Cold War era leaders determined Los Angeles residents needed an escape route through the San Gabriel Mountains in case of a nuclear attack. Construction work began on Shoemaker Canyon Road. The 25-mile escape route would have connected the San Gabriel East Fork Road with Largo Vista in the Mojave Desert.
Work started in 1956, but only four miles was finished. Construction officially stopped in 1969.
For when first under construction in 1956, this highway pointed to Largo Vista and the Mojave Desert and was blueprinted in part as a Civil Defense escape from fallout; one route among a spiderwork of exits in all directions should Los Angeles be threatened, even executed by an atomic attack.
Inmates from Sheriff’s Department detention camps accomplished much of the construction. But in 1969, Los Angeles County budget cuts halted work on Shoemaker Canyon Road. In 1984, the area was granted wilderness status.
https://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-fw-archives-highway-nowhere-20170316-story.html
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