Rialto, CA

Rialto's transportation map is also a map of its working economy. Interstate 10 crosses the southern city, State Route 210 runs to the north, and Foothill Boulevard carries historic Route 66 through the center. At Riverside Avenue, road traffic passes over Union Pacific tracks leading into West Colton Yard, one of the railroad's largest hubs. This corridor belongs to a regional freight network linking the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports with rail yards, industrial sites, and warehouse and distribution centers. As of July 2026, city materials listed Niagara Bottling, Medline, Amazon, FedEx, and Target Distribution among local employers. Freight trains, delivery traffic, and large industrial buildings are visible parts of Rialto's present-day landscape, especially around Interstate 10 and the rail corridor.

ATTROleknutlee / Public domain

Successive transportation systems also built the older city. The Santa Fe Railway extended its line between Los Angeles and San Bernardino in 1887, prompting the Rialto townsite. The city incorporated in 1911. Foothill Boulevard was repaired in 1913 and later became part of Route 66, while Pacific Electric interurban service arrived in 1914. Citrus groves and packing houses occupied much of the surrounding land during this period. The old Santa Fe depot remains downtown and now houses Cuca's Mexican Food, turning a railroad building into an everyday business. Nearby streets preserve the relationship between the depot, the east-west highway, and the civic center even as the larger logistics landscape has shifted toward freeways, warehouses, and the Union Pacific yard. A less visible industrial legacy lies beneath northern Rialto.

ATTRSocafalcon / CC BY-SA 4.0

The Rockets, Fireworks, and Flares Superfund site includes a 160-acre industrial area and a groundwater contamination zone extending about six miles downgradient. The Army used part of the property for ammunition and weapons storage in 1942; defense contractors and fireworks manufacturers later handled perchlorate and volatile organic compounds there. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 2009. A source-area pump-and-treat system built from 2015 through 2021 began continuous operation in early 2023, sending treated water into Rialto's distribution system. Cleanup remains unfinished: EPA's status page accessed in July 2026 reported human exposure under control, groundwater migration not yet under control, and sitewide construction incomplete, while design of a mid-basin remedy continued.

ATTRBrück & Sohn Kunstverlag Meißen / CC0

Residents encounter transportation history through festivals and transit as well as industry. Metrolink's San Bernardino Line serves the Rialto station, connecting the city with San Bernardino and Los Angeles on the schedule in effect in July 2026. The Pacific Electric Trail follows 18 miles of the former interurban corridor from Claremont to Rialto. Foothill Boulevard supplies a different form of continuity. The 31st annual Run Whatcha Brung car show and cruise brought custom and classic vehicles to downtown Route 66 on June 5 and 6, 2026, during the highway's centennial year. On an ordinary week, the old Santa Fe depot serves restaurant customers while Metrolink trains stop nearby; during the cruise, the former national highway itself becomes the display space.