Existed: 1934 – present Length 25.7 km | South end: SR 91 in Corona Constructed 1934 | |
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North end: I-10 / SR 57 in San Dimas | ||
State Route 71 (SR 71) is the Chino Valley Freeway, formerly the Corona Expressway and before then the Temescal Freeway, a freeway/highway of about 15 miles (24 km) in length located entirely within Southern California, United States. Contrary to its name, this highway is a limited-access freeway in San Bernardino and Riverside counties; in Los Angeles County it is only an expressway.
Contents
Map of CA-71, California, USA
Route description
This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System. However, it is not designated as a scenic highway by Caltrans. Other names of this highway include the "Police Officer Daniel T. Fraembs Memorial Highway" for the segment within the City of Pomona (honoring a Pomona police officer killed in the line of duty), and the "Mayor James Thalman and Mayor Michael Wickman Memorial Highway" for the portion between Soquel Canyon Parkway and Pine Avenue in Chino Hills (honoring two of the members of the first Chino Hills City Council who both later served separately as the city's mayor).
Beginning at its northern terminus at the Kellogg Interchange complex in San Dimas to a short distance south of Mission Boulevard in Pomona, it is a four-lane freeway. From that point and through most of Pomona, it is a four-lane expressway with at-grade intersections with other, 'regular' streets.
As of December 2016, all signals on the expressway portion have been removed. Traffic entering and exiting the roads (North Ranch Road, Old Pomona Road, and Phillips Dr.) that lead into the nearby neighborhoods may no longer enter or exit Northbound due to added barriers in the center of the highway. However, CA-71 and these roads may enter and exit if going Southbound. With North Ranch Road, Old Pomona Road, and Phillips Drive entering via a stop sign. Just north of the Rio Rancho Road exit, all aspects of the highway 'upgrade' to freeway standards in its alignment, lane width, pavement, barriers, access, etc. The freeway portion of the route ends at the San Bernardino/Riverside County line, where it reverts to a divided four-lane expressway to its terminus at its junction with the Riverside Freeway (SR 91) in Corona.
The section of highway between Chino and Corona is notorious for thick winter fogs at dawn and dusk, resulting in many automobile collisions when drivers fail to slow down despite reduced visibility. Residents of Los Serranos (now Chino Hills) recall being awakened by sounds of crinkling bumpers, fenders and headlights.
As this freeway/expressway serves as an important diagonally aligned (northwest-southeast) commuter traffic corridor between the cities in the Pomona Valley (eastern Los Angeles County) and the cities of western Riverside County, it is heavily travelled and is used as an alternative to the Orange Freeway, State Route 57 (SR 57) located to the west and the Ontario Freeway, Interstate 15 (I-15) located to the east.
History
The original routing of Route 71 according to the 1934 listing was from U.S. 80, now Interstate 8, in San Diego north to U.S. Route 66, now State Route 66, near Claremont via Lake Elsinore and Temecula. When the portion between San Diego and Temecula was redesignated U.S. 395, Route 71 was rerouted to run from Pomona to Aguanga. In 1973, it was cut back to its present terminus in Corona, with the portion between Corona and Temecula becoming Interstate 15 and the portion between Temecula and Aguanga becoming Route 371. The early section of the Chino Valley Freeway was built in 1971 from the Kellogg Interchange to the Pomona Freeway. The section from SR 60 to Riverside Freeway was completed in March 1998.
In September 2008, construction began on the Mission 71 Project in Pomona. A bridge was constructed to allow Mission Boulevard to pass over Route 71, which now has entrance and exit ramps to Mission. Also, the intersection with Ninth Street was closed. The freeway was extended south to the former intersection at Ninth Street, where it resumes expressway status to the intersection with Old Pomona Road. The construction project was completed in December 2011. The city of Pomona is trying to work with Caltrans to convert the rest of Route 71 within its borders from an expressway to a full freeway.
Major intersections
Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on a west-to-east alignment (including its original eastern segment that extended through Temecula and Anza), and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see the list of postmile definitions). Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.