California Highways: Route by Route History CARxR Ep. 1.05: Chronology – The Great Renumbering and New Freeways

CARxR Ep. 1.05: Chronology – The Great Renumbering and New Freeways

November 15, 2022November 15, 2022| DanielDaniel| 0 Comment| 9:35 pm
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In this episode, we’re continuing to explore the history of the State Highway System, focusing on the construction boom in the 1960s under the administration of Pat Brown. This period saw the great renumbering, as highways were unified under a combined legislative / sign route system (as opposed to the separate systems that existing previously). It also saw a tremendous expansion of the freeways as construction worked hard to meet the construction deadlines. The period ended with the passage of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the election of Ronald Reagan, and the Freeway Revolts.

Our interview is with Arturo Salazar, a retired District 7 Caltrans engineer and moderator of the Freeways of Los Angeles Facebook group.

Here’s the link to the show:

And here’s the link on Anchor.FM:

Here are some relevant links for the episode (I’ll likely edit this to add more links in later):

As always, we’re looking for interviews for future episodes. If you have any leads, please contact us:

  • For 1.06: Someone familiar with CEQA and its impact on the highway construction process; also the impact of regional transportation planning agencies
  • For 1.07: Someone familiar with California’s state highway numbering, and in particular, with how post miles are used in California.
  • For 1.08: Someone familiar with AASHTO’s role in highway numbering.

 

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CA RxR 4.05: I-10: Santa Monica FreewayCA RxR 4.05: I-10: Santa Monica Freeway

January 7, 2026January 7, 2026| DanielDaniel| 0 Comment| 6:04 am

With Episode 4.05, we turn our attention to Route 10. This first episode on Route 10 starts with an exploration of the 10th route (the last ordinal route we’ll do), which was the Emigrant Gap Highway, and became the basis for LRN 37. This became part of the Lincoln Highway, then US 40, and is now part of I-80 from Sacramento to Nevada. We look at LRN 10, which became Route 198 from US 101 near San Lucas to Sequoia National Park. We then explore Sign Route 10 (which we discussed in our episode on I-5 in Los Angeles county), which ran from US 101A to US 101, later becoming Route 42 and US 101 Bypass, and eventually I-105 and I-5. Lastly, we turn to post-1964 Route 10, which is today’s I-10. In this episode, we focus on the first segment:  “From Route 1 in Santa Monica to Route 5 near Seventh Street in Los Angeles”, which is today’s Santa Monica Freeway. We look at its origins as Sign Route 6, which became Sign Route 26 along LRN 173, LRN 166, and LRN 171. We focus on LRN 173 (LRN 166 and LRN 171 were discussed in our episode on I-5 in Los Angeles county, as well as our episode on Route 6), which was Olympic Blvd. We explore the history of the Santa Monica Freeway segment, the experiments tried along this highway, some significant projects along this segment, and some significant names on this segment.

We will complete our exploration of Route 10 in Episode 4.06, which explores the San Bernardino Freeway: Its origins in LRN 26 and LRN 64 and the Ramona Airline. The history and strange intertwinings of the US highways that were signed on Route 10: US 60, US 70, and US 99. The transition to I-10 and the story of Route 10S. Lastly, we’ll cover projects and names on the segment.

Here’s the link to the show:

And here’s the link on Spotify for Creators:

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CA RxR 4.11: Route 13: Oakland and BerkeleyCA RxR 4.11: Route 13: Oakland and Berkeley

May 14, 2026May 14, 2026| DanielDaniel| 0 Comment| 9:51 am

With Episode 4.11, our attention turns to Route 13. In this episode, we look at LRN 13, Sign Route 13, and Route 13. LRN 13 was the Sonora and Mono Wagon Road, which became today’s Route 219 and Route 108. Sign Route 13 was short-lived, quickly being renumbered as Sign Route 17 and Route 17, and is today’s Route 17, I-880, and I-580 N of the Bay Bridge. The post-1964 Route 13 of today runs from Route 61 to Route 61 through Oakland and Berkeley, and is best known as the Warren Freeway and Ashby Blvd. As for Route 61, you’ll just have to listen to the episode. Next time: In Ep 4.12, we’ll look at Route 14 and the unbuilt freeways of the San Fernando Valley. Lastly, note that in this episode Tom was having microphone trouble, so his sound is a bit off (and I don’t know Audacity well enough to fix it).

Here’s the link to the show:

And here’s the link on Spotify for Creators:

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CA RxR 2.09: Route 1: The Redwood ForestCA RxR 2.09: Route 1: The Redwood Forest

February 25, 2024February 25, 2024| DanielDaniel| 0 Comment| 5:55 pm

Episode 2.09 of California Highways: Route by Route continues our exploration of Route 1, as we complete discussing present-day Route 1 in Medocino County from Gualala to Leggett and current Route 1’s end at US 101. Along the way, we’ll discuss the communities of Gualala, Point Arena, Albion, Mendocino, Fort Bragg, Westport and Rockport, and Leggett. As always, we’ll cover the history of the route, and some current projects along the route. Our next episode will be the last on Route 1, this time covering what was Sign Route 1, and now covers Route 208 and Route 211 in the Lost Coast.

Here’s the link to the show:

 

And here’s the link on Spotify for Podcasters:

(more…)

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