All posts by Michael F Ballard

Michael F Ballard is the author and administrator of the Southern California Regional Rocks and Roads website, https://socalregion.com, since 1995. I have been studying the geology and highway history throughout southern California for most of my life. I am also the President of the Ridge Route Preservation Organization. Founder of the Historic Highway 99 Association of California, https://historic99.org .
Highways, History, Roads, San Diego, San Diego County

City of San Diego – 1970

Link 1 Comment

The City of San Diego Clerk has been placing a large number of videos on YouTube over the past few months which are quite unique and eye-opening. In 1970, the City created videos of many of the roadways in San Diego. These are done in the same manner as Caltrans Photologs, which essentially takes a photo of the road every few feet or so, creating a fast motion video of the road. Roads such as Murphy Canyon Road and Kearny Villa Road no longer exist in the same manner as they did back then. Both have been greatly modified by I-15 and State 163. Some of the street names don’t match current names, however. Black Mountain Road, as shown in the video, is basically Del Mar Heights Road and Landsdale Dr, among others. Miramar Rd, in the video, covers current Eastgate Mall as well, as it was the old alignment of Miramar Rd through to UCSD.

These videos show this and more. Why not see it for yourself and be amazed! Try and count the number of spinning gas station signs too.

San Diego City Clerk YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn1v1JAjFEEvqMi-VHpee5w/videos

Highways, Website News

New Feature – Pass Heights

Top of Sherman Pass in the southern Sierra Nevada. Highest paved non-State highway pass in the range.

With all the snow this winter, not to mention the low elevations it has been falling, I thought it would be a good idea to add a “High Points” section to the Southern California Highways pages. These points, so far just name and elevation, show the highest points along each roadway and are located near the top of each route page. In time, I plan to add postmile or exit number, when applicable. Not all routes will have this, as they don’t all have named summits or passes. So far, all the main routes are covered (I-5, I-10, I-15, I-40, SR-74) as well as a few others.

Have a suggestion to add? Let us know!

Caltrans, District 6, District 7, Grapevine, Highways, I-5, Image, Kern County, Old Alignment, Ridge Route, Roads, US 99

Featured Image – 12/23/2019

Image Leave a comment
1932/34 concrete at the divergence of the lanes at Grapevine.

Here at Grapevine, a small section of concrete is visible adjacent to the southbound lanes of I-5. This is a section of former US 99. A small color difference can be noticed between the two lanes that are visible. This difference is due to age. The lanes to the left were constructed in 1932 when Grapevine Grade was realigned, bypassing the original 1914 Ridge Route grade. This was built as two lanes as a temporary measure to expedite the opening of the new route. Right after it was opened, a third lane was added, the lane on the right, creating a three-lane roadway with a common passing lane in the center, or “suicide lane”. This condition persisted until 1943 when the road was widened yet again to four lanes. In 1959 – 1960, these lanes were bypassed by the current southbound lanes of I-5. Today, they remain as one of the last remnants of the 1932-1959 version of Grapevine Grade.

Website News

Copyright Notice

As it seems it is necessary, I am posting this reminder that all original works on this site are copyrighted by Michael F Ballard. A notice has been posted since the 1990’s regarding this, ever since a newspaper plagiarized three pages on this site and printed them verbatim, without my permission. It is still up to the person to respect it regardless of this notice.

While I’m not on Facebook, I have found a page regarding US 99, Historic US Highway 99, that has many images from this site, as well as RidgeRoute.Org, that were posted without my permission, with no credit given, and without my knowledge. I find this very disappointing and disheartening. Some of the images are also posted with incorrect information, which also also a problem. The people posting these images should also know better.

Copyright Statement

Advocacy, Caltrans, District 11, Highways, I-805, North Park, Road Signs, Roads, San Diego, San Diego County

Caltrans Sign Change

2 Comments
NB I-805 at El Cajon Blvd

In June 2019, I sent a message to Caltrans requesting a change in the signage on I-805 northbound at El Cajon Blvd. The sign didn’t reflect the lane assignments and can be confusing to motorists not familiar with the interchange. In November, I got a response and they will not only change the sign but will move where it is placed. I thought that was pretty cool. Once again, it takes so little to make a positive change. I encourage others to do so as well.

My message:

CSR Ticket Number:757911
Date Submitted:2019-06-17 14:04:28
Date Completed:2019-11-12 00:00:00
California County:San Diego
State Highway Route:805
Nearest Town or City:San Diego
Nearest Cross Street:El Cajon Blvd
Mode of Transportation:Motorcycle
Direction of Travel:Northbound
Date & Time Situation Noticed:2019-06-17   12 noon – 1 pm
Type of Situation:Signs – Missing, Broken, Blocked or Down
Description of Situation:NB El Cajon Blvd exit sign is missing an EXIT ONLY tab and optional lane arrow. It can be confusing to motorists that don’t realize there are two possible lanes to use to exit at El Cajon Blvd when heading NB.
Geographic Location of Situation:On NB I-805 approaching El Cajon Blvd

Caltrans response:

Message from Customer Service Liaison: Our Traffic Operations Engineer reviewed this issue and provided the following response. You can expect to see a project in the near future. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Traffic Safety & Operations (South Region) is recommending the existing overhead panel be upgraded and re-positioned to centered above the two lanes of the exit ramp and also, additional sign be installed at the northbound I-805 exit ramp to El Cajon Boulevard per California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (CA MUTCD), 2014 Edition. We will initiate a Minor B project to upgrade the existing overhead panel and forward a request to Operations Support to install “RIGHT LANE MUST EXIT SIGN” and 8-inch solid white line approaching the exit ramp.