Southern California Regional Rocks and Roads - I-8

Old US 80 and a lesson

Michael F Ballard — Fri, 30 May 2025 15:58:42 +0000

Back in July 2017, I took a trip out east, partially following old US 80 east of El Cajon, CA. One of the goals was to take photos of a section I had passed countless times before but never stopped at. The section in question was near Flinn Springs. This old alignment was bypassed in ...

From the Archives – 1953

Michael F Ballard — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 18:38:33 +0000

San Diego’s Mission Valley has changed quite a bit over the last century. It has gone from farms to condos. Dairys to grocery stores. Dirt roads to major freeways. In 1947, the first iteration of the current State 163 / I-8 interchange was completed as shown here. Left on and offramps were the order of ...

From the Archives – 1960

Michael F Ballard — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 16:30:35 +0000

The view is looking east from the Taylor St ramps on I-8, then signed as US 80, in 1960. A lot has changed in San Diego’s Mission Valley in the 62 years since this photo was taken. At the time, Mission Valley was sparsely developed with mostly open lands and dairy farms filling the valley. ...

Highway Cleanup – October 8, 2017

Michael F Ballard — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 02:02:29 +0000

Today, myself and three others cleaned my portion of I-8 and the western US 80 adopted sections. Temperatures were a bit warmer than planned, but still not that bad. A bit more of a breeze would have helped though. We all met at 9 am at Laguna Summit and started with cleaning I-8. There ended ...

Adopt-A-Highway Cleanup – Sunday, October 8, 2017

Michael F Ballard — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 05:54:01 +0000

On October 8, I am planning another highway cleanup. This one will be in eastern San Diego County and cover two sections of highway, I-8 at Laguna Summit (Sunrise Highway) and US 80. My section of I-8 runs from the summit to two miles east with about 1/2 of it able to be cleaned. The ...

New section of Adopt-A-Highway now signed!

Michael F Ballard — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 06:15:50 +0000

I’m not quite sure when the sign went up, but it was most likely in the last few weeks. My newest section of Adopt-A-Highway, here in San Diego County, is finally signed. Now that it is signed and I have a permit in hand, it is time for a cleanup. Unless temperatures exceed 85 F, ...

Image of the Week – 7/14/2017

Michael F Ballard — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 03:44:48 +0000

A tunnel on US 80?

Michael F Ballard — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 02:22:20 +0000

In the late 1940’s, plans were being drawn for improvements to US 80 in San Diego County. The highway, as it was then, had changed little since its last upgrade between 1928 and 1932. While much of the highway was on a better alignment than before, the section between Alpine and Descanso still needed more ...

Image of the Week – 4/9/2017

Michael F Ballard — Sun, 09 Apr 2017 20:52:56 +0000

Image of the Week – 3/26/2017

Michael F Ballard — Sun, 26 Mar 2017 22:30:23 +0000