Ultimate Interstates:Corridor 808
Ultimate Interstate 808 is an intestate auxiliary route located entirely within the desert region of California that traverses along State Route 78 and along the western side of the Salton Sea connecting the inland empire and palm desert region to the Imperial Valley and Calexico.
Purpose and Need
Currently no northbound interstate quality corridor exists to service the border crossings at Calexico and Calexico East. These border crossings are currently only serviced by Interstate 8 wast and west. Construction of Interstate 808 would connect these border crossings to interstate 10 and then to Interstate 15 and 40 via the inland empire and cajon pass. This would provide a necessary Canamex corridor for truck traffic which would then be able to bypass busier areas of the greater San Diego and Los Angeles Megalopolis. This would result in fuel economy savings and less pollution from trucks idling in traffic. Additionally interregional travel between the desert cities and imperial valley would be supported.
Plausibility
Since the much of the corridor is already a freeway or expressway corridor upgrading the corridor would largely require upgrading and grade separating crossings along the corridor. A small section of the corridor would need to be constructed along new terrain near Brawley CA. From there the corridor would follow the State Route 111 corridor which has also been updated to freeway or expressway standards. Improvements to the I-8/CA-111 interchange east of El Centro would be needed to improve safety and efficiency due to the tight cloverleaf design and weaving issues currently present there. Also access to eastbound I-10 from CA-68 and westbound I-10 to CA-68 would need to be added at the Indio Split.
South of Interstate 8
Interstate 808 could continue south along CA-111 continuing into the city of calexico. This route is also currently a 4 lane expressway with frontage roads and could be easily grade separated to upgrade to interstate standards. The I-808 freeway would then end at an at grade intersection with CA-98 (Birch Street).