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Rural Transportation in Modoc CountyRural transportation links into and out of Modoc County consists primarily of highways and county roads. Passenger rail travel except for occasional pre-arranged excursions is not included in Modoc County's rural transportation offerings. There is no commercial air travel to and from the county except for private and charter aircraft. The closest commercial national or international air carriers are located in Reno, Nevada. Redding, California and Klamath Falls, Oregon have limited commercial air travel available. Modoc County is not completely isolated though, as it is easily reached by car from virtually anywhere in the U.S. This page presents some information about your rural transportation options for getting to and from, as well as getting around in Modoc County California. As you would expect, rural transportation options are extremely limited mainly because of the small population here. About the only viable options for travel in and around Modoc County, California are by road. Alturas, Modoc's county seat, sports the only traffic light in the county. The flashing red signal light is located at the junction of U.S. Highway 395 (north and south) and California highway 299 (west and east). A nearly annual political debate conducted on rural transportation requirements for Alturas and Modoc County is whether traffic loading warrants a full red-yellow-green style traffic signal at the 395/299 junction. So far, the debate has always resulted in the decision that traffic loading doesn't require a change in signals. US 395 also serves as Alturas' Main Street and joins the other major rural transportation artery, CA 299, on the north end of town. CA 299 is also the city's 12th Street running east and west in Alturas. Both highways are well maintained two lane blacktop roads with a few passing lanes and turnouts to maintain traffic flow in the mountains. California highway 299's western terminus is a junction with U.S. highway 101 north of Arcata on California's Pacific Coast. The eastern end of the highway becomes Nevada highway 8A at the Nevada border a few miles east of Cedarville in Modoc County, about 30 miles east of Alturas. California 299 is one of three major road tributaries in Modoc County's rural transportation system. The highway joins the other two tributaries in Alturas (US 395) and a few miles west of Canby (CA 139 north). CA 139 provides Alturas and Modoc County's major rural transportation link to Klamath Falls, Oregon becoming Oregon highway 39 at the border. US 395 bisects the eastern side of Modoc County, transiting north and south, from New Pine Creek at the California-Oregon border to Likely at the southern end of the county. U.S. highway 395 traverses the western United States from the Canadian border near Laurier in Washington State to a junction with Interstate 15 in southern California near San Bernardino. Before formation of the Interstate highway system, US 395's southern terminus was San Diego, CA, and was a major national highway. The highway connects four western states and links metropolitan centers such as Spokane, WA, Burns, OR, Reno, NV and San Bernardino County in California. US 395 provides the most traveled highway artery of Modoc County's rural transportation system, and is a major trucking route. My wife and I frequently travel to Rocklin in California's central valley, and we usually travel south on US 395 to Reno, then west on I-80. Another route we often take, although a little longer due to more two lane roads, is west on CA 299 to Redding, then south on I-5 to the Sacramento area. There are other surface routes into and out of Modoc County, but these two connectors to I-80 and I-5 are the most commonly used. County roads and city streets provide the remainder of the county’s surface rural transportation infrastructure. Nearly all city streets in the county's few population centers are paved and fairly well maintained. Likewise, many of Modoc's county-maintained roads are paved, but quite a few are improved gravel roads. Naturally, the speed limits in the county, except for a few short stretches of the major highways, is 55 miles per hour or slower; more often than not, slower. If your moving here from a populated area served by major roadways, be prepared to drive a little slower with longer travel times between destinations; things tend to move a bit slower in Modoc County than in Sacramento or Los Angeles Counties. The small rural transportation road system in the county also impacts mail delivery. While street addresses are commonly used in population centers, addresses in the county areas will most likely be a County Road (CR). Likewise, mail delivery is limited to homes in city areas with a U.S. Post Office and to a few rural mailbox delivery locations outside the cities. If you live on a numbered county road in the county, you'll likely have a numbered physical County Road address in addition a Post Office box for mail pick-up and delivery. The U.S. Post Office in Alturas provides free small Post Office boxes for people not served by home delivery or a rural mailbox center. United Parcel Service (UPS) provides exceptionally good home delivery service within the county, and Federal Express (FedEx) offers limited service. Mass transportation in a rural setting such as Modoc County is almost unheard of. There are no licensed taxis that I know of, and no passenger rail service in Modoc County. The closest thing to a public bus system is headquartered in Alturas. The Sage Stage transportation system operates a fleet of small buses connecting pick-up/drop-off points in Alturas with selected points in Redding, Klamath Falls and Reno on regularly scheduled routes. The company also provides home pick-up and drop-off when scheduled in advance. This is a very valuable service for seniors and the handicapped who may have difficulty driving. Modoc County has neither passenger nor freight rail service, even though railroad tracks make up a portion of the county's rural transportation system. Union Pacific Railroad runs freight trains into Alturas on track previously owned by the now-defunct Southern Pacific Railroad, but Alturas has no rail terminal. Alturas provides a freight service connection between Union Pacific and Lake County Railroad (LCR) for rail traffic into Lakeview, Oregon. Lakeview is 55 miles north of Alturas, and the only station on the LCR line. LCR serves no customers at Alturas, and freight is primarily wood chips, lumber and agricultural products. The closest Amtrak terminals are in Klamath Falls, Redding or Reno. As limited as other components of Modoc County’s rural transportation system, there is no commercial passenger air service available. At least not the kind of service you would expect in larger metropolitan areas. Alturas has the largest air facility in the county, Alturas Municipal Airport, which offers services for general aviation and corporate aircraft, but no passenger service by national carriers. The airport offers one fixed base operator, fuel, two runways, flying service, and hanger space and car rental. The Alturas Municipal Airport is primarily in business to provide a base of operations for California Department of Forestry (CDF) and U.S.D.A. Forest Service fire-fighting air assets. Another extremely important responsibility for the airport is providing a central-county base for take-off and landing, maintenance and refueling of air medevac flights to and from major medical facilities in larger cities. Click on Alturas Municipal Airport for detailed services, runway, FAA and communications information. There are a few other single-runway public airports with limited or no services in other Modoc County towns such as Adin, Newell, Fort Bidwell, Eagleville and Cedarville, and one in the California Pines area. There are also a number of private landing strips located throughout the county, mainly at larger ranches. These strips are used by forest service and crop dusting aircraft and by the ranchers themselves. Again, if you live in rural Modoc County, you will have to travel to Reno-Tahoe International Airport for access to national and international carriers. Redding, California's municipal airport offers direct commercial connections to international airports in both Oregon and California. The Klamath Falls, Oregon municipal airport bills itself as an international airport but only offers connecting flights to Portland International Airport. Visit Rural Transportation for more detailed discussions on rural transportation issues as well as valuable information resources and links. As you can see, rural transportation options are pretty limited in Modoc County, California. The very reason that makes this area of the country a desirable place to live, lack of people, also works with the basic law of supply and demand to limit mass transit and air facilities. Of course, if you can't exist without these luxuries, obviously Modoc Country Living isn't for you. But if you're willing to trade a 2 1/2 hour drive to catch a plane for clean air, no congestion, and a simpler lifestyle you may just have found a place to enjoy country living! Please stay with us at Modoc Country Living for a lot more information. As well as the information on rural transportation we have provided, we present discussions on a wide range of country living topics from rural television to dealing with critters trying to eat your flowers. We also have information on education and rural health care in Modoc County as well as tips on wildfire prevention and protection. Please stay with us. 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