California State Route 111

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State Route 111

SR 111 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Caltrans
Length130.175 mi[1] (209.496 km)
SR 111 is broken into pieces, and the length does not reflect the SR 86 overlap that would be required to make the route continuous. Portions of SR 111 have been relinquished to or are otherwise maintained by local or other governments, and are not included in the length.
Major junctions
South endNear the Mexican border in Calexico
Major intersections
North end I-10 near Palm Springs
Location
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
CountiesImperial, Riverside
Highway system
← SR 110→ SR 112

State Route 111 (SR 111) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. It is the main north-south route and retail corridor through the Coachella Valley, a part of the Colorado Desert in the southeastern corner of the state and a famous resort destination. It also runs through the Imperial Valley, and along the eastern shore of the Salton Sea. Its southern terminus is in Calexico near the Calexico West Port of Entry on the U.S.-Mexico border, and its northern terminus is at Interstate 10 at the northwestern corner of the Palm Springs city limits, near the unincorporated community of Whitewater.

Route description

SR 111 north in Niland

The highway begins near the Calexico West Port of Entry, where Calexico connects with the Mexican city Mexicali. Prior to the port of entry's 2018 realignment, SR 111 directly connected to the border crossing, with northbound traffic entering from Mexican side of the border via Avenida Cristóbal Colón, and southbound traffic exiting onto Mexican Federal Highway 5. Since then, traffic heading to the border diverts from SR 111 onto westbound East Second Street to the port of entry's new facilities at Cesar Chavez Boulevard.[2] The segment of the highway from East Second Street south to the site of the former border crossing at East First Street remains under state control, pending any relinquishment by Caltrans.

SR 111 then intersects with SR 98 in Calexico before heading north to SR 86 in Heber. As SR 111 continues further north through Imperial County, it enters El Centro. There, it intersects with Interstate 8 (I-8), which runs east to Yuma and west to San Diego, before passing through the agricultural communities of Holtville, Brawley, Calipatria and Niland.

A nearly 40-mile (64 km) length of the highway dotted with date and citrus groves follows both the old Southern Pacific "Sunset Route" (now the main Union Pacific line between Los Angeles and Yuma, Arizona) and the eastern shore of the Salton Sea. Though some small settlements and a California state park line the shore, the area is eerily empty due to the sea's rapidly declining water quality. The small town of North Shore is all but abandoned as a tourist destination, though more than 3,400 residents were counted at the 2010 census.

SR 111 enters the southeast corner of the Coachella Valley as a two-lane highway. It used to run concurrently with SR 86 in Coachella, but SR 86 has since been moved to a newer expressway alignment. SR 111 continues northwest as a major arterial road, four lanes or wider, through Indio, La Quinta, Indian Wells, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, and Cathedral City. As it approaches this area, the northbound traffic is on Indian Canyon Drive, and the southbound is on Palm Canyon Drive. An alternate route runs on Gene Autry Trail while mainline SR 111 continues west on Vista Chino. Continuing west from Cathedral City, the highway enters Palm Springs, then swings north and then west to bypass downtown, while SR 111 Business passes through the congested downtown area. The highway widens from an arterial road to a divided expressway as it exits Palm Springs just northwest of San Rafael Drive. It ends at an interchange with I-10 near the foot of San Jacinto Peak, just east of the San Gorgonio Pass.

SR 111 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System[3] and the portions south of SR 78, and in the city of Indio are part of the National Highway System,[4] a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration.[5] SR 111 is eligible to be included in the State Scenic Highway System,[6] but it is not officially designated as a scenic highway by the California Department of Transportation.[7]

History

SR 111 was first proposed in the early 1930s due to the area's growth bought on by the Southern Pacific Railroad.

A 1993 rerouting of the highway takes drivers away from the historic center of Palm Springs, but meets with its original alignment as Business Route 111 a few miles further south.

The northern terminus was so busy in the 1950s before the construction of the freeway that visitors returning home to Los Angeles might have waited as long as two hours to make the left turn on the two-lane road that was once multiplexed as US Highways 60, 70 and 99.

In 1995, Caltrans was allowed to relinquish any portion of Route 111 through a city for that city to maintain. The legislature opted to make the act an "urgency statute", effective immediately, so that the local governments could improve traffic bottlenecks along the route as soon as possible.[8] The legislative definition of the route was amended in 1996 to exclude the portions in Rancho Mirage and Cathedral City, which had both been relinquished.[9] Cathedral City completed a pedestrian-friendly redesign in 1998.[10] The stretch through Rancho Mirage has the Coachella Valley's only synchronized traffic lights; they are set to 45 mph (70 km/h).

A 2003 law did not change the route, but clarified that the former highway through those cities could not be taken back by the state, and repealed the section added in 1995 allowing relinquishment to any city.[11] Subsequently, in 2005, the legislature allowed relinquishment within Indian Wells, Indio, and Palm Desert, subject to the same conditions, and to the condition that the cities must maintain signs for the route.[12] La Quinta was added to the list of eligible cities in 2007.[13] As of late 2007, none of these four cities have taken over maintenance of Route 111.

In November 2005, signs on Verbenia Avenue at the highway's northern terminus and along Interstate 10 were replaced to reflect the street's name change to "Haugen-Lehmann Way", honoring two Riverside County sheriff's deputies gunned down by a sniper on that street in 1997.[14][15][16]

In a similar move in December 2005, the stretch of SR 111 through La Quinta was named the "Deputy Bruce Lee Memorial Highway". Lee was a Riverside County deputy sheriff in the city for many years and was killed in 2003 during an altercation with a mentally disturbed suspect. The suspect was able to take Lee's baton during the altercation and used it to bludgeon the officer.[17]

In September 2019 Caltrans began a three-phase $19[18]-21.5[19] million mitigation project to protect SR-111 from a moving mud pot called the Niland Geyser, southeast of the Salton Sea near the junction with Davis and Gillespie Roads.[20] The plans included using steel walls to divert water into a gravel wash, digging drainage under the road to direct subsurface water to a wash west of the road, and building a five-mile[21] temporary road 50 feet to the west to divert around the geyser, with the original road being rebuilt once the geyser had passed.[18][20] Work continued into 2021.[22]

After being Imperial Avenue in Calexico, the road is known as the Imperial Pioneers Expressway and the Victor Veysey Expressway in Imperial County. Several parts of the route are at or under sea level, similar to SR 86 outside of Brawley.

Major intersections

Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers to an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see California postmile § Official postmile definitions).[1] Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.

CountyLocationPostmile
[1][23][24]		DestinationsNotes
Imperial
IMP R0.00-65.40		CalexicoR0.00 Fed. 5 south (Boulevard Adolfo López Mateos) – MexicaliFormer continuation beyond the Mexico–United States border; former border crossing, with its northbound entrance accessible from Avenida Cristóbal Colón
R0.01East First StreetDe facto southern terminus following the 2018 closing of the former border crossing
R0.20East Second Street – International border, MexicaliServes the Calexico West Port of Entry since 2018
R1.18 SR 98 (Birch Street) – San Diego, Yuma
HeberR4.74
 SR 86 north (Heber Road) – Heber, El Centro		Former US 99 north
​R7.71 I-8 – Yuma, San Diego, El CentroInterchange; I-8 exits 118A–B
​​ CR S80 (Evan Hewes Highway) – El Centro, HoltvilleFormer US 80
​​ CR S28 (Worthington Road) – Imperial
​​ CR S27 (Keystone Road)
Brawley22.14
15.04[N 1]
 SR 78 east / Main Street – Holtville, Blythe		South end of SR 78 overlap; Main Street was former SR 78 east / SR 111 north
23.67
 SR 78 west / Old Highway 111		Interchange; north end of SR 78 overlap; Old Highway 111 was former SR 111 south
​​ CR S26 (Rutherford Road) – Wiest Lake
​29.40Two Rivers Rest AreaClosed permanently in September 2015
Calipatria32.51 SR 115 / CR S30 (Main Street) – Holtville
Riverside
RIV 0.00-R63.38		Mecca18.43
 66th Avenue to SR 86
​22.14 SR 86 overpass; no direct access; north end of state maintenance
Thermal24.51
 Airport Boulevard to SR 86		Serves Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport
Coachella–Indio line​

 I-10 BL east (Dillon Road) to I-10 / Avenue 48 – Blythe, Phoenix		South end of I-10 Bus. overlap; former US 60 east / US 70 east
Indio28.53
 I-10 BL west (Indio Boulevard)		North end of I-10 Bus. overlap; former US 99 north / SR 86 north
28.73
 Golf Center Parkway to I-10
Palm Desert39.57
 SR 74 west (Palms to Palms Highway) / Monterey Avenue – Hemet, San Diego
Cathedral City​
 Date Palm Drive to I-10
Cathedral City–Palm Springs line47.20South end of state maintenance
Palm Springs47.80
T47.80

 SR 111 Bus. north (Palm Canyon Drive)
T51.59
 Gene Autry Trail to I-10
T53.94
53.82

 SR 111 Bus. south (Palm Canyon Drive)
​R63.38
 I-10 west – Los Angeles		Northern terminus; no access to I-10 east; former US 99; exit 111 on I-10
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
  1. ^ Indicates that the postmile represents the distance along SR 78 rather than SR 111.

Related route

Business plate California.svg

State Route 111 Business

LocationPalm Springs
Existed1993[25]–present

State Route 111 Business (SR 111 Bus.) is a business route of SR 111 in Palm Springs. It follows the original routing of SR 111 through Palm Springs. The route is almost unsigned. There is only two business route signs on the southern and northern termini.[26][27]

The sign at the southern terminus of SR 111 Bus.

Like many other business routes, it follows the original routing of the parent route. In 1993, SR 111 was rerouted out of Palm Springs and onto the current alignment.[25]

Major intersections
Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers to an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see California postmile § Official postmile definitions).[1] Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The entire route is in Palm Springs, Riverside County.

Postmile[28]DestinationsNotes
47.8 SR 111 – Calexico, Palm SpringsSouthern terminus
53.9 SR 111 – Calexico, Palm SpringsNorthern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

  1. ^ a b c d California Department of Transportation. "State Truck Route List". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (XLS file) on June 30, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  2. ^ Calexico West Land Port Of Entry Opening Day (CWLPOE 07 10 2018). Darco Productions. Retrieved June 5, 2022 – via YouTube.
  3. ^ "Article 2 of Chapter 2 of Division 1". California Streets and Highways Code. Sacramento: California Office of Legislative Counsel. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  4. ^ Federal Highway Administration (March 25, 2015). National Highway System: Indio–Cathedral City, CA (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
    Federal Highway Administration (March 25, 2015). National Highway System: California (South) (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  5. ^ Natzke, Stefan; Neathery, Mike & Adderly, Kevin (June 20, 2012). "What is the National Highway System?". National Highway System. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  6. ^ "Article 2.5 of Chapter 2 of Division 1". California Streets & Highways Code. Sacramento: California Office of Legislative Counsel. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  7. ^ California Department of Transportation (August 2019). "Officially Designated State Scenic Highways and Historic Parkways" (XLSX). Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  8. ^ California State Assembly. An act to add Sections 100 and 411.5 to the Streets and Highways Code, relating to highways, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. 1995–1996 Session of the Legislature. Statutes of California. State of California. Ch. 20.
  9. ^ California State Assembly. An act to amend Section 564 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to amend Section 19993.7 of, and to add Section 65088.5 to, the Government Code, and to amend Sections 11474, 44013.5, and 44521 of, and to repeal Sections 39047.4... 1995–1996 Session of the Legislature. Statutes of California. State of California. Ch. 1154.
  10. ^ Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center, Pedestrian-Friendly Redesign: Cathedral City, CA Archived 2005-07-30 at the Wayback Machine, accessed December 2007
  11. ^ California State Assembly. An act to amend Sections 8879.1, 14070.4, 14076.4, 14524.2, and 65082 of, and to repeal Sections 8879.17 and 14524.15 of, the Government Code, to amend Sections 21602, 21702, 21704, 21707, and 102015 of, and to repeal Section 21604 of, and... 2003–2004 Session of the Legislature. Statutes of California. State of California. Ch. 525.
  12. ^ California State Assembly. An act to amend Sections 374 and 411 of the Streets and Highways Code, relating to highways. 2005 Session of the Legislature. Statutes of California. State of California. Ch. 594.
  13. ^ California State Assembly. An act to amend Sections 379 and 411 of the Streets and Highways Code, relating to highways. 2007 Session of the Legislature. Statutes of California. State of California. Ch. 718.
  14. ^ "Riverside County Sheriff Medal of Honor - Deputy James W. Lehmann, Jr". Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  15. ^ "Riverside County Sheriff - Deputy Michael P. Haugen". Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  16. ^ "DeCarlo, Paul, The Press-Enterprise "Signs honor fallen heroes" December 3, 2005". Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  17. ^ "Riverside County Sheriff Medal of Honor - Deputy Bruce K. Lee". Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  18. ^ a b Handy, Shannon (March 18, 2021). "Moving geyser impacting major roadway in Imperial County". CBS8. Archived from the original on 2021-03-19.
  19. ^ Yousif, Arlette (April 29, 2021). "SPECIAL REPORT: A world-known phenomenon in our backyard". KYMA.
  20. ^ a b "Caltrans Builds Niland SR-111 Detour to Bypass Moving Mud Pot". The Desert Review. September 6, 2019.
  21. ^ Rapoport, Irwin (March 9, 2020). "S&B Construction Battles Mud Pots Near San Diego". Construction Equipment Guide.
  22. ^ "SR-111 lane closures north of Niland through Friday". The Desert Review. April 12, 2021.
  23. ^ California Department of Transportation (July 2007). "Log of Bridges on State Highways". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation.
  24. ^ California Department of Transportation, All Traffic Volumes on CSHS Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, 2006
  25. ^ a b Faigin, Daniel P. (January 1, 2021). "State Route 111". California Highways. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  26. ^ "Image of Southern Terminus". Google Streetview. June 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
  27. ^ "Image of Northern Terminus". Google Streetview. April 2019. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  28. ^ Google (February 13, 2021). "Overview Map of SR 111 Business (Palm Springs)" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved February 13, 2021.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to California State Route 111.
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