Former Fresno firefighter Herman Hamm has driven his motorcycle all over California in his retirement years, navigating treacherous mountain highways and coastal roads. But Highway 41 in Madera County really makes him nervous.

"It's probably one of the most dangerous roads in California," Hamm said on a recent morning while filling up at a gas station north of Road 145. "The traffic is just horrendous."

The stretch of Highway 41 from the Fresno County line north to Yosemite National Park is a notoriously perilous route shared by tourists, foothill residents and casinogoers. The two-lane road is full of curves and hills and shoulders that are abruptly cut off by walls of rock or precipitous ledges. But worst of all is the traffic.

According to Caltrans, the number of vehicles northbound on Highway 41 at Road 200, about seven miles south of the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino, has increased 70% from 2001 to 2008 -- to nearly 20,000 a day. The growth has been spurred by several factors, including development in the foothill communities of Coarsegold and Oakhurst, and the opening of the casino in 2003.

The presence of all those cars and trucks crammed onto a road with only a handful of passing lanes has led to serious consequences. Since 2003, 47 people have died in crashes -- many of them head-on collisions -- and there have been 635 accidents with injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Last month, three Madera women on their way to work at the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino were killed when a pickup moved into oncoming traffic on Highway 41 and collided head-on with their car. Caltrans says traffic in that area has increased by 70% from 2001 to 2008 — to nearly 20,000 a day.

Highway 41 from the Fresno County line north to Yosemite National Park is a notoriously perilous route. The two-lane road is full of curves and hills and shoulders that are abruptly cut off.

The worst years for crashes were 2004 and 2005. The annual number of crashes has gone down slightly since then.

Last month, three women on their way to work at the Chukchansi casino were killed when a pickup moved into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with their car.

CHP and Caltrans officials say the highway isn't inherently dangerous and note that many other roads in California are much more difficult to navigate. But, they say, unsafe drivers coupled with the increase in traffic has made it treacherous.

Officials say that millions of dollars have already been spent on widening shoulders, marking the roadway, and installing signal lights.

But environmental restrictions and a lack of money have stymied more improvements.

Many locals believe that nothing short of widening the road to four lanes will be enough to accommodate the increase in traffic.

"Every year there are violent and tragic accidents on Highway 41, and every year we have increased traffic," said Frank Bigelow, a Madera County supervisor who lives in the foothills and has been a volunteer firefighter for 40 years. "What we need is a road that can compensate for bad drivers. We need four lanes."

Bigelow and CHP officials also noted that it's difficult for ambulances and other emergency vehicles to get to an accident scene when traffic gets jammed up.

"I've seen almost every kind of accident on Highway 41," Bigelow said. "The accidents that stick out in my mind are the little children who have lost their lives and who were completely innocent victims."

Malcolm Dougherty, the director of the Caltrans district office based in Fresno, said there are "very realistic" plans to widen to four lanes the one-mile stretch of road between Avenue 11 and Avenue 12 -- though that will only happen when funding is available and is more likely to occur within a decade than within a few years.

Any highway widening plans beyond that, Dougherty said, are only conceptual.

Bad or worse

There is no shortage of tourists, store clerks and foothill residents with stories about close calls on Highway 41.

"There are bad days, and then there are worse days," Paul Lohuis, a manager at the Coarsegold Market, said of his daily commute from Fresno. "I've had to slam on the brakes to avoid getting hit."

Outside of the Coarsegold Market, an ambulance with sirens blaring shoots by.

"We see that all the time," said Susan Randrup, who has owned property in Coarsegold since 1977 and has lived there since retiring.

Randrup said she usually takes an alternate route to Fresno to avoid Highway 41 traffic.

"Tourists drive through here like it's Highway 99," Randrup said. "It's gotten worse over the years -- especially with the casino going up."

Up the road in Oakhurst, Patty Nickels shakes her head when asked about the hazards of Highway 41.

"It's just horrendous," said Nickels, who works at the Yosemite Coffee and Roasting Company. "With people passing on a two-lane highway, there's bound to be accidents. People are just ridiculous."

Nickels has had her fair share of close calls -- "people think they can pass faster than they can, and you have to stop suddenly because a car is flying at you."

And she knows the highway's potential for heartbreak: A few years ago some of her friends died in an accident.

Even though locals say the Chukchansi casino has caused traffic to increase over the years, CHP and Caltrans officials note that new housing developments in the foothills are also a major factor.

CHP statistics for daily vehicle counts at Road 200 show that there were 12,500 cars and trucks heading north each day on Highway 41 in 2002.

The number jumped by 2,000 in 2003 when the casino opened, and has increased dramatically since then.

People like Jim Swartz, a lawn and garden supplies salesman in Fresno, didn't come up to the foothills that often before 2003. Now he drives to the casino about three or four times a month.

"I remember being scared the first time I came up," Swartz said. "You really have to be an experienced driver if you want to come up here a lot."

When the casino was built, Chukchansi paid for signal lights at two intersections and about $1.4 million for signal lights at other intersections, Caltrans said.

Calls to the casino were not returned.

Pleas unheeded

Residents say the CHP and the Madera County Sheriff's Department are doing a good job cracking down on drivers who speed or make unsafe passes.

But they said there needs to be more improvements to the road, such as additional passing lanes and flashing signs warning of sharp turns.

Bigelow, whose supervisorial district includes much of Highway 41 in Madera County, said he pleaded with state and federal representatives in the early 2000s to allocate more money for highway expansion.

But those efforts went nowhere, he said, because legislators didn't seem to think it was a priority.

Bigelow said he hasn't spoken with current state legislators representing the area about a highway expansion, but said he's still working on the issue.

In the meantime, people like Cesar Quitoriano, a truck driver who often delivers supplies along Highway 41, said he'll just have to continue taking his chances.

"When it's just two lanes, people pass you up all the time," he said. "They're in a hurry -- in a hurry to get to their death."