CA 242

[Max Rockatansky]

I recently drove the entire 3 miles of the CA 242 Freeway near Concord from I-680 north to CA 4.  While the present route of CA 242 really isn't much of anything the route is a segment of CA 24.  Interestingly State Highway maps show the route of CA 242 still signed as CA 24 up until the 1988 edition.  There was a wider bypass route of Concord that was part of LRN 256 that was meant to be part of CA 24 but it was ultimately never built.

https://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2019/02/california-state-route-242.html

My photo set for CA 242 can be found below:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmAnPvmD

[bing101]

I remember CA-24 was co signed with CA-4 in the Diablo Valley area though in old maps once CA-24 did touch CA-4 in Antioch.

[sparker]

Originally SSR 24 (pre-'64) comprised CA 24, I-680 (Walnut Creek-Concord), CA 242, CA 4 (on a multiplex), and all of CA 160 north into Sacramento before leaving northward on alignments that shifted about 1958.  It was truncated back to the present 4/242 junction in '64 as far as signage was concerned, although a more direct CA 24 route was planned northeast from the present 24/680 interchange in Walnut Creek to CA 4 between Pittsburg and Antioch; it's still on the books, but an exact route was never adopted nor any parallel surface route brought into the state highway system.  From 1964 through early 1987 CA 24 was co-signed along I-680 north to present CA 242, then over CA 242 north to a terminus at CA 4.  The Caltrans roadside county mileage posts as well as bridge inventory signs did indicate that present 242 was after '64 legally designated as CA 242 albeit signed as CA 24.  The signage change occurred in early 1987 primarily to eliminate the multiplex with I-680.