Going Home On Interstate 10 (Page Ten)
Interstate 10 (abbreviated I-10) is the southernmost east-west,
coast-to-coast interstate highway in the United States. It stretches
from the Pacific Ocean at State Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) in Santa
Monica, California to Interstate 95 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Between its west terminus in Santa Monica, California and the East Los
Angeles Interchange it is known as the Santa Monica Freeway. The Santa
Monica Freeway is also called the "Rosa Parks Freeway" for the segment
beginning at the San Diego Freeway (The 405 Freeway) and ending at the
Harbor Freeway (The 110 Freeway), however either name can be used when
referring to this stretch of road. The segment between the East Los
Angeles Interchange and the city of San Bernardino, California (53
miles, or 92 km, long) is known as the San Bernardino Freeway. Other
names exist for the freeway. For example, a sign near the western
terminus of the highway announces it as the "Christopher Columbus
Transcontinental Highway". It is known to a considerably lesser degree
as the "Veterans Memorial Highway" and is listed as a Blue Star Memorial
Highway.
A stretch in Palm Springs is signed as the "Sonny Bono Memorial Freeway"
as a tribute to the late entertainer who served both as mayor and as a
United States Congressman. A second stretch a short distance east in
Indio is signed as the "Doctor June McCarroll Memorial Freeway". As a
nurse with the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1924, Dr. McCarroll was
alarmed at the number of head-on traffic collisions on a nearby stretch
of then-new U.S. Route 99, today known as State Route 86. She is
credited with painting a white stripe down the middle of 99 near
Coachella in order to separate the two lanes of traffic.
In Arizona, the highway is designated the "Pearl Harbor Memorial
Highway". The portion through Phoenix is named the "Papago Freeway" and
is a very vital piece of the regional freeway system. This designation
sta
rts at the initial junction/southern terminus of I-17 and runs
westward out to AZ Loop 101, a loop route whose current western terminus
is Interstate 10. Phoenicians more often than not refer to the freeway
as "the I-10"
