Interstate Business Route 8

	Location Status Description CALIFORNIA San Diego Decom. According to Daniel Faigin's California Highways Page, in the 1960s a business route was defined along Hotel Circle in Mission Valley. It is unclear if this business route was signed at the same time as the Washington Avenue/El Cajon Boulevard business route. San Diego and La Mesa Decom./ Remnant Shields The business loop in San Diego and La Mesa, which began at the California 163 and Washington Street interchange and followed Normal Street and El Cajon Blvd (old U.S. 80) back to Interstate 8 in La Mesa, is largely decommissioned. While the sign located along westbound Interstate 8 ("Interstate 8 Business, Spring Street/El Cajon Boulevard" with a regular red, white, and blue shield instead of a green shield) is still in place, all reassurance shields are gone except for a few within San Diego city limits: near College Avenue, near Fairmount Avenue, at the 35th Street traffic signal, and at the top of the ramp from southbound California 163 to eastbound Washington Street. All shields in the San Diego community North Park and the city of La Mesa are gone. All approach signs from California 163 are also gone, with the northbound sign removed in 2001 and the southbound sign removed in October 2005. According to the California State Highway System Signing Log (October, 1991), Business Loop I-8 in San Diego and La Mesa runs from "Legislative State Route 163 at Washington Street via El Cajon Boulevard to Interstate 8 near Spring Street in La Mesa." El Cajon Active Business Loop I-8 follows El Cajon Boulevard, Main Street, and County Business Route 8 through El Cajon and the unincorporated area just northeast of El Cajon along the county-maintained "Business Route 8." The county-maintained portion has street signs that read "Business Route 8." Only the section within El Cajon has the green shields, however. It's a matter of semantics as to whether Business Loop 8 ends at the El Cajon city limit or at the point where the county-maintained portion returns to Interstate 8 just west of Alpine. According to the California State Highway System Signing Log (October, 1991), Business Loop I-8 in El Cajon runs from "Interstate 8 near Chase Avenue over El Cajon Boulevard and Main Street to Interstate 8 near Oakdale Avenue," which does not include the county's "Business Route 8" in the unincorporated areas. Alpine Active Business Loop I-8 in Alpine (an unincorporated community) follows Alpine Road along old U.S. 80. This business route is not in the state's 1991 signing log. El Centro Active Well-signed but poorly mapped Business Loop 8 follows Imperial Avenue northbound, California 86 and Imperial County Route S-80 (Adams Avenue) eastbound, and Fourth Avenue (California 86) southbound through El Centro. According to the California State Highway System Signing Log (October, 1991), Business Loop I-8 in El Centro runs from "Interstate 8 and Imperial Avenue over Imperial Avenue, Adams Avenue, and Fourth Avenue to Interstate 8 and Fourth Avenue." ARIZONA Winterhaven, California Yuma, Arizona Active Winterhaven Road, Fourth Avenue, 32nd Street. This is among the best example of business loop signing I've seen, with shields on all signs leading to the Business Loop 8 exit (Interstate 8 Exit 9) in both directions on the mainline and shields clearly trailblazing the route through downtown. Thank you Arizona DOT! The California portion of the business route does not appear in the state signing log, but it's signed through Winterhaven onto the bridge into Yuma. Gila Bend Active Along the freeway, as of fall 1997, Business Loop I-8 is signed only on the blue motorists aid signs along freeway indicating gas, food, etc. available at the two Business Loop I-8 exits -- quite a bit different than the Business Loop I-8 signs in Yuma. There are Business Loop I-8 shields along the route through Gila Bend. Alan Hamilton wrote in 1999, "Yes, those (blue) signs are still there. The route through Gila Bend does have the green Business Loop I-8 reassurance markers throughout. ADOT is trying to cut down on sign clutter, which means not mentioning any more than two of each item on a sign -- no more than two shields (Arizona 85 and Interstate 10) and two control cities. Any other information goes on another sign."

Page Updated September 4, 2006.