California (Bay Area)...


Air Base Parkway:
This 4-lane divided expressway bypasses Fairfield to the north, connecting the Travis Air Force Base to I-80. It is 5.5 miles long. 

Geary Expressway:
This expressway in San Francisco starts at Van Ness Ave and goes west with two diamond interchanges in the western addition, located at Fillmore and at Masonic / Presidio. 

 

Richmond Parkway:
Richmond Parkway is an expressway between I-80 and I-580 in the Bay Area. Several new traffic lights have been recently added.
 

San Jose Ave:
San Jose Ave is an expressway in San Francisco from I-280 to Randall. This was originally supposed to be upgraded to the Mission Freeway. Today, the median is home to a light rail train.

Gary Bonte describes the history of the San Jose Avenue expressway: “I believe that San Jose Avenue was built in the 1930s.  I think it may have been a WPA project.  At the time, the distinction between "freeway" and "expressway" were not as clear-cut as they are today.  The photo shows the Bernal Cut, which was originally dug out to accommodate the old Southern Pacific Railroad main line that went south from San Francisco on down the Peninsula.  This portion of the railroad was replaced in the early 1900s when Southern Pacific built a new cut-off along the Bay side of San Francisco to connect with the Peninsula.

During the 'teens and 'twenties, there were a number of interesting proposals to build a new muti-lane boulevard through the Bernal Cut that would accommodate a fully grade separated "rapid transit" line and a streetcar line. Southern Pacific also had plans to put in a double-track electrified "suburban" commuter line. In the 1960s, the underground BART line was built under the Bernal Cut.  In the early 1990s, Muni extended its J-Church streetcar / light rail line down the center median of San Jose Avenue.”

Sources:
James Lin, Don Hagstrom, California DOT, Mark Roberts, Chris Sampang, C. C. Slater, Steve Boland, Gary Bonte

Last Updated: 2/28/05

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