The 101
U.S. Route 101 (US 101) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway stretching from Los Angeles, California, to Tumwater, Washington. The portion in the state of California is approximately 808 miles (1,300 km), running from the East Los Angeles Interchange to the Oregon state line. The majority of US 101 is overseen and maintained by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), except for the Golden Gate Bridge which is privately administered, nor is it officially part of the route (or its counterpart SR 1) despite maps and federal route logs saying otherwise. US 101 is a critical freeway serving the Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, and acts as a communal backbone in the more rural Central Coast and Redwood Empire. A lengthy section in Southern California even follows an unusual east–west direction. From Santa Barbara to Gilroy, US 101 is a mix of freeway and expressway, while north of Sonoma County, it is a regular two-lane road with pockets of controlled-access configurations. In some more populous areas, US 101 features high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes with time-based restrictions for vehicles that have a minimum of two occupants, and express lanes with a congestion toll scheme. The highway also passes through many important agriculture regions.
When US 101 was created in late 1926, it shared paths with State Legislative Route 2 (LNR 2) and LNR 1, two of the state's antecendent highways. Furthermore, it ran south through San Diego and ended on the Mexican border, but a 1964 state law deleted that segment of US 101, and it was immediately succeeded by Interstate 5 (I-5). Even so, US 101 continues to be the longest U.S. Highway in California, as well as the longest numbered route in the state's highway network. The former segment has since been relinquished to lower jurisdictions and is locally recognized as a historic route.
Beginning in the 1930s, a great proportion of US 101 in many parts of California were relocated and upgraded to more modern alignments, bypassing various towns and cities in the process. In Northern California, bypasses were constructed often amid consternation from local environmental and business interests. The Golden Gate Bridge replaced a ferry transportation line between San Francisco and Sausalito. Longstanding residential opposition has precluded any freeway development in San Francisco and Eureka; US 101 therefore exists as arterial surface streets for both these cities. US 101 had several branch routes throughout the state until the 1960s.
US 101 is known by various names, and several memorial and tourist designations have been applied along its trek. Although generally referred to as "101" by California residents, in Southern California it is often called "the 101" (pronounced "the one-oh-one"). In the 1950s, US 101 in Southern and Central California was dedicated as El Camino Real, a historical and culturally-significant path dating back to Alta California. North of the Golden Gate, it is known as the Redwood Highway for the world's tallest and only extensive preserves of virgin, old-growth coast redwood trees, as well as an organized movement to protect them. The original construction of the Redwood Highway also rendered seafaring trade in the surrounding locales obsolete. US 101 has portions labeled Santa Ana Freeway, Hollywood Freeway, Ventura Freeway, South Valley Freeway, and Bayshore Freeway. Two portions of the route have been designated as a scenic highway by Caltrans, with more qualified for inclusion into the state's scenic highway system, and in 2003 it was dubbed the Screaming Eagles Highway in Southern California. A tunnel has been proposed for US 101 in Del Norte County to get around dangerous ocean-facing cliffs where landslides have resulted in the highway being frequently closed for costly repairs. Further improvements to US 101 in the Richardson Grove State Park have been planned, to permit safer passage for big rigs.
Numbers
- 2006-08-08T00:00:00.000000Z
Green Street
- 2005-01-20T00:00:00.000000Z
The 101
- 2004-07-24T00:00:00.000000Z
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