 State Route 86 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 SR 86 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byCaltrans | ||||
| Length | 90.67 mi[1] (145.92 km) | |||
| Existed | 1964 renumbering (fromUS 99)[2]–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |  SR 111 nearHeber | |||
| Major intersections | ||||
| North end |  I-10 inIndio | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | California | |||
| Counties | Imperial,Riverside | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
State Route 86 (SR 86) is a north–southstate highway in theU.S. State ofCalifornia that connects theImperial andCoachella valleys in the southeastern desert region of the state. It runs fromState Route 111 near theMexican border crossing atCalexico north through the Imperial Valley viaEl Centro andBrawley, and around the west side of theSalton Sea into the Coachella Valley. It then goes throughCoachella before terminating atInterstate 10 inIndio.
SR 86 begins at an intersection withSR 111, just east of the town ofHeber, as Heber Road. After traveling west through Heber, and intersectingCR S31, SR 86 heads north and enters the city ofEl Centro (as 4th Street), having an interchange withI-8. Passing through downtown El Centro, SR 86 intersects Main Street (CR S80) before curving to the west (as Adams Avenue). The highway continues north on Imperial Avenue before it enters the city ofImperial and passesImperial County Airport, continuing north as it leaves the city limits.[3]
North of Imperial, SR 86 intersectsCR S27 before making a turn to the northeast, entering the city ofBrawley. It passes to the west of downtown (as Western Avenue) before turning west onto Main Street, running concurrently withSR 78. Both SR 78 and 86 turn northwest before passing through the city ofWestmoreland and intersectingCR S30. After briefly turning west, SR 78 and 86 turn northwest again and pass through Elmore andKane Spring; SR 78 turns west (towardsSan Diego County), while SR 86 continues northwest along the western edge of theSalton Sea (just east ofAnza-Borrego Desert State Park), before it intersectsCR S22. SR 86 passes through theTorres-Martinez Indian Reservation and Coolidge Spring before enteringRiverside County.[3]
Just north of the county line inOasis, SR 86 continues north on an expressway, turning away from the Salton Sea and heading through agricultural fields and farmlands. The route then meetsSR 111, and turns northwest, running parallel to that highway. As it nearsIndio, the expressway turns into a freeway. SR 86 ends at an interchange withI-10.[4]
SR 86 is part of theCalifornia Freeway and Expressway System,[5] and north of the southern SR 78 junction is part of theNational Highway System,[6] a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by theFederal Highway Administration.[7]
In the late 20th century, SR 86 had a rather notorious reputation for frequent and often fatal collisions.[citation needed] For much of its length, especially between the southern tip of the Coachella Valley to theImperial County line, SR 86 was a two-lane road with easy access from rural side roads. A driver trying to pass might find himself headed straight for the side of another vehicle pulling out from one of the side roads. This reputation earned SR 86 the nickname "Blood Alley".[citation needed]
 State Route 86S | |
|---|---|
| Location | Coachella |
| Existed | 1964–2012 |
Originally a part ofU.S. Route 99 until the 1960s, the northern end of SR 86 was widened and rerouted through the new and rather unusually designationState Route 86S (SR 86S) (for "supplemental"[8]) soon after the signing of theNorth American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), making SR 86 a four- or six-lane highway for most of its length. Since it is easier to enter California from the Imperial Valley than throughSan Diego, SR 86 sees a great deal of truck traffic to and from Mexico, earning it still another nickname, "The NAFTA Highway".[citation needed] The new highway has proven to be at least as dangerous as the old alignment owing to much the same problems of poorly marked and uncontrolled side roads. A rash of fatal crashes in early 2005 prompted the city of Coachella to pushCaltrans for the installation of at least two more traffic signals on SR 86S.[citation needed]
In December 2012, the SR 86 designation was transferred to the routing of SR 86S, and SR 86S ceased to exist.[9]State Route 195 was removed from the state highway system as a result. SR 86 was originally truncated to Avenue 46, but the State Route 86S expressway, which replaced SR 86 around the east side of Coachella and Indio, did reach I-10. Despite SR 86's rerouting, the Airport Boulevard interchange remains numbered as exit 16, reflecting the former SR 86S's distance.
Except where prefixed with a letter,postmiles were measured on the road as it was in1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers to an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, seeCalifornia postmile § Official postmile definitions).[10] 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.
| County | Location | Postmile [10][1][11] | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imperial IMP R0.00-67.82 | | R0.00 | Heber Road | Continuation beyond SR 111 | |
| Heber | R0.00 | SR 111 –Brawley,Calexico | Southern terminus of SR 86 | ||
| 2.08 |  CR S31 (Dogwood Road) | ||||
| El Centro | 6.01 |  I-8 –Yuma,San Diego | Interchange; south end of I-8 Bus. overlap; I-8 exit 115 | ||
| L7.31 |   CR S80 east (Main Street) –Holtville | South end of CR S80 overlap; CR S80 is former US 80 | |||
| L8.53 7.31 |     I-8 BL west (Imperial Avenue) /CR S80 west (Adams Avenue) toI-8 –San Diego | North end of CR S80 / I-8 Bus. overlap; CR S80 is former US 80 | |||
| Imperial | 10.82 |  CR S28 (Barioni Boulevard) | |||
| | 15.32 |  CR S27 (Keystone Road) | |||
| Brawley | 20.63 | Main Street, 1st Street –Blythe | FormerSR 78 east | ||
| | |   SR 78 east / Fredricks Road | South end of SR 78 overlap | ||
| Westmorland | |  CR S26 east (Boarts Road) | Western terminus of CR S26 | ||
| 27.51 |  CR S30 (Center Street) | ||||
| | 43.56 | SR 78 west –Julian,Oceanside | North end of SR 78 overlap | ||
| Salton City | 56.12 |  CR S22 west (Borrego-Salton Seaway) / South Marina Drive –Borrego Springs,Anza-Borrego, Park Headquarters | Eastern terminus of CR S22 | ||
| | 63.63 | Brawley Avenue –Salton Sea Beach | |||
| Desert Shores | 66.14 | Desert Shores Drive | |||
| Riverside RIV 0.00-R23.00 | | R12.48 |  66th Avenue toSR 111 –Niland,Calipatria,Mecca | FormerSR 195 | |
| | | 62nd Avenue | |||
| Coachella | R16.74 | Airport Boulevard | Interchange; signed as exit 16 | ||
| | 52nd Avenue | ||||
| | 50th Avenue, Tyler Street | ||||
| | South end of freeway | ||||
| Coachella–Indio line | R22.16 |  Dillon Road (I-10 Bus.) toI-10 east | Interchange; I-10 west exit 146 | ||
| Indio | R23.00 |  I-10 west –Los Angeles | Northern terminus of SR 86; Access to I-10 east is via Dillion Road; I-10 east exit 145 | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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