Moreno_Valley_Freeway

California State Route 60

California State Route 60

State highway in California

State Route 60 (SR 60) is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California. It serves the cities and communities on the eastern side of the Los Angeles metropolitan area and runs along the south side of the San Gabriel Valley. It functions as a bypass route of Interstate 10 (I-10) through the area between the East Los Angeles Interchange in Los Angeles and Beaumont. SR 60 provides a route across several spurs of the Peninsular Ranges, linking the Los Angeles Basin with the Pomona Valley and San Gabriel Valley. The highway also runs concurrently with SR 57 and I-215. Portions of SR 60 are designated as either the Pomona Freeway or the Moreno Valley Freeway.

Quick Facts State Route 60, Route information ...

Route description

Pomona Freeway in the foreground, with Phillips Ranch, and Mt. San Antonio in the background

SR 60 begins at the East Los Angeles Interchange near Downtown Los Angeles, designated as the Pomona Freeway. The freeway heads east from the junction after splitting off from I-10 (Santa Monica Freeway) and passes through East Los Angeles, where it has a four level interchange with I-710 (Long Beach Freeway). Continuing east through the southern San Gabriel Valley, SR 60 passes through many cities and communities, intersecting I-605 (San Gabriel River Freeway) in the City of Industry. It proceeds to overlap with SR 57 (Orange Freeway) in Diamond Bar, right on the edge of the San Gabriel Valley.

A short overlap carries SR 60 traffic on the same roadway as SR 57. The two routes head northeast through an arm of the San Gabriel Valley; after they split, SR 60 ascends slightly and then slopes through the Puente Hills and into the Pomona Valley. Continuing east, SR 60 intersects the Chino Valley Freeway (SR 71) in Pomona, I-15 (Ontario Freeway) in Jurupa Valley, and the Riverside Freeway (SR 91/I-215) in Riverside, California.

Another short overlap carries SR 60 traffic on the same roadway as I-215. The two routes head southeast; after the two freeways split, SR 60 is designated the Moreno Valley Freeway. The freeway runs through communities further east in the Inland Empire. After passing through Moreno Valley, SR 60 runs through the rugged hill country to the east (known as the Badlands to the locals). After that, SR 60 downgrades to an expressway and has several at-grade interchanges with local roads. Finally, in Beaumont, SR 60 ends and merges into I-10 (Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway).

SR 60 traverses Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties. As it passes through many of Los Angeles' eastern suburbs in southern San Gabriel and Pomona valleys, it is a major transportation corridor. For the majority of its length, it is generally parallel to, and south of, the San Bernardino Freeway, I-10, and generally parallel to and north of the Riverside Freeway, SR 91. The rapid population growth exacerbates traffic congestion and, therefore, residential, commercial, and industrial development in the Inland Empire. In particular, it has become increasingly clogged of late with shipping container-laden trucks traveling from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to rail yards and warehouses in the Inland Empire. As a result of the rapid development of the Inland Empire since the 1980s, the Moreno Valley Freeway now suffers from severe traffic congestion. In the mid-2000s, the northwestern section concurrently signed with Interstate 215 underwent significant construction to improve traffic flow, but it still suffers from heavy congestion.

The freeway is known as the Pomona Freeway from its western terminus to its junction with SR 91 and I-215 in Riverside, and the Moreno Valley Freeway east of this interchange until its eastern terminus at its junction with I-10.[2] The route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System,[3] and is 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]

History

Pomona Freeway eastbound and SR 57 northbound Interchange, with Grand Ave. exit (exit 24B) for Mt. San Antonio College, Chino Hills, and Diamond Bar visible

The route takes its number from former US 60, which now begins near Brenda, Arizona, and terminates on the east coast at Virginia Beach, Virginia. Before 1964, US 60 ran from Los Angeles to the Arizona state line, where it continued its nationwide trek, often overlapping US 99 and US 70 along the way. The advent of I-10 created a situation where, at one point, four different signed roads were routed along the state-maintained highway.

In 1964, California implemented a plan to simplify its highway-numbering system, where one state highway had only one route number, and concurrencies were strongly discouraged. As a result, the US 60 designations (along with US 70 and US 99) were removed. I-10 (as Route 10) superseded US 60's alignment from Beaumont to the Arizona state line, even though the routing was only partly a freeway. This left the officially designated Route 60 from Beaumont to Los Angeles orphaned from its original U.S. Highway (which to this day begins at a point on I-10 several miles east of Quartzsite, Arizona). This new Route 60 was provisionally signed as a U.S. Highway since the designation would guide motorists from Los Angeles to Arizona without a completed freeway for I-10; when all of Route 10 was upgraded to a freeway, the U.S. Highway designation disappeared.

At least two California highway signs managed to be overlooked for many years afterward. Along eastbound I-10 at the eastern end of the San Gorgonio Pass, US 60 was co-signed with I-10 on the eastbound overhead signage with Indio as the control city at the junction with SR 111. The signage remained as late as 1979 and had appeared in early scenes of the 1980 movie American Gigolo where Julian Kay (played by Richard Gere) is en route to Palm Springs on a "substitute" assignment. Replacement overhead signs now have only I-10 with "Indio, other Desert Cities" as the control cities.[6] Another sign on Hess Boulevard at SR 62 in the unincorporated town of Morongo Valley pointed not to I-10, but to US 60 (with evidence of the sign having pointed to both US 70 and US 99 as well) stood through the early 2000s; it has since been removed.[7]

The stretch of SR 60 along the Moreno Valley Freeway made national headlines in April 2004, when five-year-old Ruby Bustamante of Indio and her 26-year-old mother, Norma, were reported missing. Their car had left the road, apparently unwitnessed, between the gap in two guard rails on April 4. It then crashed underneath a tree in a deep ravine. Though Mrs. Bustamante died, presumably at the moment of impact, Ruby survived on her own for ten days on cups of uncooked Top Ramen noodles and bottles of Gatorade which were in the car.[8][9][10]

In 1998, the HOV lanes between SR 57 and I-15 opened.[11] In 2005, construction of an HOV lane started between I-605 and Redlands Boulevard in two phases.[12] The construction was finished in 2010 from I-605 to SR 57, and in 2008 from I-15 to Redlands Boulevard. The Grand Avenue (exit 24B) interchange went through some significant construction during this period, which included adding a direct HOV connector to SR 57 and an alternate route for SR 60 west to exit Brea Canyon Road (exit 23). There are no current plans to construct the HOV lanes from I-605 to the East Los Angeles Interchange or Redlands Boulevard to I-10.

On December 14, 2011, a tanker truck carrying 8,800 US gallons (33,000 L) of gasoline caught fire and exploded on the Pomona Freeway in Montebello; this caused Caltrans to rebuild the Paramount Boulevard overpass.[13][14] Shortly after the rebuilding of the bridge, Caltrans did widening work on Paramount Boulevard's exit and entrance ramps to accommodate the new bridge and installed new traffic signals. There is also a connection to the Monterey Park Market Place via Neil Armstrong Street, a joint venture between Monterey Park and Montebello, which can be accessed through Paramount Boulevard.

In mid-2016, Caltrans started constructing a partial interchange at Lemon Avenue (to Brea Canyon Road) with no westbound exit. On May 1, 2018, the Lemon Avenue eastbound off-ramp exit and westbound on-ramp were opened, and the eastbound off-ramp exit to Brea Canyon Road was removed.[15] The project was finished in late 2018.

In 2020, Caltrans conducted a freeway rehabilitation project on the freeway from I-710 to I-605. The construction took two years and replaced the deteriorating concrete with new concrete. Construction started in 2020 and finished in 2022. Since the freeway was rehabilitated in sections, the entire median had to be replaced. In addition, as part of this project, Caltrans replaced the freeway signs with retro-reflective ones from the East LA interchange to Fairway Drive. All freeway signs in the median were replaced with new ones on the right hand side.[16] Signs between Fairway Drive and the San Bernardino-Los Angeles county line will be replaced once the widening work on SR 57 is complete.

To increase safety through the Badlands corridor between Moreno Valley and Beaumont, the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) partnered with Caltrans to complete a $138 million project to add a truck climbing lane in both directions at Gilman Springs Road and Jack Rabbit Trail. Construction began in the summer of 2019 and was completed in May 2022.[17][18]

Future

Construction on the SR 57/SR 60 Interchange Improvements Project in the area around the SR 57/SR 60 overlap began in 2023 and is scheduled to be completed in 2028. The project will add an eastbound bypass lane between SR 57 southbound and Grand Avenue and between SR 57 northbound and Diamond Bar Boulevard. In addition, the Grand Avenue bridge is planned to be replaced with a wider bridge, and the eastbound off ramp will be redesigned. This is to affect the Diamond Bar Golf Course, which has been closed since 2021 to accommodate the freeway expansion.[19] The widening of SR 60 westbound has already been completed. The westbound freeway previously went through a major widening in 2006 and the Grand Avenue/SR 60 westbound interchange had further improvements finished in 2019.

The I-605 Corridor Improvement Project includes plans to reconstruct the SR 60/I-605 interchange. As of January 2024, the project is still going through the approval process.[20]

A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the future Potrero Boulevard interchange near the Jack Rabbit Trail exit of SR 60 on February 1, 2018. It is planned to be Exit 75.[21][22] There are also plans to convert SR 60 from the Jack Rabbit trail exit to its eastern terminus (I-10) to a full freeway. If this segment is complete, the entire route will be up to Interstate standards. These plans are still only in the environmental phase and have not been approved yet.

Exit list

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).[23] 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.

More information County, Location ...
  1. Indicates that the postmile represents the distance along I-215 rather than SR 60.
  2. Exit numbers follow I-215 rather than SR 60.

See also

References

  1. [1]
    California Department of Transportation (July 2007). "Log of Bridges on State Highways". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation.
  2. [2]
    California Department of Transportation; California State Transportation Agency (January 2021). 2020 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California (PDF). Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. p. 43. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 10, 2022.
  3. [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. [4]
    Federal Highway Administration (March 25, 2015). National Highway System: Los Angeles, CA (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
    Federal Highway Administration (March 25, 2015). National Highway System: Riverside–San Bernardino, CA (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  5. [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. [6]
    Driving scene from the movie American Gigolo (Mercedes Benz 450 SL). Flyingwire. Retrieved February 19, 2023 – via YouTube.
  7. [7]
    "At this side road at California 62, the distance sign points to U.S. 60, a route decommissioned back in 1964, which dates this sign accordingly. This sign has since been replaced. Photo taken 11/12/00". AARoads. November 12, 2000. Retrieved May 12, 2022.[self-published source]
  8. [8]
    Pugmire, Lance; Sahagun, Louis (April 14, 2004). "Girl Survives 10 Days After Crash Killed Mom Child is found with woman's body and car near bottom of canyon". Los Angeles Times.
  9. [9]
    Hutchinson, Bill (April 15, 2004). "How Miracle Girl Survived". The New York Daily News.
  10. [10]
    Madigan, Nick (April 15, 2004). "5-Year-Old's Survival Tale of 10 Days Alone, Her Mother Dead". The New York Times.
  11. [11]
    SR 57/SR 60 Improvement plan
  12. [12]
    "11 miles of carpool lanes on the 60 Freeway formally open Thursday". October 14, 2010.
  13. [13]
    "Tanker fire: Westbound 60 freeway now open, official says". Los Angeles Times. December 17, 2011.
  14. [14]
    Lloyd, Jonathan; Guinyard, Toni; Murphy, Sean. "Bridge to Be Demolished After Tanker Fire". KNSD.
  15. [15]
    Lemon Avenue interchange opens
  16. [16]
    "Caltrans begins repaving of cracked, deteriorating 60 Freeway". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  17. [17]
    "RCTC Receives Funding for Truck Lanes on State Route 60". RCTC. August 16, 2018.
  18. [18]
    "New Route 60 Truck Lanes Open May 20 in Riverside County's Badlands". RCTC. May 19, 2022.
  19. [19]
    "SR-57/SR-60 Interchange Improvements Project". Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  20. [20]
    "I-605 Corridor Improvement Project". Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  21. [21]
    "Beaumont Breaks Ground On Potrero Interchange". February 2, 2018.
  22. [22]
    "Groundbreaking held for new six-lane bridge at Potrero Interchange".
  23. [23]
    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.
  24. [24]
    California Department of Transportation, All Traffic Volumes on CSHS, 2005 and 2006
  25. [25]
    California Department of Transportation, California Numbered Exit Uniform System, State Route 60 Freeway Interchanges, Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
  26. [26]
    California Department of Transportation, California Numbered Exit Uniform System, Interstate 215 Freeway Interchanges Northbound and Interstate 215 Freeway Interchanges Southbound, Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
  27. [27]
    "Lemon Avenue / SR-60 Interchange". City of Diamond Bar. City of Diamond Bar. Archived from the original on May 5, 2007. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  28. [28]
    "State Route 60/Lemon Avenue Interchange". Caltrans. January 2008. p. vii. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 8, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  29. [29]
    "Lemon Avenue westbound onramp and eastbound off and onramp opening opening and Brea Canyon Road eastbound offramp closing". City of Diamond Bar. 2018.
  30. [30]
    "Caltrans District 8: 60-91-215 Interchange Project".
  31. [31]
    "No more Theodore: Street, 60 Freeway signs in Moreno Valley will bear warehouse name". May 24, 2019.
  32. [32]
    "Beaumont Breaks Ground on Potrero Interchange". February 2, 2018.
KML file (edit • help)
Template:Attached KML/California State Route 60
KML is from Wikidata
Wikimedia Commons has media related to California State Route 60.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Moreno_Valley_Freeway, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.