California Highways:
www.cahighways.org

This is a former routing of US 80. This route was defined in 1973.

Former US 80, now County Sign Route S80, in Imperial County is called the Evan Hewes Highway. Since the Colorado River-Board's creation in 1937, Hewes served continuously, first as the Board's Chairman and then as a member. He devoted himself without reservation to the preservation of the Imperial Valley’s water rights on the Colorado River. In addition, Hewes served for twenty-five years as a District Director and President of the Board of Directors of the Imperial Irrigation District, acting also as Executive Superintendent of the District for twenty years. He held other offices of distinction, among them being a member of Governor Knight's' State Water Committee; President, Director and Life Member of the Irrigation Districts Association of California, Chairman of the Imperial Dam Advisory Board, and Director from California and Member of the Colorado River Water Users Association.

ACR 123 (Resolution Chapter 104, 8/16/2006) designated segments of former U.S. Highway Route 80 in San Diego and Imperial Counties as Historic U.S. Highway Route 80, and requested the Department of Transportation to design and facilitate the posting of appropriate signs and take related actions in that regard. The resolution noted that US 80, largely parallel to current I-8, was a 180-mile highway spanning San Diego and Imperial Counties from San Diego Bay to the Colorado River, and played a major role in the development of this state during much of the 20^th century. In 1909, California voters approved a statewide bond measure for road improvement purposes in the amount of $18 million, providing, among other things, funds to construct a road between San Diego and Imperial Counties, and their county seats of San Diego and El Centro. In 1915, a unique wood plank road was built over the Imperial Valley sand hills, resulting in a shorter route. In 1925, the federal government became involved in standardized highway route designations across the nation and even numbers were assigned to major highways running east and west, and odd numbers for highway running north and south. The numbering of highways proceeded in numerical order beginning in the north and east and continuing south and west, respectively, and, as a result, the routing along California's southern border was formally designated as US 80. This road, from San Diego to Tybee Island, Georgia, was adopted as US 80 on November 11, 1926. US 80 was the first ocean-to-ocean transcontinental highway to be completed, and portions of the route were known as the Bankhead, Broadway of America, Dixie, Lee, Old Spanish Trail, and Southern Transcontinental Highway.

• California @ AARoads: Historic US 80
• Casey Cooper's Finding US 80

Total mileage: 34.46 mi.

• ⦅Routing⦆
  • Segment 1
  • Segment 2
  • Segment 3
  • Segment 4
  • Segment 5
  • Segment 6
• ⦅History and Signage Information⦆
• ⦅Naming⦆
• ⦅Historical Route⦆
• ⦅Other WWW Links⦆
• ⦅Status⦆
• ⦅Acronyms and Explanations⦆