CALIFORNIA'S FREEWAY ERA IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Freeways have been built in virtually every American city, but the earliest and boldest plans for urban freeways were made in California and Los Angeles particularly. During the postwar years, California set the pace and the standard for metropolitan highway development in the U.S. The goal of this report is to re-examine the history of California's freeway era. It examines how California's commitment to freeway development was reached and how well it has weathered the test of time. Included are the following chapters: (1) The California Innovation; (2) The Antecedents of California's Freeway Plans; (3) A Plan That Fit; (4) Rapid Transit for a Horizontal Metropolis; (5) The Great Depression and the Waning of the Streetcar Era; (6) The Depression, The New Deal, and Road Money; (7) Commitments Are Reached; (8) From Parkway Transit to Thruway Traffic; (9) In Los Angeles, Freeways for Mass Transportation; (10) San Francisco Repudiates Its Freeway Plan; (11) Retrenchment; and (12) Vehicular Overload.

• Corporate Authors:

  University of California, Berkeley

  Institute of Transportation Studies Library
  Berkeley, CA  United States  94720

  California Department of Transportation

  1120 N Street
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95814

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Jones Jr, D W
• Publication Date: 1989-6

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 335 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Freeways; History
• Geographic Terms: California
• Subject Areas: Highways; History; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00491930
• Record Type: Publication
• Contract Numbers: RTA 13945-80B299
• Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Mar 31 1990 12:00AM