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

2018 Mojave Road Trip Part 2; The deadly desert highway (California State Route 127 and Nevada State Route 373)

By
After leaving Barstow via Old Highway 58 my next destination was in Death Valley.  To access Death Valley from rural San Bernardino County required a trek on north on Interstate 15 to California State Route 127 which becomes Nevada State Route 373 at the state line. Along I-15 I encountered the road sign oddity that is Zzyzx Road about eight miles south of Baker.   Zzyzx Road is a four mile road that used to go to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa.   The spa was founded in the 1940s and the owner made up the name "Zzyzx" to claim it was the last word in the English Language.  The spa has been shut down since the 1970s and is now part of a Desert Studies Center for California State University. The southern terminus of CA 127 in Baker is located at I-15 exit 246.  CA 127 is a 91 mile north/south highway which runs to the Nevada State Line in Inyo County.  CA 127 is called Death Valley Road from I-15 northward.  South of CA 127 ...
4 comments
Read more

Finding the Pre-Emption Road of New York State

By
  The Pre-Emption Road (or rather a series of roads named Pre-Emption Road) follows a survey line called the Pre-Emption Line, drawn in the early days of the United States. The story begins with Massachusetts and New York having competing land claims to modern day Western New York State that have their roots in colonial charters granted by the British. After the Revolutionary War ended, this land became the frontier of the nation and its settlement became a priority for the new American government. During this era, there were a lot of competing land claims that needed to be settled. It was no different with the land claims between New York State and Massachusetts. On November 30, 1786, Massachusetts and New York sent representatives to Hartford, Connecticut to resolve their competing land claims. In less than three weeks, the representatives had reached a compromise. Massachusetts would receive pre-emption rights, meaning the right to sell the land after the Indian title ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

By
  Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...
Post a Comment
Read more