California State Route 195
state highway in Riverside County, California, United States
State Route 195 (SR 195) was a state highway in the U.S. state of California, branching westward from SR 111 to SR 86 near the town of Mecca and the Salton Sea. The route formerly extended east to Interstate 10 (I-10) near Joshua Tree National Park as a longer route extending to Blythe and points further east. After the main route was shifted north, the older route remained as an alternate known as Box Canyon Road. The route was designated in the 1964 state highway renumbering, although the Box Canyon Road portion was removed as a state highway in 1972. Following the construction of the SR 86 expressway, SR 195 was curtailed in 2009, and removed entirely in 2014.
Route description
Route 195 remains defined as follows in section 495 of the California Streets and Highways Code, last amended by the California State Legislature in 1981: "Route 195 is from Route 86 near Oasis to Route 111 near Mecca via Pierce Street and Avenue 66. This route shall cease to be a state highway when Route 86 Expressway is constructed from near Oasis to Route 10."
Before the route was mostly removed in 2009, it began at Harrison Street, the old routing of SR 86, in Riverside County. It then headed north as Pierce Street until intersecting 66th Street, where SR 195 turned east. The highway intersected SR 86 and continued to the town of Mecca, where it met its north end at SR 111. The route loosely paralleled the northern end of the Salton Sea, passing through farmland for its entire length.
“California State Route 195” enters the record as state highway in Riverside County, California, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what California, State and Route can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“California State Route 195” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, California, State and Route provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q624116. Authority coordinates are 33.569, -116.087. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1964, 1972, 2009 and 2014.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “California State Route 195”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow California State Route 195 primary sources, California State Route 195 archive and California research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “California State Route 195”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “California State Route 195” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.