Skip to main content

California State Route 115

California State Route 115 is a 35.24-mile State Highway located in Imperial Valley of Imperial County.  California State Route 115 begins at California State Route 111 in Calipateria and ends at Interstate 8 east of Holtville.  California State Route 115 first appeared on State Highway maps during 1956 over a segment of Legislative Route Number 187 and Legislative Route Number 201.  California State Route 115 was realigned onto a bypass of Holtville during 1959 and originally had a southern terminus at Bonds Corner.  During 1972 the southern terminus of California State Route 115 was shifted east of Holtville to Interstate 8. 




The history of California State Route 115

What was to become California State Route 115 was added to the State Highway System during 1933 as a component of Legislative Route Number 187 (LRN 187) and a component of Legislative Route Number 201 (LRN 201).  The original definition of LRN 187 was as follows:

"LRN 202 near Bonds Corner to Morongo Valley via north shore of Salton Sea, Mecca and Indian Wells"

The original definition of LRN 201 was as follows:

1.  Calipatria to LRN 187 between Brawley and Holtville
2.  LRN 26 east of Heber to LRN 187 near Brawley

The future California State Route 115 would in time occupy the segment of LRN 187 between Bonds Corner to the vicinity of Alamorio and LRN 201 from Alamoria to Calipatria.  The Bonds Corner-Alamorio segment of LRN 187 and Alamorio-Calipatria segment of LRN 201 can be seen on the 1934 Division of Highways Map.  



The September 1934 California Highways & Public Works references much of LRN 201 and LRN 187 between Calipatria-Holtville having been recently surfaced with oil.  


The Bonds Corner-Alamorio segment of LRN 187 and Alamorio-Calipatria segment of LRN 201 were not assigned one of the initial Sign State Routes which were announced during August 1934.  The Bonds Corner-Alamorio segment of LRN 187 and Alamorio-Calipatria segment of LRN 201 can be seen on the 1935 Division of Highways Map Imperial County.  From Bonds Corner LRN 187 can be seen following Bonds Corner Road and Walnut Avenue north to US Route 80 in Holtville.  From Holtville LRN 187 can be seen following Holt Road, Hartshorn Road, modern California State Route 115 to modern Ben Hulse Highway near Alamoria.  From Alamoria LRN 201 can be seen following West Road, Wirt Street to Main Street in Calipatria. 




California State Route 115 first appears on the 1956 Division of Highways Map following LRN 187 and LRN 201 from Bonds Corner to Calipatria.  It is unclear why California State Route 115 was added to LRN 187 and LRN 201 as it is not referenced in any California Highways & Public Works volume. 


The November/December 1958 California Highways & Public Works referenced California State Route 115 undergoing several improvements.  The Alamorio-Sandia Turn segment of California State Route 115 was to widened.  The Ortia Canal-Standard Canal segment of California State Route 115 is noted to have been rebuilt due to the failure of an irrigation facility.  


The November/December 1958 California Highways & Public Works references California State Route 115 was to be relocated to a bypass of Holtville during 1959-1960 fiscal year. 


The May/June 1959 California Highways & Public Works references the 4.3-mile relocation of California State Route 115 west of Holtville as about to begin.  The realignment of California State Route 115 west of Holtville was to bypass Holt Road and Hartshorn Road in favor of direct routing to Sandia Corner via a new bridge over the Alamo River.  California State Route 115 southbound was to be rerouted alongside US Route 80 via Evan Hewes Highway, Palm Avenue and 5th Street to Walnut Aveune in Holtville.  


The new California State Route 115 bypass west of Holtville appears on the 1960 Division of Highways Map.  


As part of the 1964 State Highway Renumbering the Legislative Route Numbers were dropped in favor of Sign Route designations.  California State Route 115 was given the following legislative definition:

A.  Route 98 near Bonds Corner to Route near Holtville
B.  Route 8 near Holtville to Route 78
C.  Route 78 east of Brawley to Route 111 at Calipatria

The new legislative definition of California State Route 115 appears on the 1964 Division of Highways Map.  



Following the opening of Interstate 8 south of Holtville during 1972 California State Route 115 was altered and given a new southern terminus.  Segment A of California State Route 115 was deleted, and the highway was extended east of Holtville via former US Route 80 on Evan Hewes Highway to Interstate 8.  The realignment of California State Route 115 and deletion of segment A were made via 1972 Legislative Chapter 742.  The new southern terminus of California State Route 115 appears on the 1975 Caltrans Map.  


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Paper Highways: The Unbuilt New Orleans Bypass (Proposed I-410)

  There are many examples around the United States of proposed freeway corridors in urban areas that never saw the light of day for one reason or another. They all fall somewhere in between the little-known and the infamous and from the mundane to the spectacular. One of the more obscure and interesting examples of such a project is the short-lived idea to construct a southern beltway for the New Orleans metropolitan area in the 1960s and 70s. Greater New Orleans and its surrounding area grew rapidly in the years after World War II, as suburban sprawl encroached on the historically rural downriver parishes around the city. In response to the development of the region’s Westbank and the emergence of communities in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes as viable suburban communities during this period, regional planners began to consider concepts for new infrastructure projects to serve this growing population.  The idea for a circular freeway around the southern perimeter of t

Hernando de Soto Bridge (Memphis, TN)

The newest of the bridges that span the lower Mississippi River at Memphis, the Hernando de Soto Bridge was completed in 1973 and carries Interstate 40 between downtown Memphis and West Memphis, AR. The bridge’s signature M-shaped superstructure makes it an instantly recognizable landmark in the city and one of the most visually unique bridges on the Mississippi River. As early as 1953, Memphis city planners recommended the construction of a second highway bridge across the Mississippi River to connect the city with West Memphis, AR. The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge had been completed only four years earlier a couple miles downriver from downtown, however it was expected that long-term growth in the metro area would warrant the construction of an additional bridge, the fourth crossing of the Mississippi River to be built at Memphis, in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the previous three Mississippi River bridges to be built the city, the location chosen for this bridge was about two

Huey P. Long Bridge (New Orleans, LA)

Located on the lower Mississippi River a few miles west of New Orleans, the Huey P. Long Bridge is an enormous steel truss bridge that carries both road and rail traffic on an old-time structure that is a fascinating example of a bridge that has evolved in recent years to meet the traffic and safety demands of modern times. While officially located in suburban Jefferson Parish near the unincorporated community of Bridge City, this bridge’s location is most often associated with New Orleans, given that it’s the largest and most recognizable incorporated population center in the nearby vicinity. For this reason, this blog article considers the bridge’s location to be in New Orleans, even though this isn’t 100% geographically correct. Completed in 1935 as the first bridge across the Mississippi River in Louisiana and the first to be built in the New Orleans area, this bridge is one of two bridges on the Mississippi named for Huey P. Long, a Louisiana politician who served as the 40th Gove