This point marks the start of a winding two-lane highway that crosses the Santa Cruz Mountains through Hecker Pass to reach Gilroy.

After exiting the large commercial developments near U.S. 101, Route 152 consists of a single lane in each direction, with narrow shoulders, rain ditches on either side of the road, no center dividers, and posted speed limit of 55 mph (89 km/h), making it prone to head-on collisions.

The landmarks located on Route 152 include the Pacheco Pass, the Gilroy Gardens, the San Luis Reservoir, the Casa de Fruta and the Merry Cherries.

In 1963-65, a new 12-mile four-lane expressway, with climbing lanes for trucks, was built from the Merced County line eastward, to bypass the San Luis Reservoir which was then under construction.

Between 1982 and 1992, the road was widened in two phases from two to four lanes, with some realignments, on a 10.5-mile segment from the four-lane section completed in 1950 to just east of the junction with California State Route 156.

[20] In 2008, a T-junction and stop sign at the intersection with Route 156 on the remaining two-lane section of the highway west of Casa de Fruta was replaced with a flyover, greatly easing congestion there.

[21] A segment of Route 152 west of Gilroy, between the Uvas Creek Bridge and Santa Teresa Blvd, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

[10] This segment of the road, serving as a western gateway into Gilroy, is lined with deodar cedar trees that were planted on consecutive Arbor Days in 1930 and 1931.

Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage.