page_title: California State Route 78
section_title: Construction in San Diego County
hierarchical_section_title: California State Route 78 / History / Construction in San Diego County
caption_attribution_description: English: Taken from http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/250k/, specifically cropped from Santa Ana 1947 (7.3 MB), an electronic copy of a 1947 United States Geological Survey map.
context_page_description: State Route 78 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from Oceanside east to Blythe, traversing nearly the entire width of the state. Its western terminus is at Interstate 5 in San Diego County and its eastern terminus is at I-10 in Riverside County. The route is a freeway through the heavily populated cities of northern San Diego County and a two-lane highway running through the Cuyamaca Mountains to Julian. In Imperial County, SR 78 travels through the desert near the Salton Sea and passes through the city of Brawley before turning north and passing through an area of sand dunes on the way to its terminus in Blythe.
  SR 78 was one of the original state highways designated in 1934, although portions of the route existed as early as 1900. However, it was not designated east of Brawley until 1959. The freeway section in the North County of San Diego that connects Oceanside and Escondido was built in the middle of the twentieth century in several stages, including a transitory stage known as the Vista Way Freeway, and has been improved several times. An expressway bypass of the city of Brawley was completed in 2012.
context_section_description: SR 78 was originally formed along with the originally signed state highways in California (Sign Routes) in 1934; however, it only extended to what was then US 99 near Kane Springs. In the North County, SR 78 was legislatively designated as Route 196 from then-US 101 (present-day I-5) to Vista, and as Route 77 from Vista to US 395 in Escondido. SR 78 was legally known as Route 197 from Escondido to Ramona, and Route 198 from Ramona to US 99, which is now SR 86. From the eastern junction of SR 86 to the Riverside county line, the route was designated as Route 146 in 1959.
  By 1947, US 395 ran concurrently along the portion of SR 78 from Vista to Escondido before continuing along Santa Fe Avenue to Bonsall and Fallbrook and rejoining its alignment during the 1970s. At this time, all of SR 78 that existed had been paved. Before the present-day freeway was built, SR 78 was routed on the Vista Way Freeway (which was an expressway) from Oceanside east to downtown Vista. After this, it followed Santa Fe Avenue and Mission Road east (now signed as CR S14), continuing onto Grand Avenue in Escondido. Following the intersection with US 395, SR 78 turned south on Ash Street and rejoined the current alignment of the highway. In 1949, the rerouting of SR 78 from US 395 to US 99 was listed as a priority by local officials. The road was known for its curves, even though it went over relatively flat terrain; this reduced its efficiency.
  The 3.5-mile (5.6 km) portion of the SR 78 freeway in Oceanside opened to traffic on February 11, 1954. This highway was extended to Vista in May 1955, at a cost of $1,159,000 (about $8.63 million in 2018 dollars). The part of the freeway from Vista to Escondido was one of the top priorities for highway construction in the county as early as 1960. The center portion of the Vista Way Freeway opened in April 1962, but the western part of the route was not entirely access controlled, as an expressway. The section of the SR 78 freeway from Rancho Santa Fe Road in San Marcos to Nordahl Road was completed in April 1962. The part of the freeway connecting Rancho Santa Fe Road to the Vista portion opened in February 1963, at a cost of $3.9 million (about $25 million in 2018 dollars). The opening of the freeway was credited with helping to bring 315 jobs to San Marcos in 1963. The rest of the freeway between Nordahl Road and US 395 opened on December 21, 1964, providing a four-lane highway from Escondido to Oceanside; the segment cost $1,865,000 (about $12 million in 2018 dollars). SR 78 was officially designated in the 1964 state highway renumbering.
  The San Diego Chamber of Commerce and the San Diego Highway Development Association urged for the conversion of SR 78 west of Vista, a length of 5.6 miles (9.0 km), from an expressway to a freeway in April 1967. The College Boulevard diamond interchange on this western segment was scheduled to open to traffic on October 24, 1967, and connected the recently relocated MiraCosta College to the freeway. The interchange, previously an at-grade intersection, improved traffic flow to the college by removing the left turn across the highway needed to access it. The construction of the interchange cost $800,941 (about $4.7 million in 2018 dollars). May 1968 saw the state designating the Jefferson Street and Emerald Drive interchanges as a priority. In August 1968, the state allocated $750,000 (about $4.22 million in 2018 dollars) for building the Jefferson Street interchange. Further funding difficulties were encountered due to US 395 being given priority, but both interchanges had funding by August 1970.
  The construction of the Emerald Drive interchange was scheduled for the year 1971. While the El Camino Real interchange was already a diamond interchange, the state planned to add traffic signals to the ramps to accommodate more congestion from the nearby mall. The Emerald Drive interchange was completed in September, and the rest of the project was to be completed by the end of the year, leaving Jefferson Drive as the only remaining traffic signal. Construction on the Jeffers
caption: SR 78 in 1947 before its freeway alignment was built
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