I-405; the San Diego Freeway

Started by Max Rockatansky, May 07, 2019, 12:51:21 AM

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Max Rockatansky

Recently I drove the entirety of I-405/San Diego Freeway headed southbound.  As per usual I'm working up a blog series on I-405 and it's history back to CA 7/LRN 158.  My full photo set from I-405 can be found below:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmD6EBCW

Given the importance of I-405 I'm making maps showing the evolution from CA 7/LRN 158 to the modern freeway.  I just completed the first three of said maps; the first shows the full extent of CA 7 in 1934 before large chunks were replaced by US 6/US 395:

X1 1934 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

CA 7 on LRN 158 was aligned on Sepulveda Boulevard.  The original definition had CA 7 ended at LRN 60 which was originally CA 3 and became US 101A by 1935.  The 1935 Division of Highways Map of Los Angeles shows Sepulveda Boulevard ending at CA 26/LRN 173 at Pico Boulevard.

X2 1935 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

The 1938 State Highway Map City insert shows CA 7/LRN 158 completed on Sepulveda Boulevard all the way to US 101A.

X3 1938 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr


Max Rockatansky

Found this Lost L.A. article showing the early construction of Sepulveda Boulevard before the state took it over as LRN 158:

https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/how-sepulveda-canyon-became-the-405

TheStranger

Quick question:

What era was the Hawthorne Boulevard/Route 107 corridor part of Route 7?  (Also, interesting to see a 3 digit child route that early in the history of California's numbered roads, excluding the short-lived 440 and 740)

Chris Sampang

Max Rockatansky

#3
It's actually shown on the full version of the 1938 City Insert Map. 

http://www.davidrumsey.com/ll/thumbnailView.html?startUrl=%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2Fluna%2Fservlet%2Fas%2Fsearch%3Fos%3D0%26bs%3D10%26lc%3DRUMSEY~8~1%26q%3DCaltrans%25201938%26sort%3DPub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&r=0&xywh=1298%2C10145%2C1060%2C1877Yeah

I suppose 107 makes sense in the context that 7 it probably would have been easier just to route 7 directly to LRN 60 rather than have it take a wild curve to make it to Torrence.  This 1934 Department of Public Works Map shows 7 on the future route of 107 to Torrence:

https://archive.org/stream/californiahighwa193436calirich#page/n275/mode/2up

Max Rockatansky

Blew up the map snips I did in the original post.  Here is the new map snips showing the progression from LRN 158-to-CA 7-to-I-405 that will be in the upcoming Gribblenation blog:

Z1 1934 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z2 1934 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z3 1934 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z4 1934 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z5 1938 City Insert by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z6 1948 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z7 1952 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z8 1959 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z9 1961 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z10 1963 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z11 1963 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z13 1964 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z12 1964 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z14 1965 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z15 1966 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z16 1967 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z17 1969 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

skluth

^^^^^^^^^

Great portrayal of the development of the 405. Thanks.

TheStranger

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 07, 2019, 01:48:18 PM
It's actually shown on the full version of the 1938 City Insert Map. 

http://www.davidrumsey.com/ll/thumbnailView.html?startUrl=%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2Fluna%2Fservlet%2Fas%2Fsearch%3Fos%3D0%26bs%3D10%26lc%3DRUMSEY~8~1%26q%3DCaltrans%25201938%26sort%3DPub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&r=0&xywh=1298%2C10145%2C1060%2C1877Yeah

I suppose 107 makes sense in the context that 7 it probably would have been easier just to route 7 directly to LRN 60 rather than have it take a wild curve to make it to Torrence.  This 1934 Department of Public Works Map shows 7 on the future route of 107 to Torrence:

https://archive.org/stream/californiahighwa193436calirich#page/n275/mode/2up

Something that just occurred to me:

When Route 107 was part of the original Route 7, the Hawthorne corridor represented one of the best illustrations in Southern California of how the 1934 route numbering system worked geographically!

From west to east:

Route 3 (later US 101A, now Route 1) - Pacific Coast Highway
original Route 7 (now Route 107 to Hawthorne, and paralleled by modern I-405 between Ladera Heights and Hawthorne) - Hawthorne Boulevard
Route 11 (now I-110) - Figueroa Street corridor
Route 15 (later post-1964 Route 7, now I-710) - Atlantic Avenue corridor
Route 19 - Lakewood Boulevard

Route 23 and 27 then started another iteration of the north-south every-four-numbers grid, then with 31 skipped for some reason, 35 (on the corridor later supplanted by I-605) and 39 continued the pattern.

(It just occurred to me the same exact thing happened in the Bay Area: Route 1 as the westernmost route, then Route 5 (now Route 35), then Route 9, then the original Route 13 (later modern Route 17/I-880), then Route 21 (now I-680).  However, after that, 25/29/33/37 don't have quite the same geographic tie, making me wonder if this type of clustering in 1934 focused on urban areas)
Chris Sampang

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: TheStranger on May 09, 2019, 01:13:47 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 07, 2019, 01:48:18 PM
It's actually shown on the full version of the 1938 City Insert Map. 

http://www.davidrumsey.com/ll/thumbnailView.html?startUrl=%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2Fluna%2Fservlet%2Fas%2Fsearch%3Fos%3D0%26bs%3D10%26lc%3DRUMSEY~8~1%26q%3DCaltrans%25201938%26sort%3DPub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&r=0&xywh=1298%2C10145%2C1060%2C1877Yeah

I suppose 107 makes sense in the context that 7 it probably would have been easier just to route 7 directly to LRN 60 rather than have it take a wild curve to make it to Torrence.  This 1934 Department of Public Works Map shows 7 on the future route of 107 to Torrence:

https://archive.org/stream/californiahighwa193436calirich#page/n275/mode/2up

Something that just occurred to me:

When Route 107 was part of the original Route 7, the Hawthorne corridor represented one of the best illustrations in Southern California of how the 1934 route numbering system worked geographically!

From west to east:

Route 3 (later US 101A, now Route 1) - Pacific Coast Highway
original Route 7 (now Route 107 to Hawthorne, and paralleled by modern I-405 between Ladera Heights and Hawthorne) - Hawthorne Boulevard
Route 11 (now I-110) - Figueroa Street corridor
Route 15 (later post-1964 Route 7, now I-710) - Atlantic Avenue corridor
Route 19 - Lakewood Boulevard

Route 23 and 27 then started another iteration of the north-south every-four-numbers grid, then with 31 skipped for some reason, 35 (on the corridor later supplanted by I-605) and 39 continued the pattern.

(It just occurred to me the same exact thing happened in the Bay Area: Route 1 as the westernmost route, then Route 5 (now Route 35), then Route 9, then the original Route 13 (later modern Route 17/I-880), then Route 21 (now I-680).  However, after that, 25/29/33/37 don't have quite the same geographic tie, making me wonder if this type of clustering in 1934 focused on urban areas)

The whole convention was a state wide thing in geographic clusters in the original 1934 Highway grid design.  My personal favorite is 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36 and 44 gradually ascending northward from Stockton.

Max Rockatansky

Just finished my blog on I-405/San Diego Freeway.  I wanted to go with a different angle with I-405 and go more into the backstory of the original CA 7.  The original CA 7 was a massive State Highway which was largely replaced by US Route extensions in the 1930s.  CA 7 played a huge part in getting transportation through Sepulveda Pass via Legislative Route Number 158.  I find it interesting to see what was a somewhat minor corridor and relative late addition to the State Highway system grow rapidly into one of the most important commuter routes in the entire State.  I included close to twenty vintage map snips regarding the development of I-405 and a couple articles regarding the Carmageddon events involving the 1960 Mulholland Drive Bridge being replaced:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/interstate-405-carmageddon-on-san-diego.html

GaryA

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 09, 2019, 06:07:04 PM
Just finished my blog on I-405/San Diego Freeway.  I wanted to go with a different angle with I-405 and go more into the backstory of the original CA 7.  The original CA 7 was a massive State Highway which was largely replaced by US Route extensions in the 1930s.  CA 7 played a huge part in getting transportation through Sepulveda Pass via Legislative Route Number 158.  I find it interesting to see what was a somewhat minor corridor and relative late addition to the State Highway system grow rapidly into one of the most important commuter routes in the entire State.  I included close to twenty vintage map snips regarding the development of I-405 and a couple articles regarding the Carmageddon events involving the 1960 Mulholland Drive Bridge being replaced:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/interstate-405-carmageddon-on-san-diego.html

It's probably worth noting that County Highway N7 is a further extension of CA 107 southward from CA 1 to the end of the road at Palos Verdes Dr.  I don't know whether the N7 number was a deliberate reference to CA 107, but it sounds plausible (N7 was defined long after 107 was split off from 7).

Not sure how well it's signed these days, it's been quite a while since I was down that direction and most county highway signage is dwindling. 

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: GaryA on May 09, 2019, 06:25:11 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 09, 2019, 06:07:04 PM
Just finished my blog on I-405/San Diego Freeway.  I wanted to go with a different angle with I-405 and go more into the backstory of the original CA 7.  The original CA 7 was a massive State Highway which was largely replaced by US Route extensions in the 1930s.  CA 7 played a huge part in getting transportation through Sepulveda Pass via Legislative Route Number 158.  I find it interesting to see what was a somewhat minor corridor and relative late addition to the State Highway system grow rapidly into one of the most important commuter routes in the entire State.  I included close to twenty vintage map snips regarding the development of I-405 and a couple articles regarding the Carmageddon events involving the 1960 Mulholland Drive Bridge being replaced:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/interstate-405-carmageddon-on-san-diego.html

It's probably worth noting that County Highway N7 is a further extension of CA 107 southward from CA 1 to the end of the road at Palos Verdes Dr.  I don't know whether the N7 number was a deliberate reference to CA 107, but it sounds plausible (N7 was defined long after 107 was split off from 7).

Not sure how well it's signed these days, it's been quite a while since I was down that direction and most county highway signage is dwindling.

Its possible since there County Routes out there like J59 and J132 which are deliberate extensions of State Highways.  Apparently N7 was signed in 1964 which makes me think someone knew what they were doing picking said number.

Bickendan

CA/LRN 95 is what became US 395, it looks from the maps above. Is 395 more related to this LRN than to US 95 then, as there's no direct relation to US 95 outside of US 195?

Max Rockatansky

#12
Quote from: Bickendan on May 09, 2019, 08:36:21 PM
CA/LRN 95 is what became US 395, it looks from the maps above. Is 395 more related to this LRN than to US 95 then, as there's no direct relation to US 95 outside of US 195?

LRN 95 was actually a very small state highway, CA 7 was on the majority of LRN 23.  Strangely US 95 took over the route of the first CA 195, I always thought that was an ironic numbering.

Bickendan

OK, so CA 95 + most of CA 7 became US 395 (and US 6 the southern portion of CA 7), and CA 195 became US 95, while LRN 95 was another (short) animal? 

TheStranger

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 09, 2019, 06:02:04 PM

The whole convention was a state wide thing in geographic clusters in the original 1934 Highway grid design.  My personal favorite is 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36 and 44 gradually ascending northward from Stockton.
It's amazing how a couple of still-extant east-west state routes in Southern California also fall under this every-four grid, but in a southward ascending sequence:

Route 2 (partially also one-time US 66) - Santa Monica Boulevard
6 - Olympic Boulevard corridor, later Route 26 after US 6 was commissioned, then I-10 supplanted it.  (Wonder if the 26 number is related to it being formerly 6, kinda like 107 was derived from 7)
10 - Firestone Boulevard/Manchester Avenue.  Later given designation of Route 42 in the late 1950s when I-10 was created.
14 - Artesia Boulevard.  Subsumed by Route 91 in 1964 which took over part of old US 91, old Route 18, and this road.
Route 18 - the Riverside Freeway corridor at the time.  Interesting to note that the existing part of Route 18 after 1964 includes the original segment of road from Victorville east to Big Bear Lake, but this portion of road that was correct within the 1934 grid has not been part of the route for decades.
Route 22 - Garden Grove Boulevard and later the parallel Garden Grove Freeway.  Still pretty much as it was originally defined!
26 - Bolsa Avenue.  Looks to be one of the earliest signed routes removed from the state system (when the number was recycled along Olympic several years later), with Bolsa no longer being continuous through the city of Seal Beach due to a naval facility established around World War II.  Cahighways does identify LRN 183 though as possibly along Westminster Boulevard, which is still a through route in that area.
Chris Sampang

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: TheStranger on May 10, 2019, 04:16:26 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 09, 2019, 06:02:04 PM

The whole convention was a state wide thing in geographic clusters in the original 1934 Highway grid design.  My personal favorite is 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36 and 44 gradually ascending northward from Stockton.
It's amazing how a couple of still-extant east-west state routes in Southern California also fall under this every-four grid, but in a southward ascending sequence:

Route 2 (partially also one-time US 66) - Santa Monica Boulevard
6 - Olympic Boulevard corridor, later Route 26 after US 6 was commissioned, then I-10 supplanted it.  (Wonder if the 26 number is related to it being formerly 6, kinda like 107 was derived from 7)
10 - Firestone Boulevard/Manchester Avenue.  Later given designation of Route 42 in the late 1950s when I-10 was created.
14 - Artesia Boulevard.  Subsumed by Route 91 in 1964 which took over part of old US 91, old Route 18, and this road.
Route 18 - the Riverside Freeway corridor at the time.  Interesting to note that the existing part of Route 18 after 1964 includes the original segment of road from Victorville east to Big Bear Lake, but this portion of road that was correct within the 1934 grid has not been part of the route for decades.
Route 22 - Garden Grove Boulevard and later the parallel Garden Grove Freeway.  Still pretty much as it was originally defined!
26 - Bolsa Avenue.  Looks to be one of the earliest signed routes removed from the state system (when the number was recycled along Olympic several years later), with Bolsa no longer being continuous through the city of Seal Beach due to a naval facility established around World War II.  Cahighways does identify LRN 183 though as possibly along Westminster Boulevard, which is still a through route in that area.

Some of the triple digits has the pattern too like 104, 108, 120, 132, 140, 152, 168 and 180 ascending southward.  I argue 178, 190 and 198 is a small small reverse of the same pattern facing northward. 

SoCal Kid

Man, looking at old maps and comparing them to today. Can be quite bizarre.
Are spurs of spurs of spurs of loops of spurs of loops a thing? ;)

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: SoCal Kid on May 13, 2019, 08:13:09 PM
Man, looking at old maps and comparing them to today. Can be quite bizarre.

Essentially almost every road before the 1930s followed the terrain.  Some of the really old routes like the Dutch Flat and Donner Lake Road resemble more of a hiking trail today than a road someone would drive on.  Anything pre-1940 tends to capture my interest for a visit. 

bing101

Dang I never knew CA-7 went as far north as Alturas and in the alignment where US-395 is at today.

Plus CA-14 was in the alignment of old CA-7 too in the Santa Clarita area until US-6, took that spot.

TheStranger

Quote from: bing101 on May 18, 2019, 07:09:20 PM

Plus CA-14 was in the alignment of old CA-7 too in the Santa Clarita area until US-6, took that spot.

Other way around:

The original designation for Sierra Highway et al. was Route 7 from 1934-1936, then US 6 from 1936-1964, then the Antelope Valley Freeway in that corridor was built as Route 14.  (Though there is the short portion of Sierra Highway that received that infamous Route 14U designation)
Chris Sampang

skluth

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 09, 2019, 12:38:19 AM
Blew up the map snips I did in the original post.  Here is the new map snips showing the progression from LRN 158-to-CA 7-to-I-405 that will be in the upcoming Gribblenation blog:

Z9 1961 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z10 1963 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr


Great stuff as usual, Max. I'm curious if anyone knows about the LRN 160 going NW from Hollywood in these two map snips. It looks like a highway, possibly a freeway, was once planned through Laurel Canyon.

nexus73

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 13, 2019, 08:34:35 PM
Quote from: SoCal Kid on May 13, 2019, 08:13:09 PM
Man, looking at old maps and comparing them to today. Can be quite bizarre.

Essentially almost every road before the 1930s followed the terrain.  Some of the really old routes like the Dutch Flat and Donner Lake Road resemble more of a hiking trail today than a road someone would drive on.  Anything pre-1940 tends to capture my interest for a visit. 

Then you will love driving the old 101 sections from Brookings to Reedsport.  Talk about following the terrain!  Some beautiful banked corners are on the section between North Bend and Hauser.  A few straight stretches combine with plenty of curves to show how the old times were.

Then you get some early postwar expressway to check out between Coos Bay and Coquille.  Between the parts which ODOT modernized and the original sections, you can get quite the contrast between highway building then and now.

Rick
US 101 is THE backbone of the Pacific coast from Bandon OR to Willits CA.  Industry, tourism and local traffic would be gone or severely crippled without it being in functioning condition in BOTH states.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: skluth on May 19, 2019, 02:34:21 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on May 09, 2019, 12:38:19 AM
Blew up the map snips I did in the original post.  Here is the new map snips showing the progression from LRN 158-to-CA 7-to-I-405 that will be in the upcoming Gribblenation blog:

Z9 1961 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Z10 1963 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr


Great stuff as usual, Max. I'm curious if anyone knows about the LRN 160 going NW from Hollywood in these two map snips. It looks like a highway, possibly a freeway, was once planned through Laurel Canyon.

That's unbuilt Laurel Canyon Freeway, the LRN dates back to 1933:

https://www.cahighways.org/153-160.html#160

skluth


SoCal Kid

Only two exits were built for Laurel Cyn Fwy (maybe 3, dont quote me on that)
Are spurs of spurs of spurs of loops of spurs of loops a thing? ;)



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