Why does U.S. 101 downgrade from a freeway to surface streets in Eureka?

[Inyomono395]

Why does U.S. 101 downgrade from a freeway to surface streets in Eureka? Was there ever plans to build a freeway through Eureka?

Are there other examples of cities this size, or bigger, where the main freeway/expressway downgrades to surface streets?

[TheStranger]

Why does U.S. 101 downgrade from a freeway to surface streets in Eureka? Was there ever plans to build a freeway through Eureka?

I recall that that was the case but Eureka rejected both that and a possible bypass.

Are there other examples of cities this size, or bigger, where the main freeway/expressway downgrades to surface streets?

US 101 in San Francisco!

[The Ghostbuster]

Maybe they did it to personally annoy you.

[kkt]

101 is a US route, so the Feds weren't going to pay to upgrade it.
Significant local opposition.
Yes, there have been at least a couple of plans, but given the above the path of least resistance has been not to upgrade it.

[NE2]

101 is a US route, so the Feds weren't going to pay to upgrade it.

Ever hear of federal aid? It's not just on Interstates.

[Max Rockatansky]

Eureka pushed hard not to be bypassed and it has largely worked out for them.  Personally I find US 101 from San Francisco to Eureka to really be overbuilt.  The road is mostly at freeway or near freeway level almost completely and it really wasn't necessary to built it that way.  Not that I'm complaining...US 101 is certainly a much more interesting drive than I-5 which doesn't get interesting until Shasta Lake.  Hell there is even a freeway segment north of Eureka and near Crescent City too.  Even US 199 has what could be considered a close to freeway segment....and 299 now that I think about it.

[nexus73]

There was a plan for a tunnel to carry 101 through Eureka as I recall.  Even that expensive concession was not enough to get those folks behind the Redwood Curtain to agree.

Going north of Eureka, 101 is expressway until the road gets to Arcata.  It is a congested road, designated as a 50 MPH safety corridor (may still be) and heavily patrolled.  Despite this substandard condition, it took a long time to get all the stakeholders to come to Jesus and get this section improved to a freeway standard.  I believe the completion date is either 2019 or 2020.  Caltrans does move slow even on the simple stuff!

When a person sees the contrast between old 101 and the freeway sections that replaced them, it will be obvious that conditions for safe driving were vastly improved.  This highway carries a lot of tourist traffic in addition to the local traffic, which can be quite heavy in places like Eureka and Willets.  Cloverdale was a real mess before their bypass was built and now their town is a lot calmer for traffic flow.  Ever hear the joke phrase "It's too crowded, no one goes there anymore"?  Now with the through traffic removed, a visitor or resident can actually go about their business without getting into traffic snarls.  If bypasses were bad, Arcata and Ukiah would have died decades ago when their 101 freeway bypasses were built.

Rick

[Max Rockatansky]

But California is the only place where you would see an outright freeway way that isolated from another Interstate or freeway out in the boondocks like that.  Almost every other state in the country would give you just a occasional passing lane to get around traffic you lucky.  Even the section from Arcata to Crescent City has some really big sweeping and long four lane expressway sections that hit 65 MPH.  Probably a fair comparison of how bad it could be by contrast would be US 1 out in the Florida Keys where it's 45-55 MPH two-lane grid lock most of the time.  Hell even 299 has a crap ton of passing lanes at least half way to Weaverville.

[opspe]

Well it is a little disconcerting to hit a big divided highway when you're driving south from Oregon, after having been subjected to the "101 crawl".  Much better for freight traffic coming from the Bay Area I would expect, since the railroad isn't in service that's really the best option for serving all those towns.