First lengths of freeway

[J N Winkler]

Edit:  I am now going through CHPW June 1939, which has a feature on the "Presidio Approach to Golden Gate" which was then under construction.  It is therefore definite that the Doyle Drive freeway was finished after the Distribution Structure.

Just clarifying:

Is that a definitive reference to Doyle Drive, or to the then-under-construction Route 1 tunnel?

That particular article references the tunnel under the Presidio golf course (i.e., Route 1).  A later article (from early 1940) refers to it as still under construction, so at this point I can't tell whether it predates the Arroyo Seco Parkway.  I expect to encounter a later article on the opening of the Arroyo Seco--at the moment I am going through CHPW issues in chronological order, page by page, and I am up to March 1940.  This issue contains an article on channelization which is illustrated by a plan of a flat channelized intersection on the Waldo Point access road, so I think that length of US 101 just north of the Golden Gate must have been upgraded to freeway later.

It is actually not that easy to decode references to early construction in CHPW because the toponymy has changed considerably.  US and state sign routes were novel back in the 1930's; they have now become ingrained.  Articles were written by Division of Highways staff, so they tend to use legislative route numbers and construction programming terminology in lieu of places and route names and numbers that would be recognized today--e.g., "New unit of Route 2 through Gaviota Pass opens."  This is all on top of the fact that 1930's and earlier issues of CHPW describe improvements which have been superseded by later upgrades (often to full freeway) and thus are not straightforwardly recognizable from Google Maps.

[TheStranger]

Edit:  I am now going through CHPW June 1939, which has a feature on the "Presidio Approach to Golden Gate" which was then under construction.  It is therefore definite that the Doyle Drive freeway was finished after the Distribution Structure.

Just clarifying:

Is that a definitive reference to Doyle Drive, or to the then-under-construction Route 1 tunnel?

That particular article references the tunnel under the Presidio golf course (i.e., Route 1).  A later article (from early 1940) refers to it as still under construction, so at this point I can't tell whether it predates the Arroyo Seco Parkway.

I've referred to it in the past, but remembered this map from 1938:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/octoferret/1221566788/sizes/l/in/photostream/

This old Standard Oil piece shows Route 1 in the Presidio under construction, but Doyle Drive as complete.

[NE2]

It is actually not that easy to decode references to early construction in CHPW because the toponymy has changed considerably.  US and state sign routes were novel back in the 1930's; they have now become ingrained.  Articles were written by Division of Highways staff, so they tend to use legislative route numbers and construction programming terminology in lieu of places and route names and numbers that would be recognized today--e.g., "New unit of Route 2 through Gaviota Pass opens."

You may find this useful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_U.S._Roads/California/History/Legislative_definitions_(1963)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_U.S._Roads/California/History/When_each_route_was_added_to_the_state_highway_system (sorted by current route)