| Cuesta Pass | |
|---|---|
 Looking south down the Cuesta Grade toward San Luis Obispo; an older alignment is at bottom center | |
| Elevation | 1,522 feet (464 m) |
| Traversed by | |
| Location | San Luis Obispo County, California |
| Range | Santa Lucia Range |
| Coordinates | 35°20′56″N 120°37′53″W / 35.3488°N 120.6313°W |
Cuesta Pass or La Cuesta Pass (Spanish for "the slope"), colloquially referred to as simply the grade, is a low mountain pass in San Luis Obispo County on California's Central Coast. It crosses the southern Santa Lucia Range at an altitude of 1,522 feet (464 m), and connects San Luis Obispo, roughly 5 miles (8.0 km) to the south,[1] with Atascadero, Paso Robles, and the Salinas Valley to the north. It is traversed by U.S. Route 101 and the Coast Line of the Union Pacific Railroad, and is better known for the long slope up to the pass from San Luis Obispo, in the canyon of San Luis Obispo Creek,[1] which is redundantly named the "Cuesta Grade".[2]
The railroad line through the pass includes a segment with a 2.2% grade, the steepest point of the coast line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It traverses six tunnels, including one at an altitude of 1,380 feet (420 m) bypassing the summit of the pass.[3]