Skip to main content

Paper Highways: Unbuilt California State Route 228

By

California State Route 228 was a planned highway which was defined during the 1964 State Highway Renumbering as a bypass of Brawley.  California State Route 228 was planned as a two-mile north/south State Highway which would have followed Malan Canal and Sandal Canal west of Brawley.  California State Route 228 was deleted in 1998 with no actual mileage ever having been constructed.  Above California State Route 228 can be seen on the 1964 Division of Highways Map with a determined adopted routing.


The history of planned California State Route 228

Prior to the 1964 State Highway Renumbering the city of Brawley was served by US Route 99 which overlayed on Legislative Route Number 26 (LRN 26).  US Route 99 southbound followed LRN 26 over the New River and entered Brawley via Main Street.  From Main Street the alignment of US Route 99/LRN 26 followed 1st Street and Brawley Avenue southward towards El Centro.  By the 1960s the jog in US Route 99/LRN 26 into downtown Brawley brought significant traffic volumes of pass-through traffic.  US Route 99/LRN 26 can be seen passing through Brawley on the 1963 Division of Highways Map.  

The truncation of US Route 99 from Calexico to the junction of the Golden State Freeway and San Bernardino Freeway in Los Angeles was approved by the American Association of State Highway Officials Executive Committee on June 19th, 1963.  The justification by the California Division of Highways to truncate US Route 99 was to avoid what the agency viewed as confusing multiplexes on the new Interstate corridors of Southern California. 




The truncation of US Route 99 to downtown Los Angeles was made in the run up to the 1964 State Highway Renumbering.  The 1964 State Highway Renumbering deleted the Legislative Route Numbers in favor of field signage.  What had been US Route 99 between Indio and California State Route 111 via Brawley was reassigned as part of California State Route 86.  Notably the legislation in the advance run up to the 1964 State Highway Renumbering also defined California State Route 228 as a bypass of Brawley.  The originally definition of California State Route 228 was as follows:

"Route 86 approximately two and one-half miles southwest of Brawley to Route 86 approximately two miles of west of Brawley."

Notably California State Route 228 does not appear in any volume of the California Highways & Public Works.  Thusly, it is unclear if California State Route 228 was originally intended to be a new alignment of US Route 99 and LRN 26 bypassing Brawley.  California State Route 228 appears on the 1964 Division of Highways Map as an unbuilt State Highway with a determined adopted routing.  As noted in the intro California State Route 228 would have followed Malan Canal and Sandal Cancel west of Brawley via new bridge over the New River.



For reasons unknown California State Route 228 appears with an undetermined routing on the 1967 Division of Highways Map.  California State Route 228 would never appear again on a Division of Highways or Caltrans Map with a determined adopted routing. 


1998 Assembly Bill 2132, Chapter 877 deleted California State Route 228 from the State Highway System.  In April 2003 the California Transportation Commission adopted the alignment of the Brawley Bypass which was to be part of California State Route 78 and California State Route 111.  The Brawley Bypass would ultimately open as a freeway during 2012.  2013 Senate Bill 788, Chapter 525 authorized the relinquishment of California State Route 86 in El Centro, Imperial and Brawley.  

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

By
The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926.  Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California.  The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant.  However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes.  The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield.  In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range.   ...
3 comments
Read more

Three Points Road (Los Angeles County)

By
Three Points Road is a rural cutoff route which connects Pine Canyon Road (Los Angeles County Route N2) and California State Route 138 near Neenach of Antelope Valley.  Originally the community of Three Points (named for the junction Pine Canyon, Oakdale Canyon and Oakgrove Canyon) was served by 265th Avenue West.  The modern three-mile-long corridor of Three Points Road was developed by 1950 to serve as a softer transition to California State Route 138.  Part 1; the history of Three Points Road Three Points Road is named in reference to the community near the extinct Neenach Volcano known as Three Points.  Three Points itself is a reference to three canyons it sits in the middle of: Pine Canyon, Oakgrove Canyon and Oakdale Canyon.  Three Points was homesteaded by the Laffery family in 1892.  Nearby Gookins Lake was named after one of the Laffery family members.   Three Points (blue pin) can be seen at the intersection of Pine Canyon Road (now Los...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hawaii Route 50

By
Hawaii Route 50 is the longest Sign Route on the island of Kauai at 32.6 miles.  The entirety of Hawaii Route 50 is overlaid atop Kaumualii Highway from Lihue west to the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands. Hawaii Route 50 is one of the original 1955-era State Highway designations on Kauai.  Much of the Kaumualii Highway corridor was constructed during the sugar plantation boom of the late Hawaiian Kingdom.  The first tee beam bridge in Hawaii would be constructed along the Kaumualii Highway in 1911 at the Hanapepe.  Much of this highway would be modernized to two-lane standards through the 1930s and 1940s. This page is part of the Gribblenation Hawaii Roads series.  A compellation of all Hawaii-related media from both Gribblenation and RoadwayWiz can be found by clicking  here .  Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 50 and Kaumualii Highway Hawaii Route 50 is the longest highway on Kauai at 32.6 miles.  The highway begins at Rice Str...
Post a Comment
Read more