Another uncompleted freeway, that is.
I was so busy this week I neglected to note the opening of the Route 210 Freeway on Tuesday. This opening connects the already built portion of I-210, the previously built portion of CA 210 (which was formerly CA 30) and the recently built portion of CA 210 (up to I-15) with Route 30 (which is really Route 210, but isn’t signed as such, as it is waiting AASHTO approval. Of course, we all know that the former portion of I-210, which is still FAI 210, is now CA 57, but was once CA 71. Confused yet?
Let me try this again.
Many years ago, like back in the 1990s, there were two freeways. There was I-210, which ran from I-5 to I-10, making the curve southward roughly near Pomona. There was a stub Route 30 freeway that continued east from that point, which then became surface streets until near San Bernardino, where the Route 30 freeway picked up again, turning S near Redlands to meet I-10. At one point, Route 30 actually continued into the San Bernardino Mountains; that part is now Route 330. Parts of Route 30 were also once part of Route 38 (specifically, the portion from Route 38 to I-10). There was once even an old Route 106 that became part of Route 30. You can find some history of this all here.
In 1998, however, AB 2388 renumbered Route 30 as Route 210, and renumbered the portion from the old western Route 210/Route 30 junction to I-10 as Route 57. It took a few years for signage to catch up, but eventually this was resigned, and the newly constructed portions were renumed as CA 210. They couldn’t be renumbered as I-210, because that took approval that wasn’t granted.
Well, now the freeway is complete… but the former eastern portion is (I believe) still numbered Route 30. So the only questions remaining are: (1) when will they renumber this as Route 210; and (2) when will it get non-chargable Interstate status?
