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California State Route 188

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California State Route 188 is an approximately 2-mile State Highway located in San Diego County.  California State Route 188 follows Tecate Road from California State Route 94 south to the Tecate Port of Entry.  The current California State Route 188 was added to the State Highway System during 1972.  



The history of California State Route 188

The history of modern California State Route 188 is tied to that of the San Diego County community of Tecate.  The Californian Tecate lies directly north of the Mexican counterpart of the same name in Baja California.  The Baja California iteration of Tecate was founded during April 1888 and incorporated during October 1892.  It is unclear when the Californian Tecate was founded but it appears to have not been long after the formation of Baja California iteration. 

A road from Potrero to the Californian Tecate can be seen on the 1917 California State Automobile Association Map.  There is no connecting road shown crossing the Mexican border.  The road from Potrero to Tecate appears to follow modern day Emery Lane and Emery Road.  

The Tecate Port of Entry was established around 1919.  The Tecate Port of Entry facilitated traffic to enter the United States where it followed Thing Road towards the Californian Tecate.  The Tecate Port of Entry can be seen in a 1919 era public domain photo.  


The two Tecates are shown connected via a Port of Entry on the 1925 California State Automobile Association Map.  


The current Tecate Port of Entry border station was constructed during 1933.  The Tecate Port of Entry is shown connected to California State Route 94 via Thing Road and Emery Road on the 1935 Division of Highways Map.  


The November 15, 1938, San Diego Tribune reported San Diego County granted a hearing to protest construction of a new road to the Tecate Port of Entry.  The new road to the Tecate Port of Entry was objected by the local population who wanted the original alignment to remain.  

Modern Tecate Road can be seen connecting California State Route 94 to Tecate Port of Entry on the 1942 United States Geological Survey Map.  Tecate Road bypassed the community of Tecate to the west and provided a more direct route from California State Route 94 to the Tecate Port of Entry.  


As part of the 1964 State Highway Renumbering all the Legislative Routes lacking a Sign State Route were assigned one.  Subsequently what was Legislative Route Number 94 near Lake Tahoe was renumbered to California State Route 188.  California State Route 188 on Fallen Leaf Lake Road first appears on the 1964 Division of Highways Map.


1965 Legislative Chapter 1372 deleted California State Route 188 and removed Fallen Leaf Lake Road from the State Highway System.  The deletion of California State Route 188 is announced in the September/October 1965 California Highways & Public Works.  California State Route 188 was described a 4.7-mile State Highway which was unimproved single lane highway which was lightly traveled.  

The current iteration of California State Route 188 was added to the State Highway System via 1972 Legislative Chapter 1216.  The second California State Route 188 brought Tecate Road into the State Highway System.  The definition of the second California State Route 188 was "From the international border near Tecate to Route 94."  The second California State Route 188 appears for the first time on the 1975 Caltrans Map.  

The March 12, 2005, San Diego Tribune reported on the completed expansion of the Tecate Port of Entry.  The expanded Tecate Port of Entry increased the capacity of the facility fivefold as pedestrian traffic was moved to the 1933 entry station.  The expanded Tecate Port of Entry included two new lanes for cars and two new lanes for trucks.  

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