page_title: California State Route 54
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: California State Route 54 / History
caption_attribution_description: English: State Route 54 at the historical eastern terminus at I-8.
context_page_description: State Route 54 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that consists of two segments in San Diego County. The westernmost part of the highway is known as the South Bay Freeway, beginning at Interstate 5 in National City and running along the Sweetwater River before ending at the intersection with SR 125 and Jamacha Boulevard near Spring Valley. SR 54 then resumes at SR 94 in Rancho San Diego as an undivided highway that leads to the city limits of El Cajon. County Route S17 connects the two portions of the highway; the center portion of SR 54 was never constructed.
  The first section of the freeway opened in 1963, east of I-805. The extension of the freeway west to I-5 was delayed to coincide with the construction of the Sweetwater River flood channel. While construction started in 1984, a court stopped the process for a few years, and this portion was not complete until 1992. The final section of freeway, which was upgraded from an expressway, opened in 2007, to coincide with the extension of SR 125 south to Otay Mesa.
context_section_description: The earliest road with a similar route to SR 54 was mentioned in newspapers in 1908, and was paved by 1935. The South Bay Freeway was constructed next as an expressway from National City to Spring Valley. The freeway west to I-5 and the Sweetwater River flood channel were built at the same time, although both were delayed due to environmental concerns and litigation. In the late 1990s and the 2000s, the entirety of the western portion of SR 54 was converted to a freeway, while the entire portion inside the El Cajon city limits was returned to that city.
caption: The intersection of former SR 54 with I-8
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