I wonder how much of the old gravel highway 17 was the toll road. Highway 17 comes up over La Manga, and even in its gravel days was built to a fairly high standard. I drove it many times in Gordon Chappell's T-bird, and in my Corvair. It was a good road even without pavement. In looking at Doris Osterwald's map, which does not give a lot of detail, what she shows as the route of the toll road does not track all that well with my recollections of the gravel version of 17. Indeed, in the Coxo area she shows the toll road south of the creek, not crossing the railroad, and taking a more direct (presumably steeper) route up to the pass. But I have no idea if that is correct. I did a quick check of Google satellite views of Cumbres and nothing jumps out at me that would answer the question.
JBWX
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2014 12:47PM by John West.