Highway 395 Officially “Historic” Thanks To Jeffries’ Resolution
ACR 98 passes Assembly, officially recognizing “Historic Highway 395”
Today, Assembly Concurrent Resolution 98 unanimously passed the State Assembly. Originally brought to Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries (R-Lake Elsinore) by Tom Casey with the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce, ACR 98 designates the old alignment of Highway 395 as Historic Highway 395, and recognizes both the former and currently existing portions of Highway 395 as Historic Highway 395. By designating Old Highway 395 as a historic highway, local communities and cities may place appropriate signage along the route to commemorate its history and to promote tourism.
“It is my hope that with this resolution, there will be new recognition of the historical importance of Highway 395 and to the towns and people it has served for many decades. During these tough economic times it’s nice to be able to look back to a simpler time in California and hopefully preserve a little bit of our motoring history” said Assemblyman Jeffries. The effort to promote and recognize Highway 395 started with the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce. “They came to my office with an idea to recognize part of their motoring history and it blossomed into a statewide recognition as other towns and cities got word of the effort” said Jeffries.
Historic Highway 395, which in many areas of California later become known as Interstate 15 and Interstate 215, ran through various communities such as Fallbrook, Temecula, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore, Perris, Riverside and San Bernardino County in its journey from San Diego to the Oregon border as the state’s only North-South route east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. While Historic Highway 395 has largely been replaced in the more urban and suburban areas by current interstates, Historic Highway 395 remains completely intact in the High Desert and Northern California counties of Inyo, Mono, Sierra, Lassen and Modoc.
With the final passage of ACR 98, local governments and private entities along Old Highway 395 can now officially be designated with signs and other appropriate indicators as Historic Highway 395.