Vintage Bay Area freeway videos

[TheStranger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZOsWhrN_S0 - Frontage road view (Cypress Street/today's Mandela Parkway) of the Cypress Freeway several weeks before collapsing in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which was originally built as Route 17/Business US 50 (and later was I-880).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAbINx4Y84w - oddly edited video of the Embarcadero Freeway (I-480/later Route 480)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZkRml9jU4M - eastbound 480 clip: note the 1960s era "BAY BRIDGE/BAYSHORE FREEWAY" sign at the western terminus at Broadway, instead of any mention of I-80 or US 101 (the Bayshore Freeway not even coming up for another 4 miles!), as well as how slow a 55 MPH speed limit felt.

Later on is some westbound footage starting on the Bay Bridge, which shows that I-80 USED to actually be (correctly) signed on the westbound James Lick Skyway!  (at 3:48 in)  The signage hints at an 80/101 concurrency in the Civic Center area, which however has not existed since 1968, when the never-built extension from the Central Freeway west along Fell Street was removed from I-80's routing.  My guess is that this dates back to 1964-1965, and was replaced with (incorrect) "101 San Jose" signage (note the lack of "TO" that should be used here, as is standard for CalTrans) after the earthquake.

The "Ninth Street/Civic Center" sign at the very last exit for I-80 is the same one that is still up today.

Southbound signage at the Alemany Maze resembles today's arrangement in text and alignment, but is now on retroreflective signs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TIjoedyjcI - short clip going westbound on 480 (the lower deck)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwR-ID5ESxM - 1990s video of the 101/80 split, note that 101 is correctly given both lanes on the left-hand side in the older signage, while today the second US 101 through lane from the Bayshore to the Central is signed only for 9th Street (but still continues onto the Central).

[mapman]

Wow do those videos of the Cypress and Embarcadero Freeways bring back memories!  I clearly recall being driven along both of those freeways by my parents -- especially the Cypress -- which made their collapse and removal rather eerie for me for the first few months. 

[TheStranger]

Wow do those videos of the Cypress and Embarcadero Freeways bring back memories!  I clearly recall being driven along both of those freeways by my parents -- especially the Cypress -- which made their collapse and removal rather eerie for me for the first few months. 

I never got to go on either (though I have driven on today's realigned Cypress Freeway a couple of times) - however, I HAVE been on the original, now-demolished ramp for 4th Street from I-280 north, where the stub that would have continued along the waterfront to the 480/80 junction ended in mid-air. 

If I'm not mistaken, Pac Bell Park sits on what was once right of way for the unbuilt 280 (which was proposed 1964-1968 as the northernmost segment of Route 87).

[myosh_tino]

If I had to venture a guess, the unbuilt section of I-280 would probably have followed King Street and The Embarcadero.  Pac Bell SBC AT&T Park (they should just call it Willie Mays Park and do away with the corporate sponsors!) would have butted up against the freeway.

[TheStranger]

If I had to venture a guess, the unbuilt section of I-280 would probably have followed King Street and The Embarcadero.  Pac Bell SBC AT&T Park (they should just call it Willie Mays Park and do away with the corporate sponsors!) would have butted up against the freeway.

Here's a 1960s map showing what was then proposed as Route 87 (and later became proposed, but never built, as 280) along the Embarcadero south of the Bay Bridge:

[myosh_tino]

^^^ But with regards to AT&T Park, the map doesn't show where the freeway make it's westward turn to connect with the existing I-280 freeway.  What that map does show is the freeway following The Embarcadero.

[TheStranger]

^^^ But with regards to AT&T Park, the map doesn't show where the freeway make it's westward turn to connect with the existing I-280 freeway.  What that map does show is the freeway following The Embarcadero.

This map on Mark Furqueron's site does show the freeway being a block south of King, at 3th Street, in the 1970s (which is when construction stopped, leaving all northbound traffic to exit at 4th) -

http://members.cox.net/mkpl2/hist/75mp-SF_RMc.jpg

I'm not sure if the freeway would have then cut across a block north to overlay King/Embarcadero at that point, or if it would have hugged the waterfront until the bend in The Embarcadero.

At the Army Street/I-280 junction (what would have been the 87/82 interchange if 87 had been completed this far north), I-280's control city is "Sixth Street" - which I think dates back to this era.

The following map shows the planned ROW for 280 in 1972:
http://members.cox.net/mkpl2/hist/map-SF72-101CentralFwy.jpg

[TheStranger]

Here's a 5-part series on the Cypress Freeway being built (then part of Route 17 and a mile of Business US 50, later I-880) in Oakland -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMnXZiw3hJk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfyZqkiGAdA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoOQ7NLE4cY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_uC17QuPIo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZNBzfTAbFw

Lots of annoying wise-by-hindsight comments in most of those videos though, as if today's standards and understanding of how to build a highway were in complete effect back then.