Laguna Summit is a highway pass through the Cuyamaca Mountains of southeastern San Diego County, California, traversed by Interstate 8 at an altitude of . Of the four highway summits eastward of San Diego, the Laguna Summit is the second. The first highway summit has been unnamed until "

Carpenter Summit Carpenter Summit is a highway pass name approved through the through the United States Geological Survey. This pass was created during the construction of I-8 from 1972 to 1974 in this area, but was never named unlike the three other then named d ...

" was proposed in late 2019, now pending the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

approval. The third is Crestwood Summit followed by the

Tecate Divide The Tecate Divide is a mountain ridge in southeastern San Diego County, California, running in a north-south direction on the southeast fringe of the Cuyamaca Mountains. It reaches an altitude of , and passes between the towns of Live Oak Spri ...

. Laguna Summit is located east of Pine Valley, just to the east of the intersection with the

Sunrise Highway New York State Route 27 (NY 27) is a long state highway that runs east–west from Interstate 278 (I-278) in the New York City borough of Brooklyn to Montauk Point State Park on Long Island, New York. Its two most prominent com ...

, which heads north towards the

Laguna Mountains The Laguna Mountains are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System in eastern San Diego County, southern California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately . The mountains have long been inhabited by the i ...

. The pass is also traversed by Old Highway 80 at the junction of County Route S1, also known as the "Sunrise Highway" then continuing as a frontage road of Interstate 8 on the south side of the freeway.

Construction

The Interstate 8 route was realigned from Arnold Way onto Alpine Boulevard as it passed through

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

and the Viejas Indian Reservation, before entering the

and the

Cleveland National Forest Cleveland National Forest encompasses 460,000 acres (), mostly of chaparral, with a few riparian areas. A warm dry mediterranean climate prevails over the forest. It is the southernmost U.S. National Forest of California. It is administered by ...

mostly paralleling the alignment used by old US 80. By August 1970, the remainder of the freeway had been funded, with the part from Japatul Valley Road to Laguna Junction costing $22 million (about $ in dollars), (about $ in dollars). A portion of old US 80 that followed the grade eastward from Pine Valley up to the Sunrise Highway junction had to be closed for construction. A cut off road (now named old US 80) direct from Pine Valley eastward to the Sunrise Highway, also known as County Route S1 (a route to Mt. Laguna) was made prior to freeway construction. Near the "Laguna Junction", was a road house cafe of the same name for travelers that existed from 1916 until it was removed to provide land for the interchange with I-8. The

now cites "Laguna Junction" as a historical place name replaced by "Laguna Summit." A section of old US 80 — with the first few miles signed as SR 79 — continues to serve as access to the communities of

Descanso Descanso may refer to: * Descanso (roadside memorial) * ''Descanso'' (spider), a genus of jumping spider * Descanso, California, an unincorporated community in the United States * Descanso, Santa Catarina, a town and municipality in Brazil * Des ...

, Guatay and Pine Valley; SR 79 intersected US 80 east of Descanso. I-8 crests a 4,000 foot highway summit, at the old Laguna Junction, now called Laguna Summit before descending towards Buckman Springs Road.
Google Street view.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{citation, url=http://www.aaroads.com/california/i-008ec_ca.html, title=Interstate 8 East - California 79 to Imperial County Line, work=AA Roads, accessdate=2017-06-02 {{citation, url=http://www.efgh.com/bike/old80.htm, title=Bicycling on Old U.S. 80 in San Diego County, work=San Diego County, California: A Bicyclist's Paradise, accessdate=2017-06-02 {{citation, title=Summit information by district, county, route, and postmile, publisher=California Department of Transportation, accessdate=2017-06-02, url=http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tsip/data_library/archives/summit.xls, url-status=dead, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301032752/http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tsip/data_library/archives/summit.xls, archivedate=2017-03-01

Construction

References

See also