California State Route 24

California State Route 24 is a major east–west state highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It serves as a critical commuter corridor connecting the cities of Oakland and Walnut Creek, traversing the Berkeley Hills via the Caldecott Tunnel. The route is a key component of the regional transportation network, linking the East Bay with central Contra Costa County.

Route description

From its western terminus at the complex interchange with Interstate 580 and Interstate 980 in Oakland, the highway runs eastward as the Grove Shafter Freeway. It passes near the Oakland Museum of California and the Kaiser Convention Center before transitioning into the William Byron Rumford Freeway. The route then enters the Berkeley Hills, where it bypasses the Claremont Hotel and the University of California, Berkeley campus to the south. Its most prominent feature is the series of four bores comprising the Caldecott Tunnel, which it uses to cross into Contra Costa County. East of the tunnels, the freeway descends into the Orinda area and continues through Lafayette, running parallel to the BART Yellow Line. It finally terminates at a directional interchange with Interstate 680 in Walnut Creek, near the Broadway Plaza shopping center. The entire route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is officially designated as the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail.

History

The corridor's origins trace back to the 19th century when it was known as the Oakland–Antioch Highway, a winding road through the hills. The first two bores of the Caldecott Tunnel were constructed by the Works Progress Administration and opened in 1937, a project championed by Alameda County Supervisor Thomas E. Caldecott. This original route was designated as part of Legislative Route 69 and later incorporated into the state highway system in 1934. The third tunnel bore was added in 1964 to accommodate increasing traffic. The highway was officially designated as part of the Interstate Highway System in 1955, planned as a segment of Interstate 680 and later Interstate 280, but these designations were never applied. A significant modernization project culminated in the opening of the long-planned fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel in 2013, a project managed by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Major intersections

The entire route is in the San Francisco Bay Area. All exits are unnumbered.

{| class="wikitable" |- ! County ! Location ! mi ! km ! Destinations ! Notes |- ! rowspan="7" | Alameda ! rowspan="3" | Oakland | 0.00 | 0.00 | I-580 (MacArthur Freeway) – Downtown Oakland, San Rafael, I-980 west (Grove Shafter Freeway) – Downtown Oakland | Western terminus; freeway interchange; I-580 exit 24A. |- | 0.4 | 0.64 | SR 13 (Warren Freeway) – Berkeley | Interchange. |- | 2.0 | 3.2 | Claremont Avenue / College Avenue | Interchange; provides access to Rockridge and the Claremont Hotel. |- ! Contra Costa ! Orinda | 7.5 | 12.1 | Camino Pablo | Interchange. |- ! Lafayette | 10.5 | 16.9 | Pleasant Hill Road | Interchange. |- ! rowspan="2" | Walnut Creek | 15.5 | 24.9 | North Main Street | Interchange. |- | 22.37 | 36.00 | I-680 – San Jose, Sacramento | Eastern terminus; freeway interchange; I-680 exit 43. |}

See also

* List of highways in California * Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area * Caldecott Tunnel

References

Category:State highways in California Category:Transportation in Alameda County, California Category:Transportation in Contra Costa County, California