In the State of California, Interstate 40 (I-40) begins on the west at its interchange with Interstate 15 in Barstow. Sometimes called the Needles Freeway, it is a major east--west highway of the Interstate Highway System that goes all the way to Wilmington, North Carolina. I-40 goes east from Barstow across the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County past the Clipper Mountains to Needles, before it crosses over the Colorado River into Arizona east of Needles. All 155 miles of I-40 in California are in San Bernardino County.
Video Interstate 40 in California
Route description
Interstate 40 goes through the Mojave Desert on its entire journey through California. I-40 starts out at a junction with Interstate 15 in Barstow. The freeway passes through Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow before leaving the city limits. I-40 provides access to the town of Daggett but passes south of the town. After passing south of the Barstow-Daggett Airport, I-40 goes through Newberry Springs and Ludlow before traveling along the south end of Mojave National Preserve. Several miles east of the preserve, I-40 intersects US 95 and the two highways run concurrently into the city of Needles. In Needles, US 95 continues south while I-40 continues east through Mojave National Preserve and across the Colorado River into Arizona. The maximum speed limit for the entire California segment of Interstate 40 is 70 mph (110 km/h).
I-40 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, and is part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration. I-40 is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System, but it is not officially designated as a scenic highway by the California Department of Transportation. Interstate 40 from Interstate 15 to the Arizona State Line is known as the Needles Freeway, as named by Senate Concurrent Resolution 1 in 1968.
Maps Interstate 40 in California
History
The segment of I-40 in California was approved as a chargeable Interstate on July 7, 1947. In 1957, the California Department of Highways proposed that the route be renumbered to Interstate 30 instead because of the already existing U.S. Route 40 in the state. However, this was rejected, and eventually U.S. 40 was decommissioned in favor of Interstate 80.
Today, the Needles Freeway replaced the former Route 66 across the Mojave Desert. As a result, a number of communities along the former route like Amboy have become ghost towns.
In the early 1960s, a proposal as part of Operation Plowshare would have detonated 22 nuclear explosions to excavate a massive roadcut through the Bristol Mountains to accommodate a better alignment of Interstate 40 and a new rail line. This proposal was definitively abandoned in 1968.
A sign in California showing the distance to Wilmington, North Carolina has been stolen several times.
Future
The State of California submitted the segment of what is now State Route 58 between Barstow and Bakersfield for chargeable Interstate approval twice, in 1956 and 1968, presumably as an extension of I-40, but it was rejected both times. As a result of these rejections, this segment of SR 58 is being upgraded to freeway standards piece-by-piece as Caltrans has funds available. Between Bakersfield and Barstow, SR 58 exists mostly as freeway with a few exceptions: a 12-mile (19 km) section from Mojave to California City is four lanes with at-grade intersections, a 16-mile (26 km), two-lane section from the Kern-San Bernardino county line, east, which leads into a 27-mile (43 km) four-lane section with at-grade crossings. Caltrans completed an Interstate-grade bypass around Hinkley and is constructing a similar bypass around Kramer Junction (to bypass the two-lane section listed above). An extension of I-40 in California from its present terminus at Barstow to Bakersfield, and possibly as far west as Paso Robles has been proposed. The proposed I-40 extension would generally follow SR 58 to Bakersfield, and follow SR 46 to Paso Robles. However, there is no current push to apply for Interstate designation. SR 46 is slowly being upgraded to Interstate standards, minus overpasses, from US 101 in Paso Robles to I-5 in Lost Hills.
Exit list
The entire route is in San Bernardino County.
Needles business loop
Interstate 40 Business is a business loop in Needles. It provides access to downtown Needles as Broadway Street. It also follows the former routing of US 66.
See also
- California Roads portal
References
External links
- Interstate 40 @ Interstate-Guide.com
- Interstate 40 Business @ Interstate-Guide.com
- Interstate 40 at California @ AARoads.com
- Interstate 40 highway conditions from Caltrans
- Interstate 40 at California Highways
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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