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US 395 Photo GalleryRiverside County |
Temecula | 1950 - 1953 Alignment | Perris
 Click on image for larger view (~ 41 kb) |
| This map shows the construction of US 395 in Riverside County between 1942 and 1950. The construction done in 1942 was a wartime project to widen the highway to four lanes to allow easier access to what is now March Air Force base. The other projects included widening the road through Cajon Pass (see next page), the construction of portions of the Riverside Freeway (then the La Cadena Freeway), and a bypass of Lake Elsinore, which took several miles off of the route. |
| US 395 / SR-71 Interchange This intersection marks the divergence of the old and new alignments of US 395, which has been replaced by the I-15 / I-215 split north of Temecula. Prior to 1953, US 395 followed the route of SR-71 (now I-15) to Elsinore, then doglegged east along SR-74 to Perris. The new alignment was built as a two and four lane expressway with some grade separations along what is now I-215. |
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| This photograph shows what is now the junction of I-15 and I-215; SR-71 / Old US 395 (I-15) is the one that splits to the left, while US 395 (I-215) now follows the alignment of what was then US 395 to the right. |
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SR-71 crosses US 395 on the separation structure, heading to the left. US 395 was a four lane expressway in the picture, but just to the north it went down to two lanes, following what later became the southbound lanes. The grading work for the future northbound lanes had already been done, but paving was held off since there was not enough traffic to justify it being four lanes its entire length. Photographs courtesy of the Caltrans Library. |
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This picture shows blasting work being done for a large cut along the new alignment of US 395 between Temecula and Perris. This particular cut was the biggest project for this section of highway. It was widened in 1979 when I-15E (at the time, now I-215) was widened from two to four lanes. Old US 395 is now the southbound lanes of the freeway. |
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 The "Big Cut" 46 years later in 1999. |
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Additional Views of Four Lane Expressway, 1954 These sections were resigned as Sign Route I-15E (Route 215) in 1972 and are now part of I-215. The bridges in the photograph were built in 1953 and still exist today, though modified as can be seen in the photograph I took. |
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Left: the intersection with SR-74 at the exact location of the current I-215/SR-74 (east) interchange. However, this interchange was turned into a grade separation in 1962. |
| Below and Right: US 395 near Perris looking to the two grade separated interchanges. The picture at right was taken from approximately the location of the I-215/SR-74 (west) interchange and shows the transition from two to four lanes. |  |
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US 395 Page
Riverside County Inland Empire / Cajon Pass (with US 91). |
http://www.gbcnet.com/ushighways/395pics2.html
The
"Big Cut"
