page_title: U.S. Route 80 in California
section_title: Route description
hierarchical_section_title: U.S. Route 80 in California / Route description
caption_attribution_description: A section of old U.S. Route 80 west of Descanso Junction, California. Taken in March 2007. This section is not open to vehicular traffic. Photographer: Bob DuHamel
context_page_description: U.S. Route 80 was a U.S. highway in California that continued east across the country to Georgia. The western terminus of US 80 was in San Diego, California, and it continued east through the city on several different alignments through the years. The highway went through the Cuyamaca Mountains, encountering many switchbacks, before descending to El Centro. After passing through the sand dunes, the highway crossed the Colorado River into Yuma, Arizona.
  The highway replaced a 1912 plank road across much of Imperial County. The winding two-lane road through the Cuyamaca Mountains was one of the factors that led to a four-hour journey from San Diego to El Centro. During the 1930s, the road was realigned through the mountains, but several curves remained. In the 1950s, work began on constructing what would become Interstate 8 to replace the old highway in San Diego to bypass the cities of San Diego, La Mesa, and El Cajon. This started with the construction of the Alvarado Canyon road as well as Mission Valley Road through the San Diego area, as well as construction of a replacement for the old highway across the Viejas Grade.
context_section_description: There were multiple alignments through the downtown San Diego area. The route as of 1928 began at Broadway (US 101) and ran along 4th Avenue north to University Avenue in the Hillcrest district, then went east on University Avenue. By 1933, the routing had shifted to use Park Boulevard south of University Avenue into downtown, to end at Market Street; the city council voted that July to use University Avenue west of Park Boulevard to connect to US 101, to obtain federal funding for improving that road. The next year, the Point Loma highway was referred to as the western terminus of US 80 by E.E. Wallace, a district highway engineer. Nevertheless, the state-produced highway maps from the next few years did not reflect the change, or this choice of the western terminus. 
  In the early days of World War II, some maps showed the western terminus of US 80 at the Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma, running north on Catalina Boulevard, north then east on Cañon Street, northeast on Rosecrans Street, southeast on Lytton Street, east on Barnett Avenue, south on Pacific Highway (US 101) and finally east on Market Street, before continuing north along Park Boulevard to El Cajon Boulevard. US 395 ran concurrently along the route from downtown San Diego to the intersection with Fairmount Avenue. By 1942, the US 395 concurrency had been removed. With the completion of the Cabrillo Freeway, between 1946 and 1948, US 80 shifted from Park Boulevard to 11th Avenue north onto the new freeway before continuing east onto El Cajon Boulevard towards La Mesa. The final San Diego alignment, with signs to be placed in 1954, moved the western terminus to the intersection with US 101 where it traveled east on what was known as Camino del Rio and Alvarado Canyon Road, and then continuing on the Mission Valley road towards La Mesa. According to Caltrans district engineer Jacob Dekema, during the 1950s, the parts of Camino del Rio and Rosecrans Street from Lytton Street and Rosecrans Street to Pacific Highway were considered a part of US 80.
  East of San Diego, US 80 followed the path of El Cajon Boulevard through La Mesa and then onto Main Street near downtown El Cajon before heading towards the Mountain Springs grade. The route was realigned from Arnold Way onto Alpine Boulevard as it passed through Alpine and the Viejas Indian Reservation, before entering the Laguna Mountains and the Cleveland National Forest on the alignment used by I-8. At Laguna Junction, a cafe for travelers existed from 1916 until it was removed to provide land for the interchange with I-8. A section of old US 80 — with the first few miles signed as SR 79 — continues to serve as access to the communities of Descanso, Guatay and Pine Valley; SR 79 intersected US 80 east of Descanso. At the time, the Ellis Wayside Rest/Ellis Spring provided a rest area and water for travelers; later, the state recognized it as a historic site. Exiting the national forest, US 80 continued in a southeasterly direction towards Live Oak Springs and Boulevard, intersecting with the eastern terminus of SR 94. US 80 then came close to the Mexican border as it curved around the Jacumba Mountains and into the hot spring town of Jacumba. East of there, US 80 passed by the Desert View Tower.
  US 80 then descended rapidly into Imperial County along the In-Ko-Pah Gorge just west of Coyote Wells and Ocotillo before entering the city limits of El Centro.  East of El Centro, US 80 again continued into Holtville. US 80 cut a southeasterly trajectory, running parallel and very close to the Mexican border, and traversing the Algodones Dunes and the Colorado Desert. It finally reached Winterhaven before crossing the Colorado River into Yuma, Arizona. Almost the entire length of the former US 80 within Imperial County has since been designated County Route S80.
caption: A section of old US 80 (Wildwood Glen Lane) now closed to vehicular traffic west of Descanso Junction
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