California State Route 74

{{Infobox road

|state=CA

|type=SR

|route=74

|section=374

|maint=Caltrans

|map={{maplink-road|from=California State Route 74.map}}

|map_notes=SR 74 highlighted in red

|map_custom=yes

|length_mi=111.471

|length_round=3

|length_ref=

|length_notes=SR 74 is broken into pieces, and the length does not reflect the overlaps that would be required to make the route continuous.

|established=1934[http://cahighways.org/073-080.html#074 California Highways: State Route 74]

|tourist=File:National Forest Scenic Byway.svg File:California Scenic State.svg Pines to Palms Scenic Byway

|direction_a=West

|terminus_a={{jct|state=CA|I|5}} in San Juan Capistrano

|junction={{plainlist

|*{{jct|state=CA|I|15}} in Lake Elsinore

{{jct|state=CA|I|215}} in Perris
{{jct|state=CA|SR|79}} in Hemet
{{jct|state=CA|SR|243}} near Mountain Center
{{jct|state=CA|SR|371}} near Anza

}}

|direction_b=East

|terminus_b={{jct|state=CA|SR|111}} in Palm Desert

|counties=Orange, Riverside

|previous_type=SR

|previous_route=73

|next_type=SR

|next_route=75

}}

State Route 74 (SR 74), part of which forms the Palms to Pines Scenic Byway or Pines to Palms Highway, and the Ortega Highway, is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. It runs from Interstate 5 in San Juan Capistrano in Orange County to the city limits of Palm Desert in Riverside County. Stretching about {{convert|111|mi|km}}, it passes through several parks and National Forests between the Pacific coast and the Coachella Valley. Though some maps mark SR 74 as continuous through the city of Perris, control of segments within that city were relinquished to that local jurisdictions and are thus no longer officially part of the state highway system.

Route description

SR 74 begins at an interchange with I-5 in the city of San Juan Capistrano and heads east as the Ortega Highway, loosely paralleling San Juan Creek. The highway leaves the San Juan Capistrano city limits and turns northeast, going through the community of Rancho Mission Viejo and entering Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park and eventually Cleveland National Forest. After going through San Juan Hot Springs, SR 74 enters Riverside County.{{cite map|year=2008|title=Orange County Road Atlas|publisher=Thomas Brothers}}

The highway continues winding through the Santa Ana Mountains and passes through the community of El Cariso before descending into the city of Lake Elsinore. SR 74 continues northwest on Grand Avenue before continuing northeast on Riverside Drive and continuing along the shore of Lake Elsinore. The road continues southeast on Collier Avenue before continuing northeast on Central Avenue and intersecting I-15. SR 74 leaves the city of Lake Elsinore and continues through unincorporated Riverside County before turning east and entering Perris. After traveling through downtown, SR 74 merges with I-215 and runs concurrently with I-215 before exiting the freeway as Matthews Road.{{cite map|year=2008|title=Riverside County Road Atlas|publisher=Thomas Brothers}}

SR 74 travels southeast through the Romoland area of Menifee and turns east to become Pinacate Road, continuing through Homeland and Green Acres before running concurrently with SR 79 as Florida Avenue through Hemet. SR 79 splits off and heads north towards San Jacinto while SR 74 continues through East Hemet and Valle Vista before entering the San Bernardino National Forest. The Palms to Pines Highway parallels San Jacinto Creek as it winds through the mountains before intersecting SR 243 in Mountain Center and providing access to the Hemet Reservoir. SR 74 follows the Garner Valley Wash through Garner Valley before meeting the eastern terminus of SR 371. The road crosses the Santa Rosa Indian Reservation before going through the communities of Ribbonwood and Pinyon Pines and turning north along Deep Canyon and becoming the western boundary of the University of California Desert Research Area.

As the highway descends to the Coachella Valley area, it parallels Carrizo Creek before entering the city limits of Palm Desert, where SR 74 meets its current legal eastern terminus. The SR 74 designation continued into Palm Desert as a city arterial to its eastern terminus at SR 111, which has also had its state highway designation removed through Palm Desert.

File:San Juan Creek Canyon, Orange County, California - 2023 November 05.jpg

Route 74 passes through many parks and National Forests along its route. Some of these places include the San Bernardino National Forest, the Cleveland National Forest, the Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, Lake Elsinore State Recreation Park, the Soboba Indian Reservation, Lake Hemet, Santa Rosa Indian Reservation, and Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument.

SR 74 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System,{{CAFESystem}} and for a portion near I-15 as well as from I-215 to the eastern Hemet city limits is part of the National Highway System,{{FHWA NHS map|region=riverside|access-date=October 13, 2017}}
{{FHWA NHS map|region=californiasouth|access-date=October 13, 2017}} a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration.{{FHWA NHS}} SR 74 is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System;{{CA scenic}} however, it is only a scenic highway as designated by Caltrans from the western boundary of the San Bernardino National Forest to its junction with SR 111.{{Caltrans scenic|access-date=October 13, 2017}} State Route 74 is called the California Wildland Firefighters Memorial Highway (from Lake Elsinore to San Juan Capistrano), as designated by various state laws.{{CA Named Freeways | pages=47, 238}} The Palms to Pines Scenic Byway is a National Forest Scenic Byway.{{cite web |author = Staff |url = http://byways.org/explore/byways/2326/ |title = Palms to Pines Scenic Byway |work = America's Byways |publisher = Federal Highway Administration |access-date = October 11, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111011174942/http://byways.org/explore/byways/2326 |archive-date = October 11, 2011 |url-status = dead |df = mdy-all }}

History

File:California 740.svg

File:US 395 (1961 cutout).svg

The route has been signed as Route 74 since the establishment of state routes in 1934. Its original corridor between then CA 71 Corona Freeway (later I-15W) and present-day I-215 (then, I-15E and U.S. Route 395) was numbered as U.S. 395, through downtown Perris. East of the CA 74/U.S. 395 junction, from Romoland-east, was CA 740 (Florida Avenue).

The western portion of Route 74 in Orange County follows San Juan Creek and is named the Ortega Highway, after the Spanish explorer Sgt. José Francisco Ortega who led the scouts of the 1769 Portola expedition, first non-natives to ever see the area.

Route 74 between San Juan Capistrano and Lake Elsinore, due to its narrow width and high traffic volume, is known as one of the most dangerous highways in the state.{{Cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-aug-11-mn-32926-story.html | title= Driving a Deadly Dinosaur | work=Los Angeles Times A Tribune Newspaper website | access-date=August 24, 2013 | first=Dan | last=Weikel | date=August 11, 2001}}

California's legislature has relinquished state control of segments of SR 74 in Perris and Palm Desert, and turned it over to local control. This includes deleting from the highway code an unconstructed segment that would have extended SR 74 from SR 111 to Interstate 10.{{cite web |url=http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=shc&group=00001-01000&file=300-635 |title=CA Codes (shc:300-635) |publisher=Leginfo.ca.gov |access-date=October 19, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006110038/http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=shc&group=00001-01000&file=300-635 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 }}

On August 11, 1930, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors officially named the highway "from San Jacinto Mountains to the Desert" as the Palms to Pines Highway.{{cite book|last=Lech|first=Steve|title=For Tourism and a Good Night's Sleep: J. Win Wilson, Wilson Howell, and the Beginnings of the Palms-to-Pines Highway|year=2012|publisher=Steve Lech|location=Riverside, CA|isbn=978-0-9837500-1-7|page=ix}}

In media

A segment of Route 74 named "Seven Level Hill," just south of Palm Desert, California, appears in the 1963 American comedy film It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World during the opening minutes of the film, when the major characters of the film meet for the first time following a car accident (near mile marker 87).
Scenes from the 1954 American comedy film The Long, Long Trailer were shot on the Pines to Palms Scenic Byway (State Route 74) in Palm Desert.{{cite book|last=Meeks|first=Eric G.|title=P.S. I Love Lucy: The Story of Lucille Ball in Palm Springs|year=2011|publisher=Horotio Limburger Oglethorpe|isbn=978-1468098549|page=31}}
The rock band Kyuss, which formed in Palm Desert, titled the opening track of their 1991 debut album Wretch, "(Beginning of What's About to Happen) Hwy 74".

Major intersections

{{CAinttop|post_ref=
{{Caltrans bridgelog|date=July 2007}}California Department of Transportation, [http://traffic-counts.dot.ca.gov/ All Traffic Volumes on CSHS], 2005 and 2006

}}

{{CAint

|county=Orange

|cspan=3

|county_note=ORA 0.00-15.60

|location=San Juan Capistrano

|lspan=3

|postmile=0.00

|road=Ortega Highway (to Camino Capistrano)

|notes=Continuation beyond I-5

}}

{{CAint

|postmile=0.00

|road={{Jct|state=CA|I|5|name1=San Diego Freeway|city1=Los Angeles|city2=San Diego}}

|notes=Interchange; western terminus of SR 74; I-5 exit 82

}}

{{CAint

|postmile=2.6

|road={{Jct|state=CA|road|Avenida La Pata, Antonio Parkway|CA-Toll|241|to2=yes|dir2=north|city1=Ladera Ranch}}

|notes=Access to SR 241 toll road via northbound Antonio Parkway, eastbound Cow Camp Road and northbound Los Patrones Parkway[https://www.google.com/maps/@33.5193676,-117.6219202,3a,37.5y,114.17h,90.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sOaBgQm-BI_lzhbg2WGAJww!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 29624 Ortega Hwy – San Juan Capistrano, California] Google Street View from February 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2021

}}

{{CAint

|county=Riverside|cspan=18

|county_note=RIV 0.00-96.01

|location=Lake Elsinore

|lspan=2

|postmile=11.83

|road=Grand Avenue – Lakeland Village

|notes=

}}

{{CAint

|postmile=17.24

|road={{Jct|state=CA|I|15|name1=Temecula Valley Freeway|city1=Corona|city2=San Diego}}

|notes=Interchange; I-15 exit 77

}}

{{CAint

|location1=Lake Elsinore

|location2=Perris

|postmile=none

|place=East end of state maintenance

}}

{{CAint

|location=Perris

|lspan=4

|type=concur

|postmile=27.53

|line=yes

|postmile2=26.31Indicates that the postmile represents the distance along I-215 rather than SR 74.

|road={{Jct|state=CA|I|215|dir1=north|name1=Escondido Freeway|city1=Riverside|road|Redlands Avenue}}

|pmspan=2

|notes=Interchange; west end of I-215 overlap; former I-15E north / US 395 north; I-215 exit 17

}}

{{CAint

|mile=none

|place=West end of freeway on I-215 / West end of state maintenance

}}

{{CAint

|postmile=23.54

|line=yes

|postmile2=27.54

|pmspan=2

|place=East end of freeway on I-215

}}

{{CAint

|type=concur

|mile=none

|road={{Jct|state=CA|I|215|dir1=south|name1=Escondido Freeway|city1=San Diego}}

|notes=Interchange; east end of I-215 overlap; former I-15E south / US 395 south; I-215 exit 15

}}

{{CAint

|type=concur

|location=Green Acres

|postmile=34.33

|road={{Jct|state=CA|SR|79|dir1=south|name1=Winchester Road|road|Vista Place|city1=Winchester|city2=San Diego}}

|notes=West end of SR 79 overlap

}}

{{CAint

|location=Hemet

|lspan=3

|postmile=36.92

|road=Warren Road

|notes=Serves Hemet-Ryan Airport

}}

{{CAint

|postmile=40.59

|road={{Jct|state=CA|CR|R3|county1=Riverside|name1=State Street|city1=Sage|countydab1=Riverside|city2=Aguanga|city3=San Jacinto}}

|notes=Northern terminus of CR R3 (State Street continues north to San Jacinto)

}}

{{CAint

|type=concur

|postmile=41.34

|road={{Jct|state=CA|SR|79|dir1=north|name1=San Jacinto Street|city1=San Jacinto}}

|notes=East end of SR 79 overlap

}}

{{CAint

|location=Valle Vista

|postmile=44.74

|road=Ramona Expressway

|notes=

}}

{{CAint

|location=Mountain Center

|lspan=2

|postmile=59.25

|road={{Jct|state=CA|SR|243|dir1=north|city1=Idyllwild|city2=Banning}}

|notes=

}}

{{CAint|exit

|postmile=61.10

|place=Keen Camp Summit, elevation {{Convert|4917|ft}}{{cite web|publisher=California Department of Transportation|title=Elevation and Location of Summits and Passes in California|url=http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tsip/data_library/archives/summit.xls|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301032752/http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tsip/data_library/archives/summit.xls|archivedate=March 1, 2017}}

}}

{{CAint

|location=none

|postmile=71.75

|road={{Jct|state=CA|SR|371|dir1=west|city1=Anza|city2=San Diego}}

|notes=Former SR 71

}}

{{Jctplace

|location_special=Palm Desert line

|state=CA

|postmile=92.26

|place=East end of state maintenance

}}

{{CAint

|location=Palm Desert

|lspan=2

|postmile=96.01

|road={{Jct|state=CA|SR|111|city1=Palm Springs|city2=Los Angeles|city3=Indio}}

|notes=

}}

{{CAint

|postmile=96.01

|road=Monterey Avenue

|notes=Continuation beyond SR 111; eastern terminus of SR 74

}}

References

=Further reading=

{{cite journal|last=Law|first=George|title=The 'Pines and Palm Trails' of Wonder|journal=Los Angeles Times|date=October 3, 1920}}

External links

[http://www.aaroads.com/california/ca-074.html California @ AARoads.com – State Route 74]
[http://www.cahighways.org/073-080.html#074 California Highways: SR 74]

074

State Route 074

074

Category:U.S. Route 395

Category:San Juan Capistrano, California

Category:Lake Elsinore, California

Category:Perris, California

Category:Hemet, California

Category:Palm Desert, California

California State Route 74

Route description

History

In media

Major intersections

See also

References

=Further reading=

External links