 Arroyo Seco Parkway | |
|---|---|
| Pasadena Freeway Part of HistoricUS Route 66 | |
 Arroyo Seco Parkway highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained byCaltrans | |
| Length | 8.162 mi[1] (13.135 km) |
| History | Opened in 1940; renamed in 1954; name reverted in 2010 |
| Tourist routes |   Arroyo Seco Parkway Scenic Byway |
| Restrictions | No trucks over 3 tons (including buses, unless authorized by the California Public Utilities Commission)[2] |
| Major junctions | |
| South end |   US 101 /SR 110 inLos Angeles |
| North end | Glenarm Street inPasadena |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Counties | Los Angeles |
| Highway system | |
| Southern California freeways | |
Arroyo Seco Parkway Historic District | |
| NRHP reference No. | 10001198[3] |
| Added to NRHP | February 17, 2011 |
TheArroyo Seco Parkway, also known as thePasadena Freeway, is one of the oldestfreeways in theUnited States. It connectsLos Angeles withPasadena alongside theArroyo Seco seasonal river. Mostly opened in 1940, it represents the transitional phase between early parkways and later freeways. It conformed to modern standards when it was built, but is now regarded as a narrow, outdated roadway.[4] A 1953 extension brought the south end to theFour Level Interchange indowntown Los Angeles and a connection with the rest of the freeway system.
The road remains largely as it was on opening day, though the plants in itsmedian have given way to a steelguard rail, and most recently toconcrete barriers, and it now carries the designationState Route 110, not historicU.S. Route 66. Between 1954 and 2010, it was designated the Pasadena Freeway. In 2010, as part of plans to revitalize its scenic value and improve safety, theCalifornia Department of Transportation (Caltrans) restored the roadway's original name.[5] All of its original bridges remain, including four that predate the parkway itself, built across the Arroyo Seco before the 1930s. The road has a crash rate roughly twice the rate of other freeways, largely due to an outdated design lacking in acceleration and deceleration lanes.[6]
The Arroyo Seco Parkway is designated aState Scenic Highway,National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, andNational Scenic Byway. It was listed in theNational Register of Historic Places in 2011.
The six-lane Arroyo Seco Parkway (part ofState Route 110) begins at theFour Level Interchange, a symmetricalstack interchange on the north side ofdowntown Los Angeles that connects the Pasadena (SR 110 north),Harbor (SR 110 south), Hollywood (US 101 north), andSanta Ana (US 101 south) Freeways. The first interchange is with the north end ofFigueroa Street at Alpine Street, and the freeway then meets the north end ofHill Street at a complicated junction that provides access toDodger Stadium. Beyond Hill Street, SR 110 temporarily widens to four northbound and five southbound lanes as it enters the hillyElysian Park, where the northbound lanes pass through the fourFigueroa Street Tunnels and the higher southbound lanes pass through acut and over low areas on bridges. One interchange, with Solano Avenue and Amador Street, is located between the first and second tunnels. Just beyond the last tunnel is a northbound left exit and corresponding southbound right entrance forRiverside Drive and the northboundGolden State Freeway (I-5). Immediately after those ramps, the Arroyo Seco Parkway crosses a pair of three-lane bridges over theLos Angeles River just northwest of its confluence with theArroyo Seco, onerail line on each bank, and Avenue 19 andSan Fernando Road on the north bank. A single onramp from San Fernando Road joins SR 110 northbound as it passes under I-5, and a northbound left exit and southbound right entrance connect to the north segment ofFigueroa Street. Here the original 1940 freeway, mostly built along the west bank of the Arroyo Seco, begins as the southbound lanes curve from their 1943 alignment over the Los Angeles River into the original alignment next to the northbound lanes.[7]
As the original freeway begins, it passes under an extension to the 1925Avenue 26 Bridge, one of four bridges over the Arroyo Seco that predate the parkway's construction. A southbound exit and northbound entrance at Avenue 26 complement the Figueroa Street ramps, and similar ramps connect Pasadena to both directions of I-5. SR 110 continues northeast alongside the Arroyo Seco, passing under theA Linelight rail and Pasadena Avenue before junctioning Avenue 43 at the first of manyfolded diamond interchanges that feature extremely tight (right-in/right-out) curves on the exit and entrance ramps. The next interchange, at Avenue 52, is a normaldiamond interchange, and soon after is Via Marisol, where the northbound side has standard diamond ramps, but on the southbound side Avenue 57 acts as a folded diamond connection. The 1926Avenue 60 Bridge is the second original bridge, and is another folded diamond, with southbound traffic using Shults and Benner Streets to connect. The 1895Santa Fe Arroyo Seco Railroad Bridge (nowA Line) lies just beyond, and after that is ahalf diamond interchange at Marmion Way/Avenue 64 with access towards Los Angeles only. After the freeway passes under the 1912York Boulevard Bridge, the pre-parkway bridge, southbound connections between the freeway and cross street can be made via Salonica Street. As the Arroyo Seco curves north to pass west of downtown Pasadena, the Arroyo Seco Parkway instead curves east, crossing the stream intoSouth Pasadena. A single northbound offramp on the Los Angeles side of the bridge curves left under the bridge to Bridewell Street, the parkway's west-sidefrontage road.[7]
As they enter South Pasadena, northbound motorists can see a "City of South Pasadena" sign constructed, in the late 1930s, of stones from the creek bed embedded in a hillside.[8] This final segment of the Arroyo Seco Parkway heads east in a cut alongside Grevelia Street, with a full diamond at Orange Grove Avenue and a half diamond atFair Oaks Avenue. In between those two streets it crosses under the A Line for the third and final time. Beyond Fair Oaks Avenue, SR 110 curves north around the east side ofRaymond Hill and enters Pasadena, where the final ramp, a southbound exit, connects to State Street for access to Fair Oaks Avenue. The freeway, and state maintenance,[1] ends at the intersection with Glenarm Street, but the six- and four-lane Arroyo Parkway, now maintained by the city of Pasadena, continues north as a surface road toColorado Boulevard (historicU.S. Route 66) and beyond to Holly Street near theMemorial Park A Line station.[7]
According to CalTrans in 2016, the average annual daily traffic (AADT) on the Arroyo Seco Parkway was 78,000 car trips at Orange Grove Blvd, 100,000 car trips at Ave 64, and 123,000 car trips at Ave 43.
TheArroyo Seco (Spanish: "dry gulch, or streambed") is anintermittent stream that carries rainfall from theSan Gabriel Mountains southerly through western Pasadena into theLos Angeles River neardowntown Los Angeles. During the dry season, it served as a fasterwagon connection between the two cities than the all-weather road on the present Huntington Drive.[9]
The first known survey for a permanent roadway through the Arroyo was made by T. D. Allen of Pasadena in 1895, and in 1897 two more proposals were made, one for a scenicparkway and the other for acommutercycleway. The latter was partially constructed and opened byHorace Dobbins, who incorporated theCalifornia Cycleway Company and bought a six-mile (10 km)right-of-way from downtown Pasadena to Avenue 54 inHighland Park, Los Angeles. Construction began in 1899, and about1+1⁄4 miles (2.0 km) of the elevated wooden bikeway were opened on January 1, 1900, starting near Pasadena'sHotel Green and ending near theRaymond Hotel. The majority of its route is now Edmondson Alley; atoll booth was located near the north end, in the presentCentral Park. Due to the end of thebicycle craze of the 1890s and the existingPacific Electric Railway lines connecting Pasadena to Los Angeles, the cycleway did not and was not expected to turn a profit, and never extended beyond the Raymond Hotel into the Arroyo Seco. Sometime before 1910, the structure was dismantled, and the wood sold forlumber,[10][11] and the Pasadena Rapid Transit Company, a failed venture headed by Dobbins to construct astreetcar line, acquired the right-of-way.[12][13]
Due to the rise of the automobile, most subsequent plans for the Arroyo Seco included a roadway, though they differed as to the purpose: some, influenced by theCity Beautiful movement, concentrated on the park, while others, particularly those backed by theAutomobile Club of Southern California (ACSC), had as their primary purpose a fast road connecting the two cities. The first plan that left the Arroyo Seco inSouth Pasadena to better serve downtown Pasadena was drawn up by Pasadena City Engineer Harvey W. Hincks in 1916 and supported by the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and ACSC.Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. andHarland Bartholomew's 1924Major Street Traffic Plan for Los Angeles, while concentrating on traffic relief, and noting that the Arroyo Seco Parkway would be a major highway, suggested that it be built as aparkway, giving motorists "a great deal of incidental recreation and pleasure". By the mid-1930s, plans for a primarily recreational parkway had been overshadowed by the need to carry large numbers of commuters.[14]
Debates continued on the exact location of the parkway, in particular whether it would bypass downtown Pasadena. In the late 1920s, Los Angeles acquired properties betweenSan Fernando Road and Pasadena Avenue, and City Engineer Lloyd Aldrich began grading between Avenues 60 and 66 in the early 1930s. By June 1932, residents ofHighland Park andGarvanza, who had paidspecial assessments to finance improvement of the park, became suspicious of what appeared to be a road, then graded along the Arroyo Seco's west side between Via Marisol (then Hermon Avenue) and Princess Drive. Merchants on North Figueroa Street (then Pasadena Avenue) also objected, due to the loss of business they would suffer from a bypass. Work stopped while the interested parties could work out the details, although, in late 1932 and early 1933, Aldrich was authorized to grade a cheaper route along the east side between Avenue 35 and Hermon Avenue. To the north, Pasadena and South Pasadena endorsed in 1934 what was essentially Hincks's 1916 plan, but lacked the money to build it. A bill was introduced in 1935 to add the route to the state highway system, and after some debate a newRoute 205 was created as a swap for thePalmdale-WrightwoodRoute 186,[15][16] as the legislature had just greatly expanded the system in 1933, and theCalifornia Highway Commission opposed a further increase.[17]
To connect the proposed parkway with downtown Los Angeles, that city improved and extended NorthFigueroa Street as a four-lane road to theLos Angeles River, allowing drivers to bypass the congestedNorth Broadway Bridge on the existing but underutilizedRiverside Drive Bridge. A large part of the project lay withinElysian Park, and fourArt Decotunnels were built through the hills. The first three, between Solano Avenue and the river, opened in late 1931,[18] and the fourth opened in mid-1936,[19] completing the extension of Figueroa Street toRiverside Drive. As with the contemporaryRamona Boulevard east from downtown,grade separations were mostly built only where terrain dictated. For Figueroa Street, this meant that all crossings except College Street (built several years after the extension was completed[20]), where a hill was cut through, wereat grade.[21] TheFigueroa Street Viaduct, connecting the Riverside Drive intersection with North Figueroa Street (then Dayton Avenue) across theLos Angeles River, opened in mid-1937.[22] Closer to downtown, aninterchange was built atTemple Street in 1939.[23][24]
Although many South Pasadena residents opposed the division of the city that the parkway would bring, the city's voters elected supporters in the 1936 elections. The state, which had the power to put the road where it wished even had South Pasadena continued to oppose it, approved the route on April 4, 1936. The route used the Arroyo Seco's west bank to near Hough Street, where it crossed to the east and cut through South Pasadena to the south end of Broadway (now Arroyo Parkway) in Pasadena. Another project, theArroyo Seco Flood Control Channel, was built by theWorks Progress Administration before and during construction of the parkway to avoid damages from future floods. A number of state engineers touredEast Coast roads in early 1938, includingChicago'sLake Shore Drive, full and modifiedcloverleaf interchanges inMassachusetts andNew Jersey, andRobert Moses's parkway system inNew York City. The parkway was the first road built in California under a 1939freeway law that allowed access to be completely limited to a number of specified points. Although, in some areas, it was possible to use a standarddiamond interchange, other locations requiredfolded diamonds, or, as the engineers called them, "compressed cloverleafs", where local streets often took the place of dedicated ramps, ending at the parkway with a sharp right turn required to enter or exit. The highway was designed with two 11–12-foot (3.4–3.7 m) lanes and one 10-foot (3.0 m)shoulder in each direction, with the wider inside (passing) lanes paved in blackasphalt concrete and the outside lanes paved in whitePortland cement concrete. The differently-colored lanes would encourage drivers to stay in their lanes. (By mid-1939, the state had decided to replace the shoulders with additional travel lanes for increased capacity; except on a short piece in South Pasadena, these were also paved with Portland cement. So thatdisabled vehicles could be safely removed from the roadway, about 50 "safety bays" were constructed in 1949 and 1950.[25]) The engineers used adesign speed of 45 miles per hour (72 kilometres per hour),superelevating curves where necessary to accomplish this. (The road is now posted at 55 mph (89 km/h).[26]) Despite the freeway design, many parkway characteristics were incorporated, such as plantings of mostly native flora alongside the road.[27]
Prior to parkway construction, nine roads and tworail lines crossed the Arroyo Seco and its valley on bridges, and a number of new bridges were built as part of the project. Only four of the existing bridges were kept, albeit with some changes:[28][29][30] the 1925Avenue 26 Bridge, the 1926Avenue 60 Bridge, the 1895Santa Fe Arroyo Seco Railroad Bridge (now part of theA Line (Los Angeles Metro)) near Avenue 64, and the 1912York Boulevard Bridge. The Avenue 43 Bridge would have been kept had theLos Angeles Flood of 1938 not destroyed it. At Cypress Avenue,abutments and afoundation were built for a roadway, but were not used until the 1960s, when a pedestrian bridge was built as part of theGolden State Freeway (I-5) interchange project.[28] In South Pasadena, seven streets and the Union Pacific and Santa Fe railroad lines on a double track combined bridge were carried over the parkway to keep the communities on each side connected.[31]
1940.jpg)
Construction on the Arroyo Seco Parkway, designed under the leadership of District Chief Engineer Spencer V. Cortelyou and Design Engineer A. D. Griffin, began with agroundbreaking ceremony in South Pasadena on March 22, 1938, and generally progressed from Pasadena southwest. The first contract, stretching less than a mile (1.5 km) from Glenarm Street in Pasadena around Raymond Hill toFair Oaks Avenue in South Pasadena, and including no bridges, was opened to traffic on December 10, 1938. A 3.7-mile (6.0 km) section opened on July 20, 1940, connecting Orange Grove Avenue in South Pasadena with Avenue 40 in Los Angeles.[32] The remainder in Los Angeles, from Avenue 40 southwest to the Figueroa Street Viaduct at Avenue 22, was dedicated on December 30, 1940, with great fanfare, and opened to the public the following day in time for theTournament of Roses Parade andRose Bowl onNew Year's Day.[33] However, the highway through South Pasadena was not completed until January 30, 1941, and landscaping work continued through September. The final cost of $5.75 million, under $1 million per mile, was extremely low for a freeway project because the terrain was favorable for grade separations.[34]
The state began upgrading the four-lane North Figueroa Street extension (then part ofRoute 165) in October 1940 as a "Southerly Extension" of the parkway, even before the parkway was complete. The at-grade intersection with Riverside Drive was already a point of congestion, and the six lanes of parkway narrowing into four lanes of surface street would cause much greater problems. The two-way Figueroa Street Tunnels and Viaduct were repurposed for four lanes of northbound traffic, and a higher southbound roadway was built to the west. From the split withHill Street south to near the existing College Street overpass, the four-lane surface road became a six-lane freeway. The extension was designed almost entirely on freeway, rather than parkway, principles, as it had to be built quickly to handle existing traffic. The new road split from the old at the Figueroa Street interchange, just south of Avenue 26, and crossed theLos Angeles River and the northbound access to Riverside Drive on a new three-lane bridge. Through Elysian Park, a five-lane open cut was excavated west of the existing northbound tunnel lanes, saving about $1 million. The extension, still feeding into surface streets just south of College Street, was opened to traffic on December 30, 1943, again allowing its use for the New Year's Day festivities.[35]
While the Arroyo Seco Parkway was being built and extended, the region's freeway system was taking shape. The short city-builtCahuenga Pass Freeway opened on June 15, 1940,[36] over a month before the second piece of the Arroyo Seco Parkway was complete. In the next two decades, theHarbor,Hollywood (Cahuenga Pass),Long Beach (Los Angeles River),San Bernardino (Ramona), andSanta Ana Freeways were partially or fully completed to theireponymous destinations, and others were under construction.[37] The centerpiece of the system was theFour Level Interchange just north ofdowntown Los Angeles, the firststack interchange in the world. Although it was completed in 1949, the structure was not fully used until September 22, 1953, when the short extension of the Arroyo Seco Parkway to the interchange opened. Though the common name used by the public had become "Arroyo SecoFreeway" over the years, it was officially a "Parkway" until November 16, 1954, when theCalifornia Highway Commission changed its name to thePasadena Freeway.[38]
Beginning in June 2010, the state began modifying interchange signs to remove the Pasadena Freeway name and reinstate the Arroyo Seco Parkway name. Signs that indicate route 110 as a "freeway" are being modified to "parkway" or its "Pkwy" abbreviation.
Despite a quadrupling of traffic volumes, the original roadway north of the Los Angeles River largely remains as it was when it opened in 1940.Trucks andbuses were banned in 1943, though the bus restriction has since been dropped; this has kept the freeway in good condition. Except for theGolden State Freeway (I-5) interchange near the river, completed in 1962, the few structural changes to the freeway north of the river include the closure of the original southbound exit to Fair Oaks Avenue after its location on a curve proved dangerous[11] and the replacement of shrubs in the 4-foot (1.2 m)median with a steel and now concreteguard rail. Los Angeles paid for reconstruction of the interchange at Hill Street, south of Elysian Park, in the early 1960s to serve the newDodger Stadium.[39] An interchange with Amador Street once had both left and right exits and entrances, it now only has a right exit and entrance.
The parkway's design is now outdated, and includes tight "right-in/right-out" access with a recommended exit speed of 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h) andstop signs on the entrance ramps.[citation needed] There are noacceleration or deceleration lanes, meaning that motorists must attempt to merge immediately into freeway traffic from a complete stop.[40] While the curves arebanked for higher speeds, they were designed at half the modern standard. A three-yearCaltrans study determined that the parkway has a crash rate that is twice that of comparable highways, with the primary factor being the lack of acceleration and deceleration lanes.[6]LAist noted that many motorists find the act of merging onto the parkway to be "terrifying".[40]
The Arroyo Seco Parkway was the first freeway in the Western United States.[41] It became a new alignment ofU.S. Route 66, and the old routing viaFigueroa Street andColorado Boulevard becameU.S. Route 66 Alternate.[42] The southern extension over the Los Angeles River to downtown Los Angeles also carriedState Route 11 (which remained on the old route when US 66 was moved) and U.S. Routes6 and99 (which followed Avenue 26 andSan Fernando Road to the northwest).[43] The1964 renumbering saw US 66 truncated to Pasadena, and SR 11 was moved from Figueroa Street (which becameSR 159) to the Pasadena Freeway.[44] Finally, the number was changed toSR 110 in 1981, when SR 11 betweenSan Pedro and theSanta Monica Freeway (I-10) becameI-110.[45]
Despite its flaws, the Arroyo Seco Parkway remains the most direct car route between downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena; the only freeway alternate (which trucks must use) is theGlendale Freeway (SR 2) to the northwest. (LA Metro'sA Line [formerly theGold Line] provides light rail service along the formerSanta Fe Railway line.) The state legislature designated the original section of the Parkway, north of the Figueroa Street Viaduct, as a "California Historic Parkway" (part of theState Scenic Highway System reserved for freeways built before 1945) in 1993;[46] the only other highway so designated is theCabrillo Freeway (SR 163) inSan Diego. TheAmerican Society of Civil Engineers named it aNational Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1999,[47] and it became aNational Scenic Byway in 2002[48] and was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 2011.[3]Occidental College hosted the "ArroyoFest Freeway Walk and Bike Ride" on Sunday, June 15, 2003, closing the freeway to motor vehicles to "highlight several ongoing or proposed projects within the Arroyo that can improve the quality of life for everyone in the area".[49] The event was held again twenty years later, in October 2023.[50] Over 50,000 attended the event.[51]
Mileage is measured fromRoute 110's southern terminus inSan Pedro.
The entire route is inLos Angeles County.
| Location | mi[52][53] | km | Exit[52] | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 23.76 | 38.24 | – |  SR 110 south (Harbor Freeway) –Downtown Los Angeles | Continuation beyond US 101 |
| 24A |         US 101 (Hollywood Freeway) toI-5 south (Santa Ana Freeway) /I-10 east /SR 60 east –Santa Ana,Hollywood,Ventura | Four Level Interchange; US 101 north exit 3, south exit 3B | |||
| 24.49 | 39.41 | 24B | Sunset Boulevard | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| 24.66 | 39.69 | 24C | Hill Street –Chinatown,Civic Center | No southbound entrance; signed as exit 24B northbound; left exit southbound | |
| 24D | Stadium Way –Dodger Stadium | Signed as exit 24B northbound | |||
| 24.90 | 40.07 | Figueroa Street Tunnel No. 1 (northbound) | |||
| 25.02 | 40.27 | 25 | Solano Avenue / Academy Road | ||
| 25.14– 25.37 | 40.46– 40.83 | Figueroa Street Tunnels No. 2-4 (northbound) | |||
| 25.68 | 41.33 | 26A |  I-5 north (Golden State Freeway) –Sacramento | Northbound left exit and southbound entrance; I-5 south exit 137B | |
| 25.71 | 41.38 | 26B | Figueroa Street | Northbound left exit and southbound entrance; formerSR 159 | |
| 25.84 | 41.59 | 26A | Avenue 26 | Southbound exit and northbound entrance; formerSR 163 | |
| 26B | I-5 (Golden State Freeway) –Santa Ana,Sacramento | Southbound exit and northbound entrance; I-5 north exit 137B, south exit 137A | |||
| 27.05 | 43.53 | 27 | Avenue 43 | ||
| 27.98 | 45.03 | 28A | Avenue 52 | ||
| 28.31 | 45.56 | 28B | Via Marisol | Formerly Hermon Avenue | |
| 28.69 | 46.17 | 29 | Avenue 60 | ||
| 29.43 | 47.36 | 30A | Marmion Way / Avenue 64 | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| 30 | York Boulevard | Southbound exit and entrance | |||
| 30.01 | 48.30 | 30B | Bridewell Street | Northbound exit only | |
| South Pasadena | 30.52 | 49.12 | 31A | Orange Grove Avenue | |
| 31.10 | 50.05 | 31B | Fair Oaks Avenue –South Pasadena | No northbound entrance | |
| Pasadena | 31.84 | 51.24 | Northern terminus of freeway and state maintenance | ||
| 31.91 | 51.35 | – | Glenarm Street | At-grade intersection | |
| 32.47 | 52.26 | – | California Boulevard | At-grade intersection | |
| 33.05 | 53.19 | – |  Green Street toI-210 | At-grade intersection | |
| 33.15 | 53.35 | – | Colorado Boulevard | At-grade intersection; formerSR 248 | |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| |||||
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) conducted a 3-year crash analysis for the corridor. The data indicated a crash rate about twice the average rate for similar highway types. There were 1,217 total crashes over this time period. Of these, 324 crashes involved the median barrier, resulting in 111 injuries and 1 fatality. The analysis also showed concentrations of crashes at entrance and exit ramps and concluded that a primary causal factor is the limited acceleration and deceleration lengths.
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