Southern California Regional Rocks and Roads
Your Resource For Highways, Geology, Railroads, History, Bicycling, And More Throughout Southern California Since 1995. Celebrating 30 Years Online!
A Santa Ana wind event in January 2026 cleared the air after a storm, revealing some impressive vistas. Here, you can see snow-capped Mt San Gorgonio in the San Bernardino Mountain, about 90 miles away from the University City area of San Diego at sunset. The hills in the middle-ground are near San Marcos.
I’ve posted a new episode of RoadTalk where I discuss the abandoned freeway stubs and unbuilt freeways in San Diego. Learn about the 157, 252, as well as that odd ramp at the 163 and 5 interchange.
Contact: Dorrie Bruggemann, 515-974-9239 Initiative Launches to FIRE SDGE!Aims to Create a Non-Profit Utility SAN DIEGO – The Power San Diego Campaign today published its initiative to replace SDGE in the City with a not-for-profit, publicly-owned electric utility. Signature gathering to qualify the initiative for the City’s November ballot will begin in December.“This is a …
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 the day. Challenge Dairy’s San Diego headquarters can be seen in the upper left corner of the interchange. Additional changes to the junction took place in 1959, 1978, and 1991. All of these bridges have been replaced but their legacy remains today with the outer ramps on either side of the 8.
Shown here, I-805 (upper) crosses the 52 freeway (lower) at San Clemente Canyon. Built in 1972, it formed the eastern terminus of the 52 for many years. In 1987, was extended to Convoy St. I-805 also follows the former boundary between the San Diego Mission Lands (east) and San Diego Pueblo Lands (west). This becomes quite evident in the North Park area where Boundary Street runs quite close to the freeway.