US 60 and US 70 Los Angeles-Pomona

[Max Rockatansky]

I put something together for US 60/US 70 in the Los Angeles-Pomona corridor.  Two interesting items I noticed in the AASHTO database:

-  US 60 was approved to be extended to California by May 1930 contingent upon the Colorado River Bridge being purchased.  The actual routing wasn't selected or approved until quite some time later. 
-  US 70 was going to originally follow US 60 entirely in California and the Beaumont-Pomona jog on US 99 was requested via a Route definition clarification. 

[RZF]

Growing up in Ontario during my childhood, I was curious about the history about Mission Blvd. There's a particular sign just east of the Mission/Euclid (CA-83) intersection that shows mileage towards Riverside, Beaumont, and San Diego, which makes me think that this sign held over from when Mission Blvd was signed as CA-60.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0548749,-117.6500163,3a,75y,139.75h,87.41t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQGjol4-DS7C3jKVEClSoOg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[mrsman]

Growing up in Ontario during my childhood, I was curious about the history about Mission Blvd. There's a particular sign just east of the Mission/Euclid (CA-83) intersection that shows mileage towards Riverside, Beaumont, and San Diego, which makes me think that this sign held over from when Mission Blvd was signed as CA-60.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0548749,-117.6500163,3a,75y,139.75h,87.41t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQGjol4-DS7C3jKVEClSoOg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Mileage sign for Pomona and L.A. on the other side of Mission:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0550754,-117.6517438,3a,37.5y,284.43h,90.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sA98bSrg8zHybRkvVPLeTcw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Those signs look recent, so it was impossible that they pre-dated the 60 freeway.  But very likely they are a modernized recreation of mileage signs that used to exist when Mission was indeed a state highway (US 60).  ACSC was great about posting mileage signs at key intersections (state highways, and even some non-state highway, but major arterials). 

And since Euclid is also a state highway, CA-83, this corner marked a major junction.

San Diego mileage is probably a legacy of a small section of US 60 that was multiplexed with US 395 in the Riverside area.  Even in today's highways, we have a joint CA-60/I-215 section between Riverside and Moreno Valley that parallels the old road.

[bing101]

https://www.gribblenation.org/2022/03/former-us-route-60-70-on-jack-rabbit.html?m=1
And here is a section of US-60 and US-70 being called the Jack Rabbit Trail in the Moreno Valley area.

[The Ghostbuster]

I think US 70 should have never existed west of Globe, AZ following its 1934 re-route from ending in El Paso, TX. Co-designating it with US 60 (and 80, 89, 95 and 99) between Globe and Los Angeles, CA seemed like a pointless co-currency to me. The reason they probably did it was so US 70 could be a coast-to-coast US Highway, but that unnecessary co-currency only lasted 30 years (and it was only another 5 years before it was further truncated to its current perfectly-legitimate western terminus).

[Max Rockatansky]

I think US 70 should have never existed west of Globe, AZ following its 1934 re-route from ending in El Paso, TX. Co-designating it with US 60 (and 80, 89, 95 and 99) between Globe and Los Angeles, CA seemed like a pointless co-currency to me. The reason they probably did it was so US 70 could be a coast-to-coast US Highway, but that unnecessary co-currency only lasted 30 years (and it was only another 5 years before it was further truncated to its current perfectly-legitimate western terminus).

The Palms to Pines Highway and Ortega Highway would have been a slam dunk to get it Long Beach from Coachella Valley.  That seems like such a missed opportunity given the Palms to Pines Highway was such a big deal in the era.

[ClassicHasClass]

What, for US 70? I could buy that. Still a lot of daylight between US 50 and US 60 but I guess that's just how it went.

[Max Rockatansky]

What, for US 70? I could buy that. Still a lot of daylight between US 50 and US 60 but I guess that's just how it went.

Yeah, I was thinking that there was something to CA 740 (on Pines to Palms Highway) which might indicate it was reserved for a US Route just like CA 440 (US 299) might have been.  The time frames match up since the course of US 70 was very murky in California until a routing was decided upon in 1935.  I've never found any clarification about CA 740 in the CHPWs or AASHO Database, so it remains a mystery what the intent there was before it was reassigned as part of CA 74.