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Paper Highways: Unbuilt California State Route 228

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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.  

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