California 125
California 125 crosses the Otay River Valley on this massive precast segmental bridge opened to traffic on November 19, 2007. This view is afforded looking north toward Otay Ranch in Chula Vista. Photo taken 11/17/07.
Routing
California 125, part of the inner and outer loop system of freeways around San Diego, begins at California 905 in Otay Mesa and travels north to California 52/Soledad Freeway in Santee. While most of the route is completed, a proposed segment from California 52 to Scripps Poway Parkway remains unconstructed and planned for a future construction, perhaps by 2020.
Highway Guides
California 125 is divided into the following pages:
History
The first (and southernmost) California 125 segment is the South Bay Expressway (formerly known as the San Miguel Parkway), which runs from California 905 north to California 54. TransNet funded a small portion of California 125 from California 54 south to San Miguel Road in Bonita, while the majority of the route is operated as a tollway. California 125 was authorized to be a potential tollway by Assembly Bill 680 in July 1989, which allows for public-private ventures for tollway construction. Under this plan, a private corporation will charge tolls on this segment of California 125 for 35 years after the toll road opened on November 19, 2007. Initial construction of this segment of California 125 was a four-lane freeway at a cost of $264 million. Future construction will upgrade this segment of California 125 to eight lanes with two HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes for an additional $110 million. SANDAG forecasts that California 125 will carry between 60,000 to 70,000 vehicles per day around Otay Mesa and between 80,000 to 100,000 vehicles per day in the north Chula Vista area. Much of the traffic count is dependent upon the future housing developments planned in the area, including Otay Ranch and Eastlake.
Immediately north of the California 54 interchange is the Sweetwater segment of California 125, so named because it parallels Sweetwater Road through Spring Valley. This segment ends at the massive interchange with California 94. This section opened to traffic in May 2003.
Between California 94 and Fletcher Parkway (Amaya Drive), California 125 will follow the existing freeway with some interchange modifications, including a revamping of the California 94/125 interchange. This section was originally part of a southern extension of California 67 and is the oldest segment on California 125; the portion between California 94 and Interstate 8 dates back to the 1960s. The interchange between Interstate 8 and California 125 was reconstructed between 1984 and 1993; the completed stack interchange opened on April 15, 1993. The Fletcher Parkway overpass and connection to Amaya Drive was fully opened on January 3, 2001.
Between Fletcher Parkway (Amaya Drive) and California 52 is the Fanita segment of California 125, again named for the road that it closely parallels. The section between Fletcher Parkway and Navajo Road opened in March 2001, and the section between Navajo Road and Grossmont College Drive opened in mid-2002. The northernmost section between Grossmont College Drive and Mission Gorge Road opened to traffic in phases between May and July 1998; construction began on April 3, 1996.
According to the 1996 San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) Regional Plan, interchanges along California 125 include California 11/California 905/Otay Mesa Road junction, La Media Road/Lonestar Road, Otay Valley Road, Rock Mountain Road, East Urban Center North, Orange Avenue, Telegraph Canyon Road, Eastlake Parkway, East H Street, San Miguel Road (with a connection to Bonita Road), California 54/Filipino-American Highway, Jamacha Boulevard, Jamacha Road, California 94/Martin Luther King, Jr. Freeway, and Navajo Road. Most of these, by 2007, have been built.
Future Aspirations
North of California 52, California 125 is currently proposed as an expressway north to Scripps-Poway Parkway and Poway Road. However, this routing is currently very controversial, leaving it unclear if California 125 will ever be extended north of California 52. As currently envisioned, this expressway would take pressure off Pomerado Road and allow direct travel between El Cajon and Poway without using either Interstate 15 or California 67. This highway, which is part of the San Diego Outer Loop, is projected to carry between 40,000 to 70,000 vehicles per day by 2020 according to SANDAG estimates. California 125 is planned as a six-lane expressway from California 52 to Scripps-Poway Parkway with a four-lane connection to Poway Road. This has a price tag of $132,000,000. East-west Scripps-Poway Parkway itself is a relatively new road; it was extended east to California 67 in 1998.
Originally, California 125 was planned to be a complete freeway between California 52 and Interstate 15. At its junction with Interstate 15, California 125 was planned to merge seamlessly with Select Arterial 680 (SA-680), which was planned to continue northwest to Interstate 5. However, the segment of California 125 northwest of California 56 (Ted Williams Parkway) and SA-680 were deleted due to local opposition from residents of Poway and Encinitas. California 125 between California 52 and California 56 was downgraded to an expressway in planning documents. However, both routes remain in the Streets and Highways Code as official routes.
In March 2003, San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn presented his vision of a new north-south freeway corridor that would lead from the current planned northern terminus of California 125 in Poway north to Interstate 10 in Riverside County, roughly paralleling Interstates 15 and 215 past Escondido, Temecula, and Perris. Supervisor Horn did not refer to this corridor as California 125, even though that would be the logical designation for such a route. The following map provides a rough proposal of what would be this freeway's route. This freeway is not on official planning documents, and it is not likely to be constructed for many years. This freeway corridor would also allow for a bypass of California 67, which carries a great deal of traffic and is seen as dangerous due to lack of passing lanes, steep grades, and limited sight distances. Since much of the land is currently undeveloped along this proposed corridor, the biggest impacts will be environmental and economic. Even though this proposal is still in its infancy, opposition has already emerged against it.
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