History
The segment of I-40 in California was approved as a chargeable Interstate on July 7, 1947. In 1957, the California Department of Highways proposed that the route be renumbered to Interstate 30 instead because of the already existing U.S. Route 40 in the state. However, this was rejected, and eventually U.S. 40 was decommissioned in favor of Interstate 80.
Today, the Needles Freeway replaced what used to be Route 66 across the Mojave Desert. As a result, a number of communities along the former route like Amboy have become ghost towns.
In the early 1960s, a proposal as part of Operation Plowshare would have detonated 22 nuclear explosions to excavate a massive roadcut through the Bristol Mountains to accommodate a better alignment of Interstate 40 and a new rail line. This proposal was definitively abandoned in 1968.
A sign in California showing the distance to Wilmington, North Carolina has been stolen several times.
Read more about this topic: Interstate 40 In California
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