Imperial Highway
Imperial Highway | |
|---|---|
Foothill Boulevard highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Length | 105 mi (169 km) |
| Major junctions | |
| Southeastern end |  SR 98 near Ocotillo |
| |
| Northwestern end | Vista Del Mar in Playa Del Rey |
| Location | |
| Major cities | California |
The Imperial Highway is a west-east thoroughfare in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, and Imperial in the U.S. state of California. The main portion of the existing route begins at Vista Del Mar in Los Angeles near the Los Angeles International Airport and ends at the Anaheim–Orange city line at Via Escola where it becomes Cannon Street. Historically, the Imperial Highway extended from Vista Del Mar to Calexico, where a portion of the highway still exists. The original route was replaced with other highways, leading the older portions of the Imperial Highway to fall out of use.[1]
Route
The total length of the Greater Los Angeles portion of the Imperial Highway is approximately 41 miles (66 km), of which 14 miles (23 km) run through Orange County and 27 miles (43 km) through Los Angeles County.
Between SR 91 and SR 39, Imperial Highway is signed as State Route 90. A de facto freeway portion of the route in Yorba Linda is also known as the Richard M. Nixon Freeway.
The portion in Los Angeles County between Lakewood Boulevard and Valley View Avenue is located about one mile north of, and runs parallel to, Rosecrans Avenue.
Cities
Starting from Cannon Street & Via Escola in Orange, going east to west Cannon Street becomes Imperial Highway upon entering Anaheim. The highway then passes through the cities and communities of Anaheim Hills, Yorba Linda, Placentia, Brea, Fullerton, La Habra, La Mirada, Santa Fe Springs (some sections in La Mirada and Santa Fe Springs are next to unincorporated LA County), Norwalk, Downey, South Gate, Lynwood, Los Angeles (Watts, and South LA – a portion after South LA is in unincorporated LA County), Inglewood, Hawthorne, El Segundo (southside of street only), and Westchester (part of Los Angeles on the northside). Imperial Highway ends at Dockweiler Beach on Vista Del Mar near Playa Del Rey, just past LAX.
Freeways
Along its route, Imperial Highway crosses over or under these freeways from west to east:
- Interstate 105
- Interstate 405
- Interstate 110
- Interstate 710
- Interstate 605
- Interstate 5
- California State Route 57
- California State Route 91
- Interstate 8
History
Imperial Highway was built in large part because of lobbying from the Imperial Highway Association, founded in 1929. The Imperial Highway Association lobbied city and county governments to build Imperial Highway, gaining cities along the way until the highway finished construction in 1961. [2]
Imperial Highway was initially conceived as a commercial route connecting Imperial County to Los Angeles County.[3][2] A segment remains today in Imperial County which connects Interstate 8 near Ocotillo. Another segment adjacent to Lake Elsinore (Riverside County) was once indicated on 1960s vicinity maps by H.M. Gousha (Gousha), publisher of street maps.[citation needed]
Other uses
There are other Imperial Highways in the United States, including one in San Diego (better known as Imperial Avenue) and in the Detroit suburbs of Redford Township, Michigan and Westland, Michigan. Despite the name, Westland's version runs a mere three blocks, north from Bock Street, then northeast from Hambleton Street, across John Hauk Road and stopping at Pardo Street. (It used to continue to Ford Road, but this section has been a hardware store parking lot since the 1970s.)[citation needed]
References
- ^ California Highways
- ^ a b Brigandi, Phil (2011). "The Imperial Highway". History Articles. Orange County Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2017-04-22. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
- ^ Gnerre, Sam (2021-03-29). "South Bay History: Imperial Highway once figured as part of a superhighway plan". Daily Breeze. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
Further reading
- Brigandi, Phil (Spring 2010). "From the Desert to the Sea: The Story of the Imperial Highway". The Riverside County Chronicles. Riverside County Historical Commission; Riverside County Regional Park and Open-Space District (2): 29–34. ISBN 978-1547004010.
External links
Media related to Imperial Highway at Wikimedia Commons