page_title: California State Route 54
section_title: Early construction
hierarchical_section_title: California State Route 54 / History / Early construction
caption_attribution_description: English: California State Route 54 east of I-805
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: A road through Jamacha is mentioned in The San Diego Union as early as February 1908, and was oiled in 1935 from US 80 (Main Street) around El Cajon to Sweetwater Valley and in other places by the Sweetwater River.
  In 1956, the route of what would become the South Bay Freeway had been determined; it would run from Sweetwater Road in National City to Spring Valley and the intersection of Sweetwater Road and Jamacha Boulevard. Three years later, the California State Legislature added Route 280 from near the Sweetwater River to El Cajon to the state highway system. The South Bay Freeway was included in the county's 1960–1961 budget as the most important project. By 1961, E Street in Chula Vista continued along the Sweetwater River; it turned northeast and became Sweetwater Road before it entered into Lemon Grove.
  Bids were accepted in November 1962 for the part of the freeway from eastern National City and Valley Road to La Presa and Jamacha Road; it was to loosely parallel Sweetwater Road. This portion of freeway opened on September 27, 1963, and the entire project cost $2.25 million (about $14 million in 2018 dollars); however, although it was a four-lane freeway, it was declared as an expressway since all intersections were at-grade intersections. While the road was originally planned to have eight lanes, only four were constructed due to the additional cost. Meanwhile, SR 54 was officially designated in the 1964 state highway renumbering as the road from I-5 near the Sweetwater River to I-8 in El Cajon, replacing Route 280.
caption: The South Bay Freeway east of I-805
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