California State Route 77; the real "Shortest Signed" State Highway

Over the last two weeks I visited almost every State Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area. The shortest State Highway by a large margin in the Bay Area is California State Route 77.

CA 77 is presently only 0.45 miles in length and is located entirely within the City of Oakland. CA 77 begins at Interstate 880 and heads eastward on 42nd Avenue to CA 185 on 14th Street.

As presently completed CA 77 would rank as the fourth shortest State Highway only behind CA 225, CA 275 and CA 283.

CAhighways.org list of Shortest State Highways

CA 77 presently has a 13.4 mile portion that has not been constructed. CA 77 as originally envisioned would have continued northeast towards Concord and would have junctions with; I-580, unbuilt CA 93, CA 24, I-680 and CA 242. According to CAhighways.org the present route of CA 77 was designated as Legislative Route Number 233 which was approved by the State Legislature in 1953. The legislative description of LRN 233 was changed to LRN 235 by 1957.

CAhighways.org on CA 77

CAhighways.org on LRN 235

The path of LRN 233 first appears on the 1954 State Highway Map City Insert.

The designation of LRN 235 replaces LRN 233 on the 1958 State Highway Map City Insert.

By 1963 the portion of LRN 235 between CA 17 on the Nimitz Freeway (current I-880) and LRN 105 (present CA 185) is shown completed.

During the 1964 State Highway Renumbering LRN 235 was reassigned as CA 77.

According to CA 77 the planned route of CA 77 was cut back to CA 24 in Layayette by 1975. This is reflected on the 1977 State Highway Map City Insert.

Note; as completed in 1963 the configuration of LRN 235/CA 77 was a freeway with free flowing ramps to/from CA 17/I-880 northbound. Said ramps were reconfigured in 2012 into the at-grade ramps present at the western terminus of CA 77.

Access to CA 77 can be obtained from I-880 via Exit 38. Oddly High Street is signed from I-880 and not 42nd Avenue even though that is the direct connection. From I-880 there is not CA 77 signage, the downpour was about as miserable as it looks.

From the exit ramp CA 77 begins with a left hand turn onto 42nd Avenue. Again there is no CA 77 shields to be found.

CA 77 east travels under both travel lanes of I-880 and essentially is limited access (albeit not a freeway).

Between the northbound lanes of I-880 and on-ramp from Coliseum Way the first CA 77 reassurance shield appears. CA 77 east even features an off-ramp to 12th Street which can be seen in the second photo below.

The CA 77 reassurance shield makes it the real "shortest" signed State Highway and not CA 153 which is often proclaimed as such. My previous blog entry on CA 153 can be found below.

California State Route 153; the supposedly shortest State Highway

CA 77 east even has a second reassurance shield before it terminates at CA 185 at 14th Street.

I-40 rockslide uncovers old debates on highway

The Asheville Citizen-Times continues to do a great job covering all the angles of the Interstate 40 Haywood County rock slide. An article in Sunday's edition provides a strong historical perspective on how the Pigeon River routing of Interstate 40 came about. And perhaps most strikingly, in an article that ran just prior to the highway's opening in the fall of 1968, how engineers from both Tennessee and North Carolina warned "...that slides would probably be a major problem along the route for many years." On February 12, 1969, not long after the Interstate opened, the first rock slide that would close I-40 occurred. Like many other Interstates within North Carolina, Interstate 40 through the mountains has a history prior to formation of the Interstate Highway System and was also a heated political battle between local communities. The discussion for a road that would eventually become Interstate 40 dates back to the 1940's as the idea for interregional high

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The combined Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor of the Foothill Freeway is approximately 85.31-miles. The Interstate 210/California State Route 210 corridor begins at Interstate 5 at the northern outskirts of Los Angeles and travels east to Interstate 10 in Redlands of San Bernardino County. Interstate 210 is presently signed on the 44.9-mile segment of the Foothill Freeway between Interstate 5 and California State Route 57. California State Route 210 makes up the remaining 40.41 miles of the Foothill Freeway east to Interstate 10. Interstate 210 is still classified by the Federal Highway Administration as existing on what is now signed as California State Route 57 from San Dimas south to Interstate 10. The focus of this blog will mostly be on the history of Interstate 210 segment of the Foothill Freeway. Part 1; the history of Interstate 210 and California State Route 210 Interstate 210 (I-210) was approved as a chargeable Interstate during September of

White Rock Road; the historic highway corridor serving Mariposa County since the 1850s

White Rock Road is a twenty-eight-mile-long highway corridor which begins at the Chowchilla River in Merced County and ends at Old Highway 18 in Mariposa County near the town site of Bridgeport. The portion of White Rock Road between the Merced County and Mariposa County line to Bridgeport (via the town site of White Rock) is one of the oldest continuously used highway corridors in California. Once known as the "Mariposa River Road" the corridor was developed in the 1850s as one of the two primary highways to the mining communities of Mariposa County. White Rock Road was bypassed in 1918 when Legislative Route Number 18 was completed between Merced and Mariposa. The corridor was for time known as Mariposa and Le Grand Road prior to the construction of Mariposa Creek Dam (formerly Mariposa River) in 1948. Following construction of the dam the roadway took the name it has now and was extended through Merced County to the Chowchilla River. Much of modern White Rock Road i

Littledots said…

Hi, I was researching the 42nd Ave freeway entrance for my blog and came across your page. Great photos. I am writing a page on the "Bancroft Parkway" which began at the San Leandro border on Bancroft and ended at 42nd Ave with entrance to the Nimitz (880) Freeway. Bancroft Parkway - Oakland Tribune November 25, 1956 -https://www.newspapers.com/clip/67723058/bancroft-parkway-nov-25-1956/
Littledots@yahoo.com

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