65 Street Expressway Sacramento

[bing101]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=831746203521595&set=oa.253406361529048&type=3&theater


Its not a scenic road but its an arterial street that goes from the Elvas Avenue to Florin rd. I like to know the history of this road and was there a plan for Sacramento County and City to have an expressway system that resembles Santa Clara County.


I know that there is another expressway in Sacramento called "Arden expressway" but its an arterial too.

[Concrete Bob]

Technically, the 65th Street Expressway runs from 14th Avenue in the north through Stockton Boulevard on the sounth end.  The rest of the road is just 65th Street.  The expressway portion of 65th Street does not have any driveways, but does have plenty of cross streets. 

The 65th Street Expressway was originally constructed around 1961.  The section from 14th Avenue to Fruitridge Road was a divided four lane road, while the rest of the road was two lanes undivided south to Stockton Boulevard.  The additonal two lanes were added in the late 1970s or early 1980s. 

I have a November 1957 planning map of Sacramento from De Leuw and Cather and Company which was a result of a study commissioned by the City and County of Sacramento.  De Leuw and Cather recommended that the 65th Street Expressway have grade-separated interchanges at Fruitridge Road, 47th Avenue/Elder Creek Road and at Stockton Boulevard, where the expressway would end. 

While the De Leuw and Cather study recommended a system of expressways in addition to a system of freeways, not all of their recommendations were adopted.  Sacramento County had planned a few expressways in the 1960s, but they were not inter-connected or as extensive as Santa Clara County.  Here is a listing of the expressways that were on planning maps in the 1960s :

Alta Arden Expressway - It opened to traffic in 1971.  Over the years, driveways and parking lot access has been added on this arterial.  There were a lot of driveways and access at the far east end of the road between Watt and Morse Avenues, but a few have been added since then.  It's still a lot faster than Arden Way, but there eight signalized intersections in roughly 2.5 miles. 

Elk Grove - Florin Expressway - This one was supposed to run from a freeway-ized Jackson Highway (which would have started at the Watt-US 50 interchange) south to Florin Road, along what is now South Watt Avenue.  Existing plans are to widen South Watt to a four to six lane divided arterial in the next few years.

Scott Road Expressway - The first 1.5 miles of this one were built as a two-lane expressway back in 1965 when US 50 was converted to freeway in Folsom.  It currently runs south to White Rock Road and ends.  The completed two lane portion was supposed to be widened to four lane-divided, and then eventually extended south the the freeway-ized Jackson Highway.  This proposal was killed by Sacramento County supervisors at the request of environmental activists around late 1972 or so.

The De Leuw and Cather study also recommended expressways for Fair Oaks Boulevard, Madison Avenue, Elkhorn Boulevard, Florin Road, Sunrise Boulevard and portions of El Centro Boulevard south of Interstate 5.  I don't believe Sacramento County ever intended most of those routes to become expressways, but most of the roads became major arterials. 
 

   

[TheStranger]

I have a November 1957 planning map of Sacramento from De Leuw and Cather and Company which was a result of a study commissioned by the City and County of Sacramento.  De Leuw and Cather recommended that the 65th Street Expressway have grade-separated interchanges at Fruitridge Road, 47th Avenue/Elder Creek Road and at Stockton Boulevard, where the expressway would end. 

Would love to see a scan of this!  Had not heard of this project before (which seems entirely separate from the freeway proposals of the era).

Elk Grove - Florin Expressway - This one was supposed to run from a freeway-ized Jackson Highway (which would have started at the Watt-US 50 interchange) south to Florin Road, along what is now South Watt Avenue.  Existing plans are to widen South Watt to a four to six lane divided arterial in the next few years.

I know CalTrans planning documents in the 1970s had South Watt between Folsom and Jackson Highway as a possible realigned Route 16, though that ended up as a municipal street with 16 remaining on the Howe/Folsom/Jackson alignment.  Until last year it basically was a freeway between Folsom Boulevard and Fair Oaks Boulevard, though this is no longer entirely the case with a parclo replacing the cloverleaf at US 50.

The De Leuw and Cather study also recommended expressways for Fair Oaks Boulevard, Madison Avenue, Elkhorn Boulevard, Florin Road, Sunrise Boulevard and portions of El Centro Boulevard south of Interstate 5.  I don't believe Sacramento County ever intended most of those routes to become expressways, but most of the roads became major arterials. 
 

Interesting how some of those correspond roughly to other projects:

while El Centro south of 5 (the former 24, later 70/99) has since become a side road into residential developments, there has been a proposal in the past for Airport Boulevard to be extended further towards South Natomas as a parallel corridor to 5.

Elkhorn Boulevard/Greenback Lane as an expressway is roughly along the original (1960s-1990s) proposed Route 102, before that was redefined in local planning as a more direct route from Auburn to the 99/5 junction in Natomas.

Sunrise of course was (at least marked on bridges) unsigned Route 65 around the vicinity of US 50 in the 1970s.

The concept of a Madison Avenue expressway roughly (but not exactly) mirrors what was planned for Route 244 (which would have followed a corridor roughly parallel to Winding Way in Fair Oaks).

[Concrete Bob]

I agree !! I believe many of the expressways in the 1957 plan were replaced with the State of California's 1959 Freeway and Expressway plan, such as Routes 65, 102, 143 and 244. 

[TheStranger]

I agree !! I believe many of the expressways in the 1957 plan were replaced with the State of California's 1959 Freeway and Expressway plan, such as Routes 65, 102, 143 and 244. 

Would you say that the unbuilt 148 basically is a later take on the east-west route that a Florin Road expressway would have been?

In any case, a map scan of this would be phenomenal.

[Concrete Bob]

Unfortunately, I had the map profesionally mounted and framed after I got it for a birthday present way back in 2002, so I don't think I could scan it.  Sorry about that !!

While Route 148 did not come about until the 1959 implementation of the California Freeway and Expressway plan, there were conceptual plans to have 148 run near Fruitridge Road prior to that time.  Daniel Faigin's excellent website has a planning map (that appears to be from the late 1950s) showing 148 running near Fruitridge Road.  Check it out:

http://www.cahighways.org/maps-sac-fwy.html

The De Leuw and Cather map includes the 148 freeway (un-numbered) with a partial cloverleaf interchange at Interstate 5 and a full cloverleaf at 99.  The proposed route ran through some very heavily-developed land. 

When the State of California finally adopted an actual route for 148 in 1963, they wisely chose the route that became Consumnes River Boulevard, which was out in the middle of nowhere back then.  In 1974 Caltrans abandoned the plans for 148 freeway along the Consumnes River/ Calvine Road corridor. 

Route 148 is still on the legislative books, so it might wind up signed along the Capital Southeast Connector.   But there is no indication that the local authorities responsible for its construction intend to sign the route as Route 148. 

[andy3175]

This is great stuff; thank you Concrete Bob!

[TheStranger]

http://www.cahighways.org/maps-sac-fwy.html

The De Leuw and Cather map includes the 148 freeway (un-numbered) with a partial cloverleaf interchange at Interstate 5 and a full cloverleaf at 99.  The proposed route ran through some very heavily-developed land. 

When the State of California finally adopted an actual route for 148 in 1963, they wisely chose the route that became Consumnes River Boulevard, which was out in the middle of nowhere back then.  In 1974 Caltrans abandoned the plans for 148 freeway along the Consumnes River/ Calvine Road corridor. 

That map actually seems to show it a bit north of Calvine, and a tad south of Mack - not quite the 1963 adopted corridor, but quite far from Fruitridge (and far from Florin) relatively speaking.  Much of that area is now the North Laguna neighborhood of Sacramento west of 99.

The Cosumnes/Calvine corridor is pretty undeveloped west of Bruceville Road (which is why at least a surface street extension west to 5 and Route 160/Freeport Boulevard is still being discussed in recent years).