California State Route 71

Beginning at its southern terminus, SR 91 in Corona, SR 71 is an expressway for a half mile when it intersects with Pomona Rincon Road. SR 71 then becomes a freeway up to Rio Rancho Road, where it becomes an expressway up to Mission Boulevard. (previously it was an expressway until its northern terminus, but this segment was upgraded to freeway in 2012.) The route becomes a short freeway for about a mile until it meets at the Kellogg Interchange complex in San Dimas, where it terminates with Interstate 10 and SR 57.

As of December 2016, all traffic signals have been removed. Traffic entering and exiting the roads that lead into the nearby neighborhoods (North Ranch Road, Old Pomona Road, and Phillips Drive) may no longer enter or exit northbound due to added barriers in the median of the highway. However, southbound traffic may use these streets. (North Ranch Road, Old Pomona Road, and Phillips Drive can enter the highway via a stop sign.) Just south of the Mission Boulevard exit, all aspects of the highway, such as its alignment, lane width, pavement, barriers, and access, 'upgrade' to freeway standards.

The section of highway between Corona and Chino is notorious for thick winter fogs at dawn and dusk, resulting in many automobile collisions when drivers fail to slow down due to reduced visibility. Residents of Los Serranos (now Chino Hills) recall being awakened by sounds of crinkling bumpers, fenders and headlights.

As this freeway/expressway serves as an important northwest-southeast corridor between the cities in the Pomona and San Gabriel valleys (eastern Los Angeles County) and the cities of western Riverside County, it is heavily traveled and is used as an alternative to the Orange Freeway, State Route 57 (SR 57) located to the west, and the Ontario Freeway, Interstate 15 (I-15) located to the east.

When the route runs through Chino Hills and Chino, there is a high-occupancy vehicle lane available for use; however, this carpool lane ends when the route enters Riverside County (to the south) and Los Angeles County (to the north). The route is a four-lane highway between SR 91 and Central Avenue (excluding HOV lanes), a six-lane highway (excluding HOV lanes) from Central Avenue to SR 60, and again a four-lane highway from SR 60 to I-10/SR 57.

SR 71 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System,[2] and is part of the National Highway System,[3] a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration.[4] SR 71 is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System;[5] however, it is not designated as a scenic highway by Caltrans.[6]

State Route 71 north of Corona

The original routing of Route 71 according to the 1934 listing was from U.S. 80, now Interstate 8, in San Diego north to U.S. Route 66, now State Route 66, near Claremont via Lake Elsinore and Temecula.[7] When the portion between San Diego and Temecula was redesignated U.S. 395, Route 71 was rerouted to run from Pomona to Aguanga. In 1973, it was cut back to its present terminus in Corona, with the portion between Corona and Temecula becoming Interstate 15 and the portion between Temecula and Aguanga becoming Route 371. The early section of the Chino Valley Freeway was built in 1971 from the Kellogg Interchange to the Pomona Freeway (SR 60). The section from SR 60 to the Riverside Freeway (SR 91) was completed in March 1998.

In September 2008, construction began on the Mission 71 Project in Pomona. A bridge was constructed to allow Mission Boulevard to pass over Route 71, which now has entrance and exit ramps to Mission. Also, the intersection with Ninth Street was closed. The freeway was extended south to the former intersection at Ninth Street, where it resumes expressway status to the intersection with Old Pomona Road.[8] The construction project was completed in December 2011.[9]

The City of Pomona is currently working with Caltrans to convert the rest of Route 71 within its borders from its current status as a four-lane expressway to a full eight-lane freeway.[10][11] This project has an estimated completion date of 2023.[12] Additionally, the Riverside County Transportation Commission plans to construct a two-lane flyover ramp between eastbound SR 91 and northbound SR 71 to replace the current one-lane loop ramp.[13]

Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on a west-to-east alignment (including its original eastern segment that extended through Temecula and Anza), and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see the list of postmile definitions).[14] Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.

County	Location	Postmile [14][1][15]	Exit [16]	Destinations	Notes
Riverside RIV R3.03-R0.00	Corona	R3.03	—	SR 91 (Riverside Freeway) – Riverside, Beach Cities	Southern terminus of SR 71; interchange; southbound exit and northbound entrance; SR 91 exit 45
		2.44	—	Pomona Rincon Road	At-grade intersection; government only access; downgrades to expressway
San Bernardino SBD R8.48-R0.00	Chino–Chino Hills line	R7.98	4	SR 83 north (Euclid Avenue) / Butterfield Ranch Road – Ontario
	Chino Hills	R6.52	5	Pine Avenue
		R4.89	7	Soquel Canyon Parkway, Central Avenue
	Chino–Chino Hills line	R3.35	8	SR 142 west (Chino Hills Parkway) / Ramona Avenue – Brea
		R1.82	10	Grand Avenue, Edison Avenue
		R0.91	11	Chino Avenue	Signed as exit 11A southbound
	Chino Hills	R0.09	12A	Riverside Drive, Peyton Drive	Signed as exit 11B southbound; no southbound entrance
Los Angeles LA R4.70-R0.34	Pomona	R4.31	12B	SR 60 west (Pomona Freeway) – Los Angeles	Southbound exit is via exit 13; SR 60 exit 29A eastbound
		R4.31	12	SR 60 east (Pomona Freeway) – Riverside	Northbound exit is via exit 12A; SR 60 exit 29B westbound
		R3.61	13	Rio Rancho Road
		​	North end of freeway (southbound only)
		1.92	—	Old Pomona Road	Southbound exit and entrance; at-grade intersection
		-	—	N. Ranch Road	Southbound exit and entrance; at-grade intersection
		-	—	W. Phillips Drive	Southbound exit and entrance; at-grade intersection
		1.92	—	Ninth Street	Closed; former at-grade intersection
		​	South end of freeway (southbound only)
		1.62	14B	Mission Boulevard – Pomona, Riverside	Former US 60
		1.24	—	Pomona Boulevard	Closed; former northbound exit and southbound entrance
		R1.48	14A	To I-10 east / Holt Avenue, Valley Boulevard – San Bernardino	Former US 99 south
	Pomona–San Dimas line	R0.34	15	I-10 west (San Bernardino Freeway) – Los Angeles	I-10 exit 42B eastbound
	San Dimas	R0.34		SR 57 north (Orange Freeway) to I-210 – Glendora	Northern terminus of SR 71; former I-210 west; no access to SR 57 south; SR 57 exit 22C southbound
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Closed/former       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

• California Roads portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to California State Route 71.

• Caltrans: Route 71 highway conditions
• California Highways: Route 71
• California @ AARoads.com - State Route 71