The highway through Imperial Valley was originally a plank road made of pieces of wood that were tied together. The Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge across the Colorado River was open in 1915. Following this, US 80 was built through the valley as the main east–west route. Plans for a new freeway across the southernmost reaches of California date from before 1950. The bridge over the Colorado River was replaced in 1956, at a cost of $1.2 million, and was in use until 1978, when the I-8 bridge was built. In 1957, the City of El Centro expressed a desire for the new freeway to replace US 80 to be routed along the southern limits of the city. Caltrans engineer Jacob Dekema stated at the time that the four-lane freeway would not be constructed on the US 80 routing due to possible expansion of the Naval Air Facility El Centro.