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm, near Palm Springs. Tehachapi Pass wind farm and Alta Wind Energy...
railroad from Sacramento to San Francisco Bay (by way of Stockton and the AltamontPass). It was completed in September 1869 by the Western Pacific Railroad...
Interstate 580 and State Route 46. Pacheco Pass is higher than AltamontPass to the north, but lower than Polonio Pass to the south. Route 152 continues as...
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