California

[Max Rockatansky]

Looks like an undeveloped greenway.

[skluth]

It looks like the ghost of an irrigation channel. There looks to be a channel in the sliver of historical Google Earth imagery from 1996 SW of Lake Perris (top image). The empty corridor to the east in the second image is also probably an old irrigation channel as shown by the probable remnants here and here and here. The long-time use of irrigation around Perris and Hemet dates back to at least the early 1900s, predating Lake Perris. Those channels may even date back to pre-Columbian times when the various Cahuilla people were the only inhabitants as they had an extensive irrigation systems all over So Cal, even in Palm Springs where I live. There appears to be an eastern continuation here along Baycrest Avenue and here. There is little need for many channels today so many of them have been filled over time, either deliberately or just by blowing dust and sand (there's a lot of that here).

It reminds me of this area in Iraq from back when I did imagery analysis for DMA (now NGA). There are still a lot of irrigation ditches there but you can also see plenty of straight lines where ditches once ran.

There's a lot of strange water infrastructure around here. This is an aquifer feeder, catching runoff from the Whitewater River to replenish the Coachella Valley aquifer before much of it evaporates off. It also helps keep the river from flooding the major roads (Indian Canyon, Gene Autry, Vista Chino) as there is still a lot of water coming down the San Bernardino Mountains (Mount Gorgonio is over 11000' and still has snow); it's currently a wild stream as it passes under I-10 (there's much more water now than the imagery shows on GM) but disappears before Indian Canyon.

[heynow415]

It looks like the ghost of an irrigation channel. There looks to be a channel in the sliver of historical Google Earth imagery from 1996 SW of Lake Perris (top image). The empty corridor to the east in the second image is also probably an old irrigation channel as shown by the probable remnants here and here and here. The long-time use of irrigation around Perris and Hemet dates back to at least the early 1900s, predating Lake Perris. Those channels may even date back to pre-Columbian times when the various Cahuilla people were the only inhabitants as they had an extensive irrigation systems all over So Cal, even in Palm Springs where I live. There appears to be an eastern continuation here along Baycrest Avenue and here. There is little need for many channels today so many of them have been filled over time, either deliberately or just by blowing dust and sand (there's a lot of that here).

It reminds me of this area in Iraq from back when I did imagery analysis for DMA (now NGA). There are still a lot of irrigation ditches there but you can also see plenty of straight lines where ditches once ran.

There's a lot of strange water infrastructure around here. This is an aquifer feeder, catching runoff from the Whitewater River to replenish the Coachella Valley aquifer before much of it evaporates off. It also helps keep the river from flooding the major roads (Indian Canyon, Gene Autry, Vista Chino) as there is still a lot of water coming down the San Bernardino Mountains (Mount Gorgonio is over 11000' and still has snow); it's currently a wild stream as it passes under I-10 (there's much more water now than the imagery shows on GM) but disappears before Indian Canyon.

I wonder if there's a major water pipeline under it.  The one image of the newer subdivisions with a pin for a water treatment plant may indicate that it is, since that would otherwise be unusual to have a water plant in the middle of a residential subdivision.  And if there is, it would make for a nice greenway.

[kernals12]

It looks like the ghost of an irrigation channel. There looks to be a channel in the sliver of historical Google Earth imagery from 1996 SW of Lake Perris (top image). The empty corridor to the east in the second image is also probably an old irrigation channel as shown by the probable remnants here and here and here. The long-time use of irrigation around Perris and Hemet dates back to at least the early 1900s, predating Lake Perris. Those channels may even date back to pre-Columbian times when the various Cahuilla people were the only inhabitants as they had an extensive irrigation systems all over So Cal, even in Palm Springs where I live. There appears to be an eastern continuation here along Baycrest Avenue and here. There is little need for many channels today so many of them have been filled over time, either deliberately or just by blowing dust and sand (there's a lot of that here).

It reminds me of this area in Iraq from back when I did imagery analysis for DMA (now NGA). There are still a lot of irrigation ditches there but you can also see plenty of straight lines where ditches once ran.

There's a lot of strange water infrastructure around here. This is an aquifer feeder, catching runoff from the Whitewater River to replenish the Coachella Valley aquifer before much of it evaporates off. It also helps keep the river from flooding the major roads (Indian Canyon, Gene Autry, Vista Chino) as there is still a lot of water coming down the San Bernardino Mountains (Mount Gorgonio is over 11000' and still has snow); it's currently a wild stream as it passes under I-10 (there's much more water now than the imagery shows on GM) but disappears before Indian Canyon.

It's always good to learn something new

[Occidental Tourist]

It's the above ground right of way for the Val Verde Tunnel, which is an underground aqueduct of Colorado River water feeding into Lake Matthews.  Here is where it comes above ground west of there:

[Plutonic Panda]

Several road, rail, and active transportation projects funded. Description with links to the funded projects here: https://dot.ca.gov/news-releases/news-release-2023-025

[pderocco]

Does anyone know what this vacant strip of land in Riverside County is for? My first assumption was that it was for the MCP but the RCTC website says that it would go along Placentia Avenue. It has no transmission lines and it's not a flood channel. So what is it?

As O.T. said, it's the Val Verde Tunnel. You can see all that stuff on USGS maps. I highly recommend using Earth Point Topo Map on Google Earth for this sort of thing. https://www.earthpoint.us/topomap.aspx

[pderocco]

There's a lot of strange water infrastructure around here. This is an aquifer feeder, catching runoff from the Whitewater River to replenish the Coachella Valley aquifer before much of it evaporates off. It also helps keep the river from flooding the major roads (Indian Canyon, Gene Autry, Vista Chino) as there is still a lot of water coming down the San Bernardino Mountains (Mount Gorgonio is over 11000' and still has snow); it's currently a wild stream as it passes under I-10 (there's much more water now than the imagery shows on GM) but disappears before Indian Canyon.

I think that aquifer feeder is primarily to keep the salt water from the Salton Sea from spreading through the ground into the Coachella Valley.

[Scott5114]

I-15 backups in California have gotten so bad that the CEO of MGM is wading into the discussions–it's starting to affect business in Las Vegas.

Hornbuckle: I-15 backups biggest complaint of MGM's Southern California visitors

The Strip's largest resort operator said the No. 1 complaint it hears from its Southern California customer base – roughly one-quarter of the company's overall business – is backups on Interstate 15.

MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle said dedicating just a small portion of the $4 billion to $5 billion the federal government has earmarked for transportation infrastructure improvements throughout the U.S. to fix the portion of the interstate that connects the Strip with Southern California "would go a long way"  toward solving the challenges faced by the resort industry's largest customer base.

A few years ago, Hornbuckle took the drive himself just to experience what MGM's Southern California guests experience that turn a four-and-a-half-hour commute into an eight-hour slog with backups stretching up to 20 miles.

"I just sat there and thought about what our customers were thinking,"  he said. "People are resilient. I'll give them that."

Hornbuckle said he has heard similar concerns about I-15 from his fellow Strip operators.

Nevada and other tourism states, except for Hawaii, draw most of their customers by interstate highways. MGM operates nine resorts with more than 37,000 hotel rooms on the Strip.

Fixing Los Angeles to Las Vegas transportation problems is one the reasons Hornbuckle took on the role as chairman two years ago of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, which advises the U.S. Department of Commerce on how government policies and programs affect the industry.

Full article here: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/hornbuckle-i-15-backups-biggest-complaint-of-mgms-southern-california-visitor

[Plutonic Panda]

Ah don't worry. They're starting construction on the HSR line by the end of the year. For the 5th year in a row.

[ClassicHasClass]

I always do I-40 or I-10 out to US 95 and up. It's a greater distance but it's not much more (if it's more) time when you factor in the backups.

[Max Rockatansky]

My detour through Garlock, Panamint Valley and Death Valley works well from the Central Valley.  My wife is usually the one trying to insist on I-15.  I only take I-15 well into the nighttime hours.

[Mark68]

How cost effective would it be to widen Nipton Road to Searchlight? Or at least sign it as an alternative to I-15 over Mountain Pass?

[Max Rockatansky]

The big problem you have there is that it isn't state highway in California.  The better bet is just to swing east from Vegas down I-11 and US 95.

[sprjus4]

How cost effective would it be to widen Nipton Road to Searchlight? Or at least sign it as an alternative to I-15 over Mountain Pass?

Why invest millions of dollars to widen 15 miles of Nipton Road in California when you can spend that same money expanding 10 or 15 miles of I-15 to six lanes, specifically between the Nevada state line and the Agricultural Inspection Station (where they just implemented that part time shoulder lane), and west of Mountain Pass?

[SeriesE]

I wonder what's so hard about paving 2 lanes in the median of a freeway that's in the middle of the desert?

[Max Rockatansky]

I wonder what's so hard about paving 2 lanes in the median of a freeway that's in the middle of the desert?

Anything post CEQA and NEPA is hard.  That and California isn't really interested in improving the I-15 corridor north of Barstow.  Simplistic as a project as it may be it still would cost a lot of money.

[skluth]

I wonder what's so hard about paving 2 lanes in the median of a freeway that's in the middle of the desert?

That's where Brightline is building their high speed rail line. "In 2020, Brightline signed a right-of-way agreement that allows it to build the 135-mile California portion of the corridor in the middle of Interstate 15."

[mgk920]

Also, it has long been the case that Caltrans has little interest in upgrading I-15 NE of Barstow because most of that 'need' is being driven by places that are not in California.  If that other place chooses to chip in...

Mike

[Plutonic Panda]

Also, it has long been the case that Caltrans has little interest in upgrading I-15 NE of Barstow because most of that 'need' is being driven by places that are not in California.  If that other place chooses to chip in...

Mike

That doesn't make any sense. It still affects California.

[Max Rockatansky]

Also, it has long been the case that Caltrans has little interest in upgrading I-15 NE of Barstow because most of that 'need' is being driven by places that are not in California.  If that other place chooses to chip in...

Mike

That doesn't make any sense. It still affects California.

I mean hey, building a more inconveniently located Ag Station just to slow passenger traffic down at the bottom of a long ascent grade was a priority.  Kind of tells you what the state probably thinks regarding cooperative measures towards Nevada?

[ClassicHasClass]

Had business in Redlands so I was out on the new 3-laned portion of Route 210 (i.e., Highland to I-10). Really nice. Just some leftover details to finish but all three lanes are open in both directions.

[Scott5114]

Also, it has long been the case that Caltrans has little interest in upgrading I-15 NE of Barstow because most of that 'need' is being driven by places that are not in California.  If that other place chooses to chip in...

Mike

Who do they think is driving from Southern California to Las Vegas? Texans?

[NE2]

Had business in Redlands so I was out on the new 3-laned portion of Route 210 (i.e., Highland to I-10). Really nice. Just some leftover details to finish but all three lanes are open in both directions.

How are the lanes configured? Is it at least 3 everywhere but between the 330 exits and entrances?

[pderocco]

Who do they think is driving from Southern California to Las Vegas? Texans?

Californian's who are going to lose all their money in Las Vegas.