Skip to main content

The original California State Route 26 in Orange County

By


The original run of Sign State Highways were announced in the August 1934 California Highways & Public Works.  One of the initial Sign State Routes was California State Route 26 which was located in Orange County.  The original California State Route 26 followed Legislative Route Number 183 from Seal Beach to Santa Ana via Bolsa Avenue and 1st Street.  The original California State Route 26 was short lived and it would be eliminated as part of the shuffling of Sign State Route designations due to the extension of US Route 6 California.  Pictured above is the 1937 Gousha Map of California which features the original California State Route 26 on Bolsa Avenue and 1st Street. 



The history of the original California State Route 26

What became the original California State Route 26 (CA 26) entered the State Highway System as part 1933 Legislative Chapter 767 as part of Legislative Route Number 183 (LRN 183).  The definition of LRN 183 was "LRN 60 near Seal Beach to LRN 2/US Route 101 in Santa Ana."  LRN 183 was one of many new State Highways which was adopted in 1933 when the State removed the barriers preventing the Division of Highways from maintaining roadways in incorporated cities. 

LRN 183 first appears on the 1934 Division of Highways Map aligned between Seal Beach-Santa Ana on Bolsa Avenue and 1st Street. 


As noted in the introduction the August 1934 California Highways & Public Works announced the initial run of Sign State Routes.  The initial Sign State Routes were assigned to corridors of travel that were largely considered essential to state-wise transportation.  CA 26 was announced as following the entirety of LRN 183 between Seal Beach and Santa Ana.  




CA 26/LRN 183 appears in detail on the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Orange County following Bolsa Avenue and 1st Street in the Seal Beach-Santa Ana corridor.


As noted in the intro CA 26 appears on LRN 183 on the 1937 Gousha Highway Map of California.  


The demise of the original CA 26 came when US Route 6 was extended into California on February 8th, 1937, by the American Association of State Highway Officials.  Given US Route 6 was duplicating the number the original CA 6 it would require the latter be renumbered.  CA 6 had been defined as being aligned on LRN 173 from Santa Monica to Fullerton in the original run of Sign State Routes announced during August 1934.  To accommodate US Route 6 the original CA 26 and CA 6 were eliminated from their initial corridors.  LRN 173, LRN 166 and LRN 171 received the second designation of CA 26 whereas LRN 183 was left without a Sign State Route.  



Thusly the second CA 26 appears on the corridor of LRN 173 whereas LRN 183 is shown to not have a Sign State Route on the 1937-1938 Division of Highways Map.  


Harbor Boulevard facing north towards LRN 183/Bolsa Avenue appears in the November-December 1947 California Highways & Public Works.  


The original iteration of LRN 183 would never have another Sign State Route applied to it.  The original LRN 183 was eliminated from the State Highway System as part of 1951 Legislative Chapter 1562.  LRN 183 thusly does not appear on the 1952 Division of Highways Map.  


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paper Highways: The Unbuilt New Orleans Bypass (Proposed I-410)

By
  There are many examples around the United States of proposed freeway corridors in urban areas that never saw the light of day for one reason or another. They all fall somewhere in between the little-known and the infamous and from the mundane to the spectacular. One of the more obscure and interesting examples of such a project is the short-lived idea to construct a southern beltway for the New Orleans metropolitan area in the 1960s and 70s. Greater New Orleans and its surrounding area grew rapidly in the years after World War II, as suburban sprawl encroached on the historically rural downriver parishes around the city. In response to the development of the region’s Westbank and the emergence of communities in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes as viable suburban communities during this period, regional planners began to consider concepts for new infrastructure projects to serve this growing population.  The idea for a circular freeway around the southern perimeter of t
Post a Comment
Read more

Hernando de Soto Bridge (Memphis, TN)

By
The newest of the bridges that span the lower Mississippi River at Memphis, the Hernando de Soto Bridge was completed in 1973 and carries Interstate 40 between downtown Memphis and West Memphis, AR. The bridge’s signature M-shaped superstructure makes it an instantly recognizable landmark in the city and one of the most visually unique bridges on the Mississippi River. As early as 1953, Memphis city planners recommended the construction of a second highway bridge across the Mississippi River to connect the city with West Memphis, AR. The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge had been completed only four years earlier a couple miles downriver from downtown, however it was expected that long-term growth in the metro area would warrant the construction of an additional bridge, the fourth crossing of the Mississippi River to be built at Memphis, in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the previous three Mississippi River bridges to be built the city, the location chosen for this bridge was about two
1 comment
Read more

Huey P. Long Bridge (New Orleans, LA)

By
Located on the lower Mississippi River a few miles west of New Orleans, the Huey P. Long Bridge is an enormous steel truss bridge that carries both road and rail traffic on an old-time structure that is a fascinating example of a bridge that has evolved in recent years to meet the traffic and safety demands of modern times. While officially located in suburban Jefferson Parish near the unincorporated community of Bridge City, this bridge’s location is most often associated with New Orleans, given that it’s the largest and most recognizable incorporated population center in the nearby vicinity. For this reason, this blog article considers the bridge’s location to be in New Orleans, even though this isn’t 100% geographically correct. Completed in 1935 as the first bridge across the Mississippi River in Louisiana and the first to be built in the New Orleans area, this bridge is one of two bridges on the Mississippi named for Huey P. Long, a Louisiana politician who served as the 40th Gove
1 comment
Read more