However it was the city of San Luis Obispo that cancelled the original freeway to U.S. 101 not Caltrans.
Let's not be pedantic. Oh well, I'm not feeling good today, so let's.
What does it mean when we say a freeway has been cancelled? It could mean many things:
- A bill was passed in the legislature removing the definition of the route.
- The California Transportation Commission (CTC) voted to rescind the freeway definition.
- The CTC voted to relinquish the route back to some other entity, or just vacate the route.
- The CTC never voted to fund construction of the route.
- The CTC voted to stop funding construction of the route.
- The CTC voted to stop some earlier phase, such as right of way acquisition or planning and engineering or environmental studies.
What do all these things have in common? They are actions
by the state, because, of course, these are state highways.
So let's go to the quoted material and look at what was said.
However it was the city of San Luis Obispo that cancelled the original freeway to U.S. 101 not Caltrans.
The City of SLO can't cancel the freeway. They could vote to cancel the freeway agreement. They could convince the CTC to cancel the freeway agreement. They could convince the CTC not to fund some construction phase. They could have their legislator introduce a bill to change the SHC or authorize relinquishment of a portion of the highway.
In this case, Route 1 still exists. The portion in question is defined as "From Route 101 in San Luis Obispo to Route 280 south of San Francisco along the coast via Cambria, San Simeon, and Santa Cruz. "
As for the freeway in SLO, my pages note:
The portion of this segment from San Simeon to Carmel was added to the state highway system in 1919 as the first segment of LRN 56. It was extended southward to Cambria in 1921 (Chapter 837). It was extended further southward to San Luis Obispo in 1931 (Chapter 82). It was also extended northerly (again as LRN 56) to San Francisco in 1933 (Chapter 767).
In 1934, this segment was signed as part of signed Route 1 (Jct. US 101 at Las Cruces, via Cambria, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Pt. Reyes, and Westport to US 101 at Fortuna).
I don't have a record of a freeway portion of Route 1 in the area, nor do I know if a freeway agreement was ever executed with the City of SLO and the freeway just never constructed, although my pages note that SHC 253.2 defines Route 1 as freeway from Route 101 near San Luis Obispo to San Simeon, and that definition was never rescinded since it was added to the Freeway and Expressway system in 1959 (Chapter 1062).