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Former California State Route 274

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California State Route 274 was a six-mile State Highway which was located in the city of San Diego along Balboa Avenue.  California State Route 274 was first defined during 1965 and the initial segment from Interstate 5 to Interstate 805 would be complete by 1971.  California State Route 274 would be extended to California State Route 163 by the mid-1970s and eventually to Interstate by the late 1980s.  California State Route 274 was deleted by the legislature during 1999 but signage remained in place during much of the first decade of the 2000s.  California State Route 274 can be seen along Balboa Avenue on the blog cover as it was displayed on the 1990 Caltrans Map.  


The history of California State Route 274

The 1935 Division of Highways Maps of San Diego County and the city of San Diego display Balboa Avenue as a major locally maintained road from Grand Avenue in the San Diego neighborhood of Pacific Beach east to Morena Boulevard.  Balboa Avenue as originally configured intersected US Route 101 (then Legislative Route Number 2) at what is now Mission Bay Drive (then Grand Avenue).


Balboa Avenue can be seen extended east of US Route 101 into neighborhood of Clairemont on the 1958 Division of Highways Map.  US Route 101 would become part of Interstate 5 in the coming years after the passage of the 1956 Federal Highway Aid Act.  

California State Route 274 was designated by way of 1965 Legislative Chapter 2068.  California State Route 274 was originally defined as "Route 5 near Balboa Avenue to Route 103."  California State Route 274 can be seen for the first time on the 1966 Division of Highways Map as a proposed highway without an adopted alignment.  The proposed alignment of California State Route 274 east of Interstate 5 is shown to overlap the existing corridor of Balboa Avenue.  


California State Route 274 was never mentioned in the California Highways & Public Works publication before it ended in 1967.  That being the case it isn't fully clear when the California Highway Commission made a formal alignment adoption for the highway.  California State Route 274 appears with an adopted alignment on the 1969 Division of Highways Map.  


1969 Legislative Chapter 294 would change the eastern terminus of California State Route 274 to "Route 15."  This change reflected the extension of Interstate 15 over what was California State Route 103. 

According to Cameron Kaiser's Roadgap highway page California State Route 274 was completed to state highway standards during 1971 between Interstate 5 and Interstate 805.  California State Route 274 appears as a complete highway between Interstate 5-California State Route 163 and with an adopting routing east to Interstate 15 on the 1975 Caltrans Map.  


California State Route 274 east of California State Route 163 to Interstate 15 would not be completed until the late 1980s.  California State Route 274 appears completed to Interstate 15 for the first time on the 1990 Caltrans Map.  The completed iteration of the highway was six miles in length.  


A portion of the California State Route 274/Interstate 15 junction was swallowed by a sink hole during February 1998 and was reconstructed.  California State Route 274 was deleted by way of Assembly Bill 1650, Chapter 724 on October 10, 1999.  Despite being deleted by the legislature the city of San Diego did not accept relinquishment of California State Route 274 until 2001.  

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