Route Description
This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System. However, this route is not designated by Caltrans as a scenic highway.
Highway 111 links virtually every desert resort city in the valley. It begins in Calexico at the international border where it meets with Calle State Route 111 in Mexicali before it intersects with SR 98. It then intersects with SR 86 in Heber. As Route 111 continues north through Imperial County, it enters El Centro, intersecting with I-8, which runs east to Yuma and west to San Diego before passing through the agricultural communities of Holtville, Brawley, Calipatria and Niland.
A nearly 40 mile (64 km) length of the highway dotted with date and citrus groves follows both the old Southern Pacific "Sunset Route" (now the main Union Pacific line between Los Angeles and Yuma, Arizona) and the eastern shore of the Salton Sea. Though some small settlements and a California state park line the shore, the area is eerily empty due to the sea's rapidly declining water quality. The small town of North Shore is all but abandoned as a tourist destination, though more than 3,400 residents were counted at the 2010 census.
SR 111 enters the southeast corner of the Coachella Valley as a two-lane highway before running concurrently with SR 86 in Coachella. It then continues through Indio, La Quinta, Indian Wells, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, and Cathedral City. Continuing north, the highway enters Palm Springs, becoming a surface street. It ends at a junction with Interstate 10 near the foot of San Jacinto Peak east of the San Gorgonio Pass.
Read more about this topic: California State Route 111
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