The California Roads Portal
The highway system of California is a network of roads owned and maintained by the state of California through the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Most of these are numbered in a statewide system, and are known as State Route X (abbreviated SR X). United States Numbered Highways are labeled US X, and Interstate Highways are Interstate X, though Caltrans typically uses State Route X for all classes.
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Interstate Highways and U.S. Highways are assigned at the national level. Interstate Highways are numbered in a grid—even-numbered routes are east–west routes (with the lowest numbers along Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico), and odd-numbered routes are north–south routes (with the lowest numbers along the Pacific Ocean). U.S. Highways are also numbered in a grid—even numbered for east–west routes (with the lowest numbers along Canada) and odd numbered for north–south routes (with the lowest numbers along the Atlantic Ocean). There are 21 Interstate Highways in California, ranging from Interstate 5 to Interstate 980. There are seven current U.S. Highways including U.S. Route 6 and U.S. Route 395.
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California State Routes are managed by Caltrans and designated by the California State Legislature. The state route's signs are in the shape of a miner's spade to honor the California Gold Rush. Each state highway in the U.S. state of California is assigned a Route (officially State Highway Route) number in the Streets and Highways Code (Sections 300-635). Since July 1 of 1964, the majority of legislative route numbers, those defined in the Streets and Highways Code, match the sign route numbers. On the other hand, some short routes are instead signed as parts of other routes — for instance, State Route 112 and State Route 260 are signed as part of the longer State Route 61, and State Route 51 is part of Interstate 80 Business. California County Routes are marked with the usual County route shield, and are assigned a letter for where they are located. For instance, county highways assigned "S" are located in Southern California, ones assigned "J" are found in Central California, and those assigned "A" are located in Northern California.
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Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United States. It runs from the southern edge of Mission Bay at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, in San Diego, California, almost at the Pacific Ocean, to the junction with I-10, just southeast of Casa Grande, Arizona. In California, the freeway travels through the San Diego metropolitan area before traversing the Cuyamaca Mountains and providing access through the Imperial Valley, including the city of El Centro. Crossing the Colorado River into Arizona, I-8 continues through the city of Yuma across the Sonoran Desert to Casa Grande, in between the cities of Phoenix and Tucson. The first route over the Cuyamaca Mountains was dedicated in 1912, and a plank road served as the first road across the Imperial Valley to Yuma. These were later replaced by U.S. Route 80 (US 80) across California and part of Arizona. The US 80 freeway through San Diego was largely complete by the time it was renumbered as I-8 in the 1964 state highway renumbering; east of San Diego, the US 80 roadway was slowly replaced by I-8 as construction progressed in the Imperial Valley. The route was completed in 1975 through California, though the bridge over the Colorado River was not completed until 1978.
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Related portals
Did you know...
- ...that, despite being added to California's state highway system in 1933, the portion of State Route 190 over the Sierra Nevada remains unconstructed?
- ...that the easternmost part of State Route 20 follows a branch of the historic California Trail, parts of which have been preserved as a National Recreation Trail?
- ...that the passing lanes of the Arroyo Seco Parkway, California's first freeway, were paved in a different color to encourage drivers to stay in their lanes?
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- Los Angeles • San Diego • Southern California • Santa Barbara County • Inland Empire • San Francisco Bay Area
Quality content
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Featured articles
Good articles
Arroyo Seco Parkway
Bayshore Freeway
California State Route 3
California State Route 7
California State Route 11
California State Route 14
California State Route 16
California State Route 20
California State Route 37
California State Route 46
California State Route 47
California State Route 54
California State Route 55
California State Route 70
California State Route 88
California State Route 98
California State Route 115
California State Route 125
California State Route 133
California State Route 139
California State Route 149
California State Route 160
California State Route 174
California State Route 177
California State Route 186
California State Route 188
California State Route 190
California State Route 195
California State Route 198
California State Route 209
California State Route 243
California State Route 244
California State Route 247
California State Route 266
California State Route 275
California State Route 282
California State Route 905
Interstate 205 (California)
Interstate 680 (California)
Interstate 780
Sierra Highway
U.S. Route 50 in California
U.S. Route 80 in California
U.S. Route 199
U.S. Route 395 in California
Things you can do
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- Improve all California roadways articles to good article or featured article status
- Add reliably sourced content and make sure facts are verifiable
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