California State Route 14

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State Route 14

(CS&HC Section 314)

Length:

118.38 mi^[1] (190.51 km)

South end:

I-5 in Santa Clarita

Major
junctions:

SR 138 in Palmdale and near Lancaster

SR 58 in Mojave

North end:

US 395 near Inyokern

California State Routes
< SR 13		SR 15 >
Unconstructed - Deleted - Freeway - Scenic

California State Route 14 is a north-south state highway largely in the Mojave Desert of the U.S. State of California, also known as the High Desert, just east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada in its northern part. It connects U.S. Route 395 in Inyokern to Interstate 5 Golden State Freeway in Santa Clarita. With US 395 it connects the western part of Greater Los Angeles with such places as Reno, Nevada. While its southern part runs through the suburbanized and rural canyon areas that can have heavy commuter traffic, its northern section generally affords an attractive, stark view of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It is in mostly desert terrain, so those who travel it should make the appropriate precautions for travel upon it, especially in the thinly-settled portions north of Mojave during the hot summers.

[edit] History

Route 14, known as the Antelope Valley Freeway south of the community of Mojave, is the designation for old U.S. Highway 6 between US-395 and Interstate 5 after California truncated US-6 at Bishop in 1964. It was also once used on full length of Harbor and Pasadena Freeway which decommissioned in California State Highway 11 in 1964, the Harbor Freeway became Interstate 110, while Pasadena Freeway became CA-110 in 1981. The former routing south of and in Mojave is still known as Sierra Highway. (Sierra Highway is also signed as State Route 14U (unrelinquished) in Santa Clarita.) North of Mojave, State Route 14 is a segment of the trans-continental Midland Trail. As part of the former transcontinental US-6, non-freeway segments are also known as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway. The earliest section is completed in 1969 and the newest section is completed in 1977.

It passes through Palmdale, Lancaster, and Rosamond, all of which have grown rapidly beginning in 1983. It is co-routed with Route 138 from Palmdale Boulevard (138 East) in Palmdale to Avenue D (138 West) north of downtown Lancaster. The route also intersects with the new Route 58 bypass north of downtown Mojave, as well as Route 178's west and east legs north of Red Rock Canyon.

This is an unfinished route, as the definition in the California Streets and Highways Code states that the route begins at Pacific Coast Hwy (PCH), near Sunset Blvd. in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles and even though there is no right of way purchased there. Temescal Canyon Drive seems to be the actual south end of the route, but the wide road leading inland from PCH dead-ends in the Presbyterian Conference Grounds on the north side of Sunset Blvd approximately two miles inland from California State Route 1. The only proof that this proposal was considered is the mileposts on Route 14, which do not go to zero at I-5 at its present terminus, whereas the exit numbers do go to zero, which means that the segment between Route 1 and Route 5 will never be built. This portion was intended to be the Reseda Freeway, as it would have gone through that area of Los Angeles.

The long offramps at the Sierra Highway interchange near Santa Clarita were meant to be a freeway-to-freeway connection with Route 126, but due to successful opposition by Santa Clarita Valley residents, it was blocked and all that was built were the long ramps.

Parts of Route 14's interchange with Interstate 5 near Los Angeles collapsed during both the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The interchange of SR-14 and I-5 is dedicated as the "Clarence Wayne Dean Memorial Interchange." Dean was an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department who was killed at the interchange in a traffic accident on a transition road that collapsed as a result of the Northridge quake, January 17, 1994.