Old U.S. 395 Highway          395
San Diego, California

US 395 1935-1949 Original Segments Included: origin/terminus at Market St & Pacific Highway in downtown San Diego; (Market St & 5th Av, 1960); El Cajon Bl to Fairmount Av near Mission Gorge Rd, south of  I-8, Murphy Canyon east of current I-15 (entrance) (old Murphy roadway), Kearny Villa Rd, Old Pomerado Road in San Diego & Poway, Centre City Parkway & Mission Av in Escondido, Hwy 78 & Mission Rd in San Marcos, the old Bonsall Bridge (#2) & Hwy 76 north of Vista, through downtown Fallbrook & Rainbow, and then up to Temecula.
                                                                   (Hwy 76 & Fallbrook photos from Mark Furqueron's San Diego Historic Highway site)

US 395 1949-1969 Final Alignment: expressway through Balboa Park, beneath the Cabrillo - El Prado bridge, up to Linda Vista on the path later signed as CA 163, over Kearny Villa Rd, connecting to today's I-15 alignment north of the current Miramar Rd & Pomerado Rd offramp.
(Cabrillo Bridge, 1916, stream before US 395)    (mileage sign US 395 & Murphy Canyon, 1970)

 
click to enlarge

The first table of links below are glimpses of an abandoned quarter mile section of U.S. 395 (1934-1949) formerly known in San Diego and Poway as "Pomerado Road".
This section lost its 395 designation in 1949 when a newer Highway 395 freeway was completed 2 miles to the west in the alignment later to become Interstate 15.
The original eastern stretch in the photos below was permanently marooned about 1980 when Pomerado Road in San Diego & Poway cities was widened and straightened.

Current Pomerado Road (2008)
& 1949's U.S. 395-early Pomerado Road, in same frame

U.S. 395 - early Pomerado Rd, looking from east,
relic segment below current Pomerado Rd (2010)

~ wider angle, looking from east, photo unlabeled



 395pomcurve

Orphaned Paved Segments of Early Pomerado Road,
U.S. 395 Original Highway to 1949
end of the relic road-north
in Poway, across from & below Stonemill Dr
end of relic road south
with current Pomerado Rd & Eastridge Place homes above
leaving San Diego
northbound on new Pomerado
new Pomerado Road 2000-2007
looking north toward Creek Road intersection & Scripps Poway Parkway beyond;
the old strip is below the right shoulder & above Creek Road

Early Pomerado Rd at Legacy Road:
two views of another fragment remnant, still striped:    1       2
photos above © Derrick Garbell
June 2003-2010
the "Departure" poem that prefaces
the Moody Blues "Ride My Seesaw"

...Or the strength of an oak with roots deep in the ground.
The wonder of flowers to be covered,
And then to burst up through tarmac to the sun again.
Or to fly to the sun without burning a wing,
To lie in the meadow and hear the grass sing.
To have all these things in our memory's hoard ...
Photos linked above are from the curve
with red arrow at upper right in this view:
aerial shot shows all three
abandoned early Pomerado segments
(thanks to Steve Varner)

google map's aerial views:
1) this page's long segment; only the northern-most road pavement is in Poway City;
the southern portion of this strip appears to be in San Diego
2) tiny segment east of Legacy Road intersection
3) vestigal segment is now a driveway  (near Cypress Canyon Park Dr)

Tying it all together - this aerial photo shows:
top at the orange arrow: current Old Pomerado Rd at the north, dead-ending north of Scripps Poway Parkway (SPP)
middle at curved green arrow: a tiny piece of roadway near where Beeler Canyon Creek dips into a drainage tunnel far below the SPP x Pomerado Road intersection:
bottom at pink arrow: the northern 1/4 mile section of orphaned early Pomerado Road featured in the photo links above
Tying it even more together - wider angle aerial photo:
includes current I-15 and US 395 Penasquitos Creek Bridge
on the west (red arrow),
and the Pomerado segments on the east edge of view (purple arrow).
Pomerado now a
U.S. 395 historic roadway
Marker signs posted on Old Pomerado Rd &
current Pomerado Rd in Poway, March, 2005
 
U.S. Highway 395
Final San Diego Alignment 1949-1969:
Penasquitos Creek Bridge page
 
Superlative US 395 Historical Exhibit
Definitive Documentation of the "Three Flags Highway" in California, Nevada, Oregon & Washington
by Cameron Kaiser at floodgap.com
 
 
 
Historical
Southern California Maps
showing US 395 & US 101
evolving alignments
some historical maps courtesy of Joel Windmiller
1934         1935     1937       1937a      
Auto Club 0 & 3     Auto Club 3 & 4
Lake Hodges - old bridge crossing
circa 1960?
~
US 395 Escondido & Lake Hodges
map detail 1970
 

Miscellaneous road & map images (38)
thanks to Michael Ballard for six I-405 & US 99-related photos from Southern California Regional Rocks and Roads

- thanks also to Gary Starre for four hi-res San Fernando Valley sepia photos

The San Fernando Valley arterial street matrix half-mile intervals

former US 99, US 60, US 70 in Beaumont & Banning, California

former US 99, US 60, US 70 in Cabazon, California
Two favorite U.S. 395 road trips:
1961 & 1975
Why road geeks geek: L.A. 4-level & Anaheim 2-level
"Circle Route"
about 1925, prior to
California highway numbering

 

Poway USGS survey map 1879
Note the areas labelled:
"unsurveyable worthless"
~~~
Poway -
early street map
updated 8 August 2020 395

Poway City - historical & current info