Original US 91: Barstow to Nevada The
Arrowhead Trail, an
auto trail connecting
Salt Lake City with
Los Angeles, initially took a longer route via present
US 95 and former
US 66 between Las Vegas and
Needles, as the more direct
Old Spanish Trail was in very poor condition. The "
Silver Lake cutoff", which would save about , was proposed by 1920, and completed in 1925 as an
oiled road by
San Bernardino County. The
Bureau of Public Roads and the state of
Nevada both urged its inclusion in the state highway system, the former as part of the
federal aid highway connecting Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, and the state legislature did that in 1925, with it becoming an extension of
Route 31. (Across the state line,
State Route 6 continued through Las Vegas to
Arizona.) The initial plan for the
U.S. Highway system simply stated that Route No. 91 would run from Las Vegas "to an intersection with Route No. 60" (which became US 66 in 1926), but in 1926 the cutoff was chosen, ending at US 66 at
Daggett, just east of Barstow. (The roadway south from Las Vegas later became part of US 95.) The route was added to the federal-aid secondary system in 1926, which helped pay for a mid-1930s widening and paving, including some realignments (parts of the old road are now known as Arrowhead Trail). The new routing generally followed the present
I-15, except through
Baker (where it used Baker Boulevard) and into Barstow (where it followed former
SR 58 to First Avenue, ending at Main Street, which carried US 66).
SR 18: former extension of US 91 through Santa Ana Canyon to Long Beach US 91 was extended southwest to
Long Beach in the late 1940s. Beginning at Barstow, the extension
overlapped
US 66 over
Cajon Pass to
San Bernardino. From San Bernardino west through
Riverside and
Santa Ana Canyon to
Olive, the state took over a mostly paved
county highway in 1931 as part of an extension of
Route 43 to
Newport Beach via
Santa Ana. Two branches leading west from Route 43 near Olive along mostly constructed county roads were added in 1933:
Route 175 along Orangethorpe Avenue and Artesia Boulevard from near the mouth of the canyon west to
Route 60 (now
SR 1) in
Hermosa Beach (unconstructed through
Compton until the mid-1950s), and
Route 178 along Lincoln Avenue and Carson Street from Olive west to
Route 168 (now
SR 19) in
Lakewood. When state routes were marked in 1934, Route 175 became
Sign Route 14, and
Sign Route 18 included all of Route 178 and most of Route 43 into the
San Bernardino Mountains. When US 91 was extended to Long Beach, it overlapped SR 18 from San Bernardino to Lakewood, where it turned south along
SR 19 to the
Los Alamitos Traffic Circle. There, it turned west along
US 101 Alternate to near downtown Long Beach, where it ended at
SR 15 (
Atlantic Avenue), at a terminus shared with
US 6. (This routing along SR 19 and US 101 Alt. also became an extension of SR 18.) In 1935, the state improved the alignment between Fairmont Boulevard and Gypsum Canyon Road, including a bypass of the old road, which curved along the south slope of the canyon, east of Weir Canyon Road. In the late 1930s, the
Prado Dam project resulted in the bypassing of a longer section, replacing Prado Road, an abandoned road curving to the east end of the dam, Pomona Rincon Road, Auto Center Drive, Pomona Road, and Yorba Street with the present Green River Road, Palisades Drive, part of SR 91, and 6th Street.
SR 14: present SR 91 to Hermosa Beach Before the present freeway was constructed, SR 14 ran along Gould Avenue, Redondo Beach Boulevard, Compton Boulevard, Alameda Street, Artesia Avenue, La Habra Boulevard, Firestone Boulevard and Orangethorpe Avenue. In the
1964 renumbering, SR 14 was renumbered to SR 91. Before 1991, the Gardena Freeway was known as the
Redondo Beach Freeway, referring to
Caltrans's original intention for the freeway portion of the route to continue to the never-built Pacific Coast Freeway. Before 1997, Caltrans controlled maintenance of SR 91 up to
State Route 1 in
Hermosa Beach. The portion between
Vermont Avenue and
Western Avenue was relinquished to
Gardena in 1997. In 2003, the western portion, from SR 1 to Western Avenue, was relinquished to the cities through that the road goes through. The first segment of the freeway was built in 1965 as US 91, and the last segment was built in 1975. Despite the relinquishments, however,
Artesia Boulevard between I-110 and SR 1 is still signed off as SR 91.
Construction of the 91 Express Lanes Due to rapid population growth and the decline in the availability of affordable housing closer to job centers in
Orange County, new residential development began in earnest in western
Riverside County from the 1980s through today. This development is occurring in or around existing cities such as Riverside, Corona, Moreno Valley, Lake Elsinore, Murrieta, and Temecula. This development also led to the incorporation of the cities of Wildomar, Menifee, Eastvale, and Jurupa Valley. As there are very few direct routes between Orange and Riverside counties because of the
Santa Ana Mountains that separate them, the Riverside Freeway is subject to high traffic volumes, composed primarily of commuters traveling between their jobs in Orange County and their homes in Riverside County (often referred to by traffic reporters as "The Corona Crawl"). The
California Highway Patrol (CHP) is responsible for providing police services at CPTC's expense. Maintenance and operational costs for the facility are also the responsibility of CPTC. In April 2002, the
Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) reached an agreement in concept to purchase the private toll road project for $207.5 million. The OCTA took possession of the toll road on January 3, 2003, marking the first time the 91 Express Lanes were managed by public officials. Within a few months, OCTA turned the lanes into the HOT / tollway hybrid that it is today. One of the primary investors in CPTC,
Cofiroute USA, continues to manage and operate the lanes under a management contract with OCTA. Opening in 1995, the 91 Express Lanes was the first privately funded tollway built in the United States since the 1940s, and the first fully automated tollway in the world. The express lanes have been controversial because of a non-compete agreement that the state made with CPTC. The clause, which was negotiated by Caltrans and never brought to the legislature, prevented any improvements along of the Riverside Freeway to ensure profit for the express lanes. This includes restricting the state from widening the free lanes or building mass transit near the freeway. CPTC filed a lawsuit against Caltrans over freeway widening related to the interchange with the
Eastern Transportation Corridor, which was dismissed once the purchase with OCTA was finalized. Following the settlement, an additional lane was added for a segment eastbound from SR 241 to SR 71. However, as a result of the controversy, more toll road advocates favor creating local agencies similar to transportation corridor agencies to build and maintain future tollways. New toll roads would be financed with tax-exempt bonds on a stand-alone basis, meaning that taxpayers would not be responsible for repaying any debt if toll revenues fall short. Also, there would be a less restrictive non-compete clause: they would be compensated only for any revenue loss caused by improvements near the toll roads. In the mid-2010s, the
Riverside County Transportation Commission extended the 91 Express Lanes east from their previous terminus at the Orange–Riverside county line to the I-15 interchange in
Corona; this extension opened to traffic on March 20, 2017. Both Orange and Riverside County transportation agencies co-manage the 91 Express Lanes. ==Future==