California State Route 79

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

State Route 79

(CS&HC Section 379)

Length:

96.24 mi^[1] (154.88 km)

Major
junctions:

I-8

SD 0.00

SR-78

SD 20.22

SD 20.23

SR-76

SD 27.37

SR-371

RIV 2.27

I-15

RIV 19.79

RIV 19.80

SR-74

RIV R19.16

I-10

RIV 40.45

Major cities:

Beaumont
San Jacinto
Hemet
Murrieta
Temecula
Anza
Lake Henshaw
Julian
Cuyamaca

California State Routes
< SR 78		I-80 >
Unconstructed - Deleted - Freeway - Scenic

State Route 79 is a highway that goes from Interstate 10 in Riverside County, California to Interstate 8 in San Diego County, California.

1 Route description
2 History
3 Other names
4 State law
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Route description

Route 79 begins near Beaumont, California at Interstate 10. It begins by traveling south over a range of hills (Lambs Canyon) to San Jacinto and Hemet. In Hemet, CA-79 is multiplexed with State Route 74, following it westward for a few miles (which are also posted with a city street name, Florida Avenue).

It should be noted that although it is not the official (and posted) route through San Jacinto and Hemet, most local drivers disregard the signs at the CA-79 / Ramona Expressway / Sanderson Road intersection and proceed south on Sanderson Road (that is, straight across the intersection from southbound CA-79), which is a more direct route south and intersects with CA-79 again along the multiplexed South CA-79 / West CA-74 / Florida Avenue in Hemet, requiring no turns.

West of Hemet, CA-79 turns south again on Winchester Road, passing through the village of Winchester before passing by the new reservoir at Diamond Valley Lake. It then enters Murrietta and Temecula, where it meets Interstate 15 in the northern part of downtown. Between CA-74 and I-15, it is consistently named Winchester Road.

It is multiplexed with Interstate 15 for a few miles through downtown Temecula. The ramps connecting CA-79 to I-15 are the first and third ramps (in either direction) of the three located between the I-15/I-215 junction and the Riverside/San Diego county line (these are also the only three exits on I-15 which serve Temecula). In both cases, to enter CA-79 from I-15, one must turn east (although CA-79 is signed as a north-south highway). The southern exit from I-15 is posted with no street name, just the (rather misleading) control city of Indio.

CA-79 then goes east through Anza and meets State Route 371. Then it crosses into San Diego County, passing through Warner Springs and meeting the eastern terminus of State Route 76 near Lake Henshaw.

It then is multiplexed with State Route 78 between Santa Ysabel and Julian, a distance of about eight miles. At Santa Ysabel, CA-79 comes to a T intersection into the east-west CA-78. At Julian, both routes turn at an intersection in the northern portion of downtown, while they separate at a T intersection just south of town (which requires a turn to CA-79).

Then CA-79 goes through Cuyamaca and Cuyamaca Rancho State Park on its way south. This portion of the route is very serpentine, as it was constructed to follow the contours of the land by moving laterally, rather than up-and-down or via cuts. There are very sharp turns, in two cases hairpin turns posted at 15 mph. (For those who are prone to carsickness, this section can be avoided by taking San Diego County Road S1, the scenic "Sunrise Highway". Although this route is somewhat less serpentine, it does climb up and down the nearby Mount Laguna, is sometimes impassable in winter months due to snow and snow-related tourists, and intersects with Interstate 8 about twelve miles further east.)

After traversing the Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, CA-79 meets Historic U.S. 80 (now signed here as a regular road named Old Highway 80) in the town of Descanso, at a T intersection. This intersection is very clearly marked, indicating that one must turn south on Old Highway 80 and follow it to Interstate 8. CA-79 signage was added on this section of Old Highway 80 after 1996; previous to that date, the only signage was at the exit from Interstate 8 directing traffic northward on Old Highway 80.

At Interstate 8, CA-79 is Exit 40, and intersects with the interstate about 40 miles from its western terminus (and approximately 35 miles east of the city of San Diego).

Along nearly all of its length, the portion of Highway 79 south of the Interstate 15 multiplex in Temecula is a simple country road, with two lanes of traffic and no divider (the portion within the Temecula city limits is a heavily travelled city street, often four to six lanes). The portion north of Temecula (to Beaumont) varies between a two-lane country road (notably near Winchester) and a four-lane city street (in Temecula, Murrietta, Hemet, San Jacinto, and Beaumont, with a four-lane divided highway between the Ramona Expressway (at the northwest corner of San Jacinto) and the southern edge of Beaumont. (The highway section only has two access points; a signalled T intersection for a county landfill facility, and a set of highway ramps for Gilman Springs Road just north of the Ramona Expressway intersection.)

[edit] History

Originally CA-79 was routed on what is now Old Town Front Street through Downtown Temecula. However, it was originally routed on another road (besides Winchester Road). CA-79 was also closed during the Cedar Fire, and the towns of Cuyamaca and Julian were devastated. Fire damage is still evident from the highway.

[edit] Other names

Firefighter Steven Rucker Memorial Highway: From Route 78 in Santa Ysabel to Engineers Road in Cuyumaca.^[2]

The section between those multiplexed with CA-74 and Interstate 15 (in the cities of Temecula, Murrietta, Winchester, and Hemet) is posted as Winchester Road.