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CA 259

Started by Max Rockatansky, May 23, 2019, 09:19:41 PM

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Max Rockatansky

I recently drove the entirety of the CA 259 freeway northbound in San Bernardino.  This is an odd little one mile freeway which connects I-215 to CA 210 in present configuration and isn't signed with reassurance shields.  The development history of CA 259 is interesting as it appears to have been completed to full configuration by at least 1970 following an odd surface alignment that connected to CA 206/CA 18.  For some reason CA 259 doesn't appear to have been signed a number during the 1964 State Highway Renumbering and didn't obtain one until 1965.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/california-state-route-259-to-i-215ca.html


NE2

#1
pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

Max Rockatansky

Made an update with the 1961 Traffic Census.

mrsman

IMO, CA 18 should be fully decommissioned off of any surface street alignment south of CA 210.  This also means removing any remnant signing.  Then, the CA 18 designation would fit better along the 259 freeway, with a multiplex along the 210 freeway between the current 259 and Waterman Ave.  For the most part, 18 is well-known as a route to the mountains, and 259 is basically unknown.

To some extent, 18 is already signed along parts of the 259.  Here is the NB on-ramp signage from Highland Ave.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1360836,-117.3030227,3a,75y,157.56h,92.66t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sFTsj3q4xESBfpcSRuVpxZA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

I believe that the signage needs to also be consistent.  The NB signage from 215 and from any of the surface street on-ramps should read:  "18 north to 210 east  // Lake Arrowhead // Highland"

SB, even with the relatively recent completion of 210 toward Pasadena, traffic to Los Angeles is still directed to use the 259 freeway to reach 215 and then I-10.  Here is the signage from the 30th and F on-ramp to 259 south directing L.A. and Riverside traffic to 259, yet directing 210 traffic to continue along 30th.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1464838,-117.2956923,3a,75y,298.53h,90.51t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZqIlefA_OaMC4mBJXmku1g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

SB signage should also be consistent.  The signage from the 210 freeway and surface streets on-ramps south of the 210 freeway should read:  "18 south to 215 south, 10 west // Riverside // Los Angeles"

The signage from the on-ramp at 30th and Waterman should read:  210 west, 18 south to 215 south // Pasadena // Riverside

NE2

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 23, 2019, 09:58:44 PM
Made an update with the 1961 Traffic Census.
That page is actually from 1964 or thereabouts, since it refers to New Route 18.
pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

sparker

^^^^^^^^^^
Pre the 1958-59 construction of the (then) I-15 (now 215) freeway north from I-10 into central San Bernardino, SSR 18 (aka LRN 43) took a convoluted path through downtown: coming into town multiplexed with US 91 & 395 on Mt. Vernon St., then turning right on 3rd Street (at the south end of the old Mt. Vernon bridge over the Santa Fe yards) to E Street, then turning north on E to Highland (LRN 190/SSR 30).  It then turned right on Highland a few blocks to Sierra, turning north until that street segued into the original 2-lane SSR 18 up into the mountains.  Two things happened with the '64 renumbering:  new CA 18 came out of the mountains (SB) and at least was intended to temporarily terminate at SSR 30; a typical Division of Highways/Caltrans unadopted "dotted line on a map" showed CA 18 extending south more or less along Waterman Ave., the major N-S arterial in the area, all the way to I-10 in the Loma Linda area between Colton and Redlands.  When CA 18 was improved in the mountains (opened in early '71) to a 4-lane expressway, its "flatland" alignment was in fact shifted a few blocks east to Waterman Ave. rather than the previous Sierra alignment, because the latter could not easily be expanded to 4 lanes, while Waterman could.  Curiously, Sierra was signed as "Business CA 18" -- although it traversed a decidedly residential neighborhood.  CA 18 was signed down to the then-CA 30 freeway; initially signage took it west on 30 to the present CA 259 "cutoff", then right over that freeway to a terminus at (then) I-15 (which became I-15E at the end of 1972 and I-215 ten years later).  Somewhere in the mid-70's any CA 18 signage -- reassurance or trailblazer -- was removed south/west of the Waterman Ave. interchange with CA 30; signage from I-15E/215 NB onto 259 was "TO CA 30 EAST" with a secondary line "TO CA 18/MOUNTAIN RESORTS"; from 30 WB it was "TO I-15E(215) SOUTH".  Variations on that signage persisted even when CA 30 was extended west to I-215 and east to Redlands (and CA 330) by 1992; the last time I was on I-215 in those parts (2012) the configuration was the same (but now referring to CA 210 rather than 30, of course).  I-215 was undergoing extensive rebuilding in central San Bernardino when I left the area over 6 years ago; I'll take a guess that signage may have changed somewhat; I'll leave it to SoCal posters (or Max!) to sort out what's on the ground today.  But the gist of the matter was that originally CA 18 was intended to extend south across the east end of San Bernardino; as that never occurred, CA 259 remains part of the most direct connection between much of the regional freeway network (210 to the west notwithstanding) and the main artery up the mountain to the Crestline/Lake Arrowhead area -- essentially functioning, as it has since its opening in the late '60's, as a natural extension of CA 18. 

TheStranger

Quote from: sparker on May 24, 2019, 04:50:47 PM
^^^^^^^^^^
Pre the 1958-59 construction of the (then) I-15 (now 215) freeway north from I-10 into central San Bernardino, SSR 18 (aka LRN 43) took a convoluted path through downtown: coming into town multiplexed with US 91 & 395 on Mt. Vernon St., then turning right on 3rd Street (at the south end of the old Mt. Vernon bridge over the Santa Fe yards) to E Street, then turning north on E to Highland (LRN 190/SSR 30).

Historic Aerials shows Business US 66 and Route 18 concurrent along 5th in its 1955, 1959 and 1965 topographic maps of the San Bernardino area, with 18 and Business US 66 splitting at Route 30/Highland Avenue (66 continuing north along Kendall following what would later be State Route 206, and 18 using 30 to connect to Sierra).

Chris Sampang

sparker

Originally US 66 came in from the west on 4th Street (the original concrete pavement was still there in 2012) and turned north on Mt. Vernon at the north end of the Santa Fe yard bridge, while SSR 18/LRN 43 turned east on 3rd (which, BTW, features much the same old concrete center lanes as the former US 66 portion of 4th) and passed the RR station en route to E Street.  US 66 was realigned to 5th Street circa 1955; at that same time the current 5th Street Bridge over both the RR tracks (heading N-S by that time) and the ROW for the planned US 91/395 freeway (it was designed prior to 1956 -- with plenty of left exits because it sat right up against the RR main line on its west side) was constructed (this design was "grandfathered" into the Interstate system).  So Chris is correct in that after '55 5th rather than the original 3rd street alignment was used for the E-W "lateral" between Mt. Vernon and E Street.  Another anomaly -- the business loop of US 66 through downtown San Bernardino using E Street and its northern extension, Kendall Ave, was one of the few CA signed US business routes to also be completely state-maintained (as LRN 43 and LRN 191).  San Bernardino has always liked its business loops -- even to the point of maintaining signage continuity -- at least until the last couple of decades; the signage of the CA 18 business loop on Sierra Ave. was removed in the early 2000's, while Business CA 30 signage on Highland Ave. was still mostly intact by 2012, although the Foothill Freeway routing had been redesignated as CA 210 five years earlier!  Except for CA 66 from I-215 west to the Fontana city limits and CA 18 on Waterman north of CA 210, all the other surface routings, including former CA 206 on Kendall Ave., have been relinquished.   

mrsman

Quote from: sparker on May 24, 2019, 04:50:47 PM
^^^^^^^^^^
Pre the 1958-59 construction of the (then) I-15 (now 215) freeway north from I-10 into central San Bernardino, SSR 18 (aka LRN 43) took a convoluted path through downtown: coming into town multiplexed with US 91 & 395 on Mt. Vernon St., then turning right on 3rd Street (at the south end of the old Mt. Vernon bridge over the Santa Fe yards) to E Street, then turning north on E to Highland (LRN 190/SSR 30).  It then turned right on Highland a few blocks to Sierra, turning north until that street segued into the original 2-lane SSR 18 up into the mountains.  Two things happened with the '64 renumbering:  new CA 18 came out of the mountains (SB) and at least was intended to temporarily terminate at SSR 30; a typical Division of Highways/Caltrans unadopted "dotted line on a map" showed CA 18 extending south more or less along Waterman Ave., the major N-S arterial in the area, all the way to I-10 in the Loma Linda area between Colton and Redlands.  When CA 18 was improved in the mountains (opened in early '71) to a 4-lane expressway, its "flatland" alignment was in fact shifted a few blocks east to Waterman Ave. rather than the previous Sierra alignment, because the latter could not easily be expanded to 4 lanes, while Waterman could.  Curiously, Sierra was signed as "Business CA 18" -- although it traversed a decidedly residential neighborhood.  CA 18 was signed down to the then-CA 30 freeway; initially signage took it west on 30 to the present CA 259 "cutoff", then right over that freeway to a terminus at (then) I-15 (which became I-15E at the end of 1972 and I-215 ten years later).  Somewhere in the mid-70's any CA 18 signage -- reassurance or trailblazer -- was removed south/west of the Waterman Ave. interchange with CA 30; signage from I-15E/215 NB onto 259 was "TO CA 30 EAST" with a secondary line "TO CA 18/MOUNTAIN RESORTS"; from 30 WB it was "TO I-15E(215) SOUTH".  Variations on that signage persisted even when CA 30 was extended west to I-215 and east to Redlands (and CA 330) by 1992; the last time I was on I-215 in those parts (2012) the configuration was the same (but now referring to CA 210 rather than 30, of course).  I-215 was undergoing extensive rebuilding in central San Bernardino when I left the area over 6 years ago; I'll take a guess that signage may have changed somewhat; I'll leave it to SoCal posters (or Max!) to sort out what's on the ground today.  But the gist of the matter was that originally CA 18 was intended to extend south across the east end of San Bernardino; as that never occurred, CA 259 remains part of the most direct connection between much of the regional freeway network (210 to the west notwithstanding) and the main artery up the mountain to the Crestline/Lake Arrowhead area -- essentially functioning, as it has since its opening in the late '60's, as a natural extension of CA 18.

Precisely, since 259 is the natural extension of 18 given all of that history and all of the decomissionings that have occurred, I contend that it should formally be one highway.

To me, even though the history is of course different, it functionally operates in a similar way to CA 2 / I-210.  A freeway ends essentially at another freeway, and then the routing continues over the second freeway for one exit and then continues on a surface street directly into the mountains.

Of course, this is all just a fictional exercise and just my opinion.

In any event, if 259 doesn't become 18, then 259 should be signed better.  I don't favor "ghost" routings.  If it has a highway number it should be signed as such on maps and on appropriate signs.*

NB:  "259 north to 210 east and 18 north //  Highland // Mountain Resorts "

SB: "259 south to 215 south, 10 west // Riverside // Los Angeles"

The signage from the on-ramp at 30th and Waterman should read:  "210 west to 259 south and 215 south // Pasadena // Riverside"

* For these reasons, I do like the relatively new signage in LA that acknowledges US 101 south of the 4-level interchange (instead of just 5 and 10).  But I dislike the fact that the control cities were removed in the process.  The signage there should read 101 south to 5 south, 10 east , 60 east// Santa Ana // San Bernardino.


Max Rockatansky

A user on a California Highway Facebook group reported CA 259 now has reassurance shields in both directions. 

ClassicHasClass

Well, sort of. Those are leftovers from construction signage (I regularly drive by the southern I-215/CA 259 split on my current work route). They were posted with a construction notice and then the construction notice was removed but not the shields. Everywhere else it's TO 210 or TO 330 or both (if it's signed at all).

Max Rockatansky

The amusing thing is that those shields will probably stay in place for decades now.

ClassicHasClass




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