Through all the changes, Taylor Road remains an interesting byway

Roads change through the years, with new names bestowed; tight curves relaxed into soft bends; slim lanes fattened to accommodate larger vehicles; and major thoroughfares relegated to backroad status when progress supplies a speedier course.In the case of Taylor Road, it?s all of the above.Tied between the east end of Roseville and the north side of Newcastle, this strap of pavement started as a rural route linking farms to market. In summer, the dirt roads would be pounded into dust that required watering down twice a day, or encouraged new paths to be taken. With frequent detours around rain-swollen creeks or muddy traces that could bog the wagons down in winter, early byways often broke into varied trails. When an effort to connect the West and East coasts with an automobile artery was launched in 1913, portions of the rutted wagon trail known as Taylor Road were re-dubbed the Lincoln Highway. The passage cut through Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin and Loomis as it made its way up the foothills of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada where it met and overlaid sections of the old Overland Emigrant Trail through Donner Summit.At that time, the burgeoning cities across the United States were linked only by ocean voyages, riverboats and railroads. Connecting isolated towns, and providing access to remote regions, the new highway was a path to progress.In 1926, a new freeway ? U.S. 40 ? was designated as part of the Federal Highway Administration?s effort to pave a coast-to-coast conduit. Again, segments of Taylor Road were renamed to match the latest progression.Although Taylor Road?s name changes to Pacific Street as the asphalt passes between Rocklin?s city limits, when the Interstate 80 interchange at Eureka Road was redesigned to accommodate traffic to the new Roseville Galleria regional mall in Roseville a few years ago, the exit took on the name Taylor Road.The pavement arcs over the freeway, leading past light industrial parks, shopping strips and access to pocket neighborhoods as Pacific Street while paralleling the tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad. It was the Central Pacific line that first enticed merchants and residents to settle alongside the iron rails in 1865, drawing them away from the gold mining camps, farms and ranches in the surrounding territory. Mercantiles, a blacksmith shop and livery stables, hotels and saloons grew up around the depots.By then, gold mining was giving way to agriculture, with pioneer orchardists experimenting with cultivation techniques, often using seeds brought along from their native lands or home states. And numerous granite quarries were operating in the basin, with teamsters and their oxen hauling slabs of rock to the freight depots.A row of five wood packing sheds stood next to the tracks, facilitating the loading of massive granite slabs and lugs of fresh fruit, nuts and vegetables being shipped throughout the state and beyond.Today, some of the fruit sheds have been reused; others await transformation through the efforts of a locally-based heritage foundation. Now the most unique attractions along the path are the site of the Big Gun Mining Company quarry in Rocklin; a postage stamp-size sidewalk park in downtown Loomis that honors some of the people who contributed to the town?s success; Emma?s Bed and Breakfast Inn and event center on a hill just outside town; the Griffith Quarry Museum in Penryn, where there are also picnic tables and a nature trail to the mine pit; and the Newcastle Wedding Gardens, which transformed a vintage fruit ranch into a function facility and inn. New homes are now blossoming in the 54-lot Legacy Lane development in Loomis and in the Penryn Estates subdivision up the road. Old orchards and lush pastures punctuate the landscape between rustic feed stores, custom contemporary homes, old bungalows and strips of commercial zones.Taylor Road ends without fanfare at its intersection with Ophir Road and I-80, after dipping under the Newcastle tunnel ? that was blasted out of solid rock in 1932 ? and passing by the old Portuguese Hall in Newcastle.Taylor Road probably got its name from Cyrus Taylor, one of the earliest settlers in Roseville; or from John Taylor, who operated a quarry in Rocklin; or from two Taylor brothers who left Kentucky to come to California and found work on the Kayo Ranch in Loomis.From backwoods boulevard to transcontinental highway, Taylor Road is sure to see more changes.