California State Route 31
The History.
Truly a forgotten highway, State Route 31 - previously unsigned LRN 193 - ran from US 91 in Corona to US 66/91/395 near what is now Devore. This routing gave it the name of 'The Cajon Connection'. It allowed residents of Norco, Ontario, Fontana, and modern Eastvale and Rancho Cucamonga to connect directly to the Cajon Pass without having to travel out of the way to San Bernardino. It's heavy traffic made it a perfect candidate to be upgraded to a freeway. Since a lot of the area the route ran though were ranches and unincorporated Riverside and San Bernardino counties, it made a freeway corridor readily available without affecting nearby residents. In 1974, then I-15 (old US 66/91/395, modern I-215) was renumbered to I-15E (Route 194 legislatively), and Route 31 was changed to TEMP I-15. The modern freeway runs parallel for most of our route. In my opinion, SR 31 was only ever supposed to be TEMP I-15. This is evidenced by the fact that 31 was the LRN for I-15's ancestor: US 91. Regardless, Hamner Ave is still a major north/south corridor to this day.
Since SR 31 was never very well marked in maps (and probably in the field too), I found out about this route thanks to Apple Maps which still shows CA-31 shields along Hamner even though the route was removed from the highway system nearly 4 decades before the app was released. It's exact route is no longer known thanks to poor mapping, however I have put together the most probable routing. Sadly, Milliken Ave/Hamner Ave is closed north of SR 60 because of construction of a grade-separated crossing with the railroad tracks. It won't be open for another year. When I have time, I will complete the section from Mission Blvd (former US 60, ironically) to I-215.
Since SR 31 was never very well marked in maps (and probably in the field too), I found out about this route thanks to Apple Maps which still shows CA-31 shields along Hamner even though the route was removed from the highway system nearly 4 decades before the app was released. It's exact route is no longer known thanks to poor mapping, however I have put together the most probable routing. Sadly, Milliken Ave/Hamner Ave is closed north of SR 60 because of construction of a grade-separated crossing with the railroad tracks. It won't be open for another year. When I have time, I will complete the section from Mission Blvd (former US 60, ironically) to I-215.
The Travel Logs.
Coming soon!