Railroad Square, US 101, and CA 12 in Santa Rosa

[Max Rockatansky]

This past December I visited Santa Rosa for a weekend.  That being the case I stopped in to check out Railroad Square.  Railroad Square is interesting since it became the transportation hub of Santa Rosa when the San Francisco & Northern Pacific Railroad reached the City in 1870.  In the early highway era US 101 and CA 12 utilized a route in downtown Santa Rosa that was routed around Courthouse Square.  In 1948 US 101/Legislative Route 1 was shifted onto an expressway which bisected downtown and in turn isolated Railroad Square.  Railroad Square was further isolated when US 101 was upgraded to a freeway in the 1960s along with CA 12 becoming a freeway in late 1964.  Railroad Square eventually was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 which helped revitalize the neighborhood.  Railroad Square is distinct given it has numerous masonry buildings that survived the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.  In the article below the history of rail transportation, Railroad Square, US 101, and CA 12 in the City of San Rosa are explored. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2020/01/railroad-square-historic-district-us.html

[dbz77]

This past December I visited Santa Rosa for a weekend.  That being the case I stopped in to check out Railroad Square.  Railroad Square is interesting since it became the transportation hub of Santa Rosa when the San Francisco & Northern Pacific Railroad reached the City in 1870.  In the early highway era US 101 and CA 12 utilized a route in downtown Santa Rosa that was routed around Courthouse Square.  In 1948 US 101/Legislative Route 1 was shifted onto an expressway which bisected downtown and in turn isolated Railroad Square.  Railroad Square was further isolated when US 101 was upgraded to a freeway in the 1960s along with CA 12 becoming a freeway in late 1964.  Railroad Square eventually was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 which helped revitalize the neighborhood.  Railroad Square is distinct given it has numerous masonry buildings that survived the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.  In the article below the history of rail transportation, Railroad Square, US 101, and CA 12 in the City of San Rosa are explored. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2020/01/railroad-square-historic-district-us.html

Interesting how thety misnamed Santa Rosa Freeway.

[Max Rockatansky]

This past December I visited Santa Rosa for a weekend.  That being the case I stopped in to check out Railroad Square.  Railroad Square is interesting since it became the transportation hub of Santa Rosa when the San Francisco & Northern Pacific Railroad reached the City in 1870.  In the early highway era US 101 and CA 12 utilized a route in downtown Santa Rosa that was routed around Courthouse Square.  In 1948 US 101/Legislative Route 1 was shifted onto an expressway which bisected downtown and in turn isolated Railroad Square.  Railroad Square was further isolated when US 101 was upgraded to a freeway in the 1960s along with CA 12 becoming a freeway in late 1964.  Railroad Square eventually was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 which helped revitalize the neighborhood.  Railroad Square is distinct given it has numerous masonry buildings that survived the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.  In the article below the history of rail transportation, Railroad Square, US 101, and CA 12 in the City of San Rosa are explored. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2020/01/railroad-square-historic-district-us.html

Interesting how thety misnamed Santa Rosa Freeway.

Considering it came from a time before Interstates I tend to give those highways a pass.  At minimum US 101 today on that same grade is in fact a freeway in Santa Rosa.

[sparker]

The expressway bypassing an in-town original street routing concept showed up after WWII in an number of towns; the US 101 corridor had it's share.  The Santa Barbara expressway avoiding the original and convoluted Milpas/Guerrero/State Street alignment was installed during that timeframe; further south, an expressway was built bypassing Calabasas and Thousand Oaks.  Both of these, as with Santa Rosa, were eventually upgraded to full freeways (Santa Barbara, notoriously, just took a bit longer!).  But by about 1956 or so this concept was jettisoned in favor of full freeways; during they "heyday" of CA freeway building (1958-72) it was reasoned that a 2-stage approach was no longer valid -- the prevailing sentiment in the agency was just to get the final version -- or at least the first 4 lanes of it -- built out initially.  Considering the later outsized inflation of the '70's, it was arguably a good move! 

Part of the US 101 freeway in downtown Santa Rosa is situated on a viaduct; it's memorable to me because I bought my first "real" computer from a small shop tucked away under the viaduct on West Third Street while doing a masters' program at Sonoma State back in the late '80's -- a 386-based "DOS monster" with a load of extra memory to handle the statistical programs I needed for my classes.   IIRC, Railroad Square featured quite a few small businesses of various types -- and certainly parking was more convenient down there than in downtown along 4th Street.   

[dbz77]

I noticed something else from the pictures of the Santa Rosa "Freeway".

Apparently, the state of California started their switch from span-wire traffic signal installations to curved mast-arm/double-guy traffic signal installations in the late 1940's.