California State Route 262

State Route 262 (SR 262) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. More commonly known as Mission Boulevard, SR 262 is a very short state highway that connects two Interstate highways in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Route description

SR 262 begins at its western interchange with Interstate 880 in Fremont and travels 1-mile (1.6 km) east to its terminus and junction with Interstate 680. SR 262 was built solely to be a link between the two interstates and lies at the point that Interstates 880 and 680 are closest together in the East Bay. 2 miles (3.2 km) north of SR 262, I-680 abruptly turns to the Northeast and into the Sunol and Livermore Valley thus making SR 262 a vital link between those valleys and the Silicon Valley to the south.

Physically SR 262 begins as a freeway rated 4 lane section for its first half miles and has one separated grade intersection with Warren Avenue. The remaining half mile is a 4-6 lane city street with two traffic lights at Warm Springs Blvd and Mojave Drive before terminating at a cloverleaf interchange at I-680.

SR 262 is unsigned along its entire route and would be totally overlooked if not for two guide signs placed in the early 2000s on south I-680 that designate the exit as "SR 262 to I-880 Mission Blvd". There is no other signage on I-880 that designates the road by its route number. Signage for the southbound I-680 toll express lane, opened in September 2010, indicates an exit at "262 - Mission Blvd." Locals are largely unaware of the route designation and refer to the road as Mission Blvd exclusively.

History

Originally SR 262 was originally slated to run the route of present day Oakland Road from San Jose to where present day Warm Springs Blvd and Mission Blvd intersect. This plan was scrapped when State Route 17 (later I-880) was constructed. SR 262 was subsequently routed along its present route.

One planning option was for SR 262 to be deleted from the state route list when State Route 237 to the south was completed between I-880 and I-680. However there is no longer room between the developed areas to build 237 into a freeway there.

SR 262 is also a signed section of the Juan Bautista De Anza National Historic Trail.

Major intersections

Note: Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured in 1964, based on the alignment as it existed at that time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage.

The entire route is in Fremont, Alameda County.

References