California SR 72 (Whittier Blvd.) - what's left

[M3100]

On Saturday 10/3 I drove "what's left" of California SR 72.  In decades past it was a longer route. The TM site shows the western end point of this route at the Pico Rivera (eastern) city line, through Whittier (Los Angeles County) and La Habra (Orange County) with the eastern end point at an intersection with Beach Blvd/SR 39.

Here are some pics, from west to east:

1. This is the edge of Pico Rivera, facing east, at a bridge over the San Gabriel River.  A Union Pacific RR bridge and I-605 are in the distance. I don't recall if the Whittier Blvd. exit signs on I-605 include the SR 72 shield.


2. Here Whittier Blvd. approaches a 6-point intersection.  The road angles at roughly 10 o'clock from the intersection; note the top row of the green median sign is blanked out.


3. This former UP rail bridge crosses over the northeast side of the 6-point intersection.  The eastbound lanes of Whittier Blvd. go under the girder bridge.


4. The first eastbound shield I saw is just before the eastern city line in Whittier.


5. This newer shield is in La Habra; note another shield is visible a couple blocks down the road on its own post.


6. This is "The End" of SR 72, where it intersects with SR 39 at Beach Blvd.  At one time SR 72 continued further east and turned south on Harbor Blvd.


7. This junction sign is on northbound Beach Blvd. at the intersection with Whittier Blvd.; it is helpful for those following SR 39 but not so much if someone was looking for SR 72.


8. This mileage sign is on westbound Whittier Blvd. approaching Beach Blvd. 


9. This shield is at the current start of SR 72 westbound.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm seeing Postmile LA 6.767 as the west terminus and ORA 11.421 for the East terminus in the Postmile Tool.  Essentially that is 605 to 39 as per the 2010 route definition.

[sparker]

On Saturday 10/3 I drove "what's left" of California SR 72.  In decades past it was a longer route. The TM site shows the western end point of this route at the Pico Rivera (eastern) city line, through Whittier (Los Angeles County) and La Habra (Orange County) with the eastern end point at an intersection with Beach Blvd/SR 39.

Here are some pics, from west to east:

1. This is the edge of Pico Rivera, facing east, at a bridge over the San Gabriel River.  A Union Pacific RR bridge and I-605 are in the distance. I don't recall if the Whittier Blvd. exit signs on I-605 include the SR 72 shield.


2. Here Whittier Blvd. approaches a 6-point intersection.  The road angles at roughly 10 o'clock from the intersection; note the top row of the green median sign is blanked out.


3. This former UP rail bridge crosses over the northeast side of the 6-point intersection.  The eastbound lanes of Whittier Blvd. go under the girder bridge.


4. The first eastbound shield I saw is just before the eastern city line in Whittier.


5. This newer shield is in La Habra; note another shield is visible a couple blocks down the road on its own post.


6. This is "The End" of SR 72, where it intersects with SR 39 at Beach Blvd.  At one time SR 72 continued further east and turned south on Harbor Blvd.


7. This junction sign is on northbound Beach Blvd. at the intersection with Whittier Blvd.; it is helpful for those following SR 39 but not so much if someone was looking for SR 72.


8. This mileage sign is on westbound Whittier Blvd. approaching Beach Blvd. 


9. This shield is at the current start of SR 72 westbound.

There was never any CA 72 trailblazer -- or otherwise -- signage for CA 72 from any of the four freeways it intersected at its maximum signed mileage circa 1968-69.  Its southeastern terminus was the originally configured Katella Ave. interchange with I-5; to access CA 72 one had to exit at that interchange, go east about a half-block to the frontage road, turn left (north) on said frontage road (IIRC it was called Manchester Ave. East), and proceed north about a half-mile to the Los Angeles St. intersection.  Again, no CA 72 trailblazer signage; the first reassurance shield was on NB Los Angeles Street.  SB 72 ended unceremoniously, with simple "TO I-5" trailblazers pointing south on the frontage road.  From that point north on L.A. Street, Harbor Blvd, and onto Whittier the route was adequately signed; WB there was an "END 72" assembly at the corner of Whittier and Downey Road in East Los Angeles, just west of the (then) CA 7/Long Beach Freeway.  Of course, CA 72 was cut back on a regular basis from its (south)east end -- first to the CA 91/Harbor Blvd. interchange, then to Imperial Highway/CA 90, and finally to its current east end.  The cutbacks from the western end -- at least as far as signage went -- started in the early '80's, and by the end of that decade there was no signage west of the UP underpass in Pico Rivera, although the CA 19/72 intersection (Rosemead Blvd.) was fully signed until well into the '90's, until CA 72 was cut back to there circa '94.  Not at all surprised to see the section from I-605 to CA 39 still state-maintained; it's a major commercial corridor with high traffic levels -- enough to make the cities of Whittier and La Habra think twice about assuming maintenance. 

Re the above pix:  that multi-point interchange in Whittier was also the junction point of the old LRN 2 that ran along Whittier and LRN 171 (its northern terminus); the latter extended down Santa Fe Springs Road to Los Nietos, then turned SW toward Telegraph Road and eventually Buena Park before heading down current CA 39 to Huntington Beach.  And that UP truss bridge no longer carries trackage; that line, UP's old Fullerton/Anaheim branch, was abandoned in the late 1990's. 

[DTComposer]

FWIW, there is one CA-72 shield used on I-605 - southbound, on an advance exit sign:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0126795,-118.0567542,3a,75y,197.54h,95.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sh5a2wDj-_ooH6NfBGyHwKQ!2e0!5s20190601T000000!7i13312!8i6656

This went up in the mid-2000s (I believe) and survived the signage change in the 2010s.

Downstream at the exit the BGS used to have Whittier Blvd./Whittier, but the ~2015 signage change added the exit number and removed the control city. No CA-72 mention, though.

[sparker]

FWIW, there is one CA-72 shield used on I-605 - southbound, on an advance exit sign:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0126795,-118.0567542,3a,75y,197.54h,95.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sh5a2wDj-_ooH6NfBGyHwKQ!2e0!5s20190601T000000!7i13312!8i6656

This went up in the mid-2000s (I believe) and survived the signage change in the 2010s.

Downstream at the exit the BGS used to have Whittier Blvd./Whittier, but the ~2015 signage change added the exit number and removed the control city. No CA-72 mention, though.

Wow!  Don't remember that sign -- likely because I was invariably stuck in traffic on that section of 605 and paid little attention to such things (out of roadgeek mode!).  Next time I'm in L.A. I'll have to schlep down that way during off-peak hours.  At least that sign is currently appropriate as per the current CA 72 west terminus. 

[M3100]

Thanks for the history and updates. 

fyi My 1981 Thomas Guide shows SR 72 route shields from roughly the SR 60 interchange in East LA all the way to the I-5 interchange.  SR 39 was a continuous route too (per those old maps anyway).

[sparker]

Thanks for the history and updates. 

fyi My 1981 Thomas Guide shows SR 72 route shields from roughly the SR 60 interchange in East LA all the way to the I-5 interchange.  SR 39 was a continuous route too (per those old maps anyway).

The Thomas Guides, particularly the various editions covering greater L.A., seemed to occasionally engage in speculative (some may say wishful) application of shields to various routes; one of the more notorious was CA 42 along Imperial Highway all the way from Firestone Blvd. in Norwalk through Yorba Linda (pre the change to CA 90, of course), even though the portion west of Beach Blvd./CA 39 was never part of the state highway system (and it was well after "county/state" postings like with CA 39 through La Puente) ceased.  CA 72 was cut back from its southeastern terminus at I-5 to CA 91 in 1981 at the same time the final segment of the CA 57/Orange freeway was opened between I-5 and CA 91.  Both CA 72 and never-signed (although mileposted) CA 250 along State College Blvd. were considered superfluous and duplicative after that point.  Nevertheless, the Thomas Guides continued showing CA 72 on Anaheim Blvd. (former Los Angeles Street) until about 1984, even though O.C. was "relinquishment central" during that period, especially in the northeast portion of the county.

[M3100]

FWIW, there is one CA-72 shield used on I-605 - southbound, on an advance exit sign:

I drove I-605 yesterday and the shield is still there on this sign.  Yes, the traffic was/is pretty busy in this section.

The next interchange sequence sign, which was newer (and listed Whittier Blvd. as the immediate next exit) does not have a shield.

[sparker]

FWIW, there is one CA-72 shield used on I-605 - southbound, on an advance exit sign:

I drove I-605 yesterday and the shield is still there on this sign.  Yes, the traffic was/is pretty busy in this section.

The next interchange sequence sign, which was newer (and listed Whittier Blvd. as the immediate next exit) does not have a shield.

And it probably never will.  D7 currently downplays any state highway facilities on surface streets -- pretty much considering them "pre-relinquished".  Local jurisdictions' reluctance to assume maintenance (which, under CA administrative law, they can't be forced to do) accounts for much of the state-maintained street remnants.  That approach exit sign shown looks like one of the older porcelain signs that have tended to stick around on I-605; if and when it's replaced, expect the shield to disappear as well. 

[oscar]

At least SR 72 still intersects I-605.

For other SRs, even though the state legislature sometimes requires local governments taking over relinquished segments to "maintain within their respective jurisdictions signs directing motorists to the continuation of Route ___", in practice it seems like those jurisdictions generally ignore that requirement, and such signage remains only on routes like SR 1 and the Interstates that are still Caltrans-maintained. On the other hand, like for the west end of SR 91 (legislatively truncated to Vermont Ave. at Gardena's eastern city limits), even on segments explicitly and unconditionally removed from the state highway system, old signage sometimes remains even though the relevant local governments are not required to maintain it.

This makes route markers sometimes unreliable evidence of where non-freeway routes begin and end.

[ClassicHasClass]

That approach exit sign shown looks like one of the older porcelain signs

I know exactly where that sign is and it's actually newer retroflective stuff.

[sparker]

That approach exit sign shown looks like one of the older porcelain signs

I know exactly where that sign is and it's actually newer retroflective stuff.

Wow -- it aged fast; the bright green seen on reflective signs looks, in this instance, remarkably like its porcelain predecessor.  Given the traffic and fumes (and smog and smoke) , it's likely I-605 signs reach their invariably trashy look faster than on other facilities (except I-405 from I-605 to the Sepulveda Pass, which also exhibits such premature aging).   

[ClassicHasClass]

That's LA traffic for you! They replaced most of the signs on I-605 relatively recently, though I am amused that the "THRU TRAFFIC" pseudo-control city remained.

[mrsman]

Many have suggested good controls for 605, especially on certain threads in this forum, yet Caltrans will not change.  Stubborn.