Misplaced Pages

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100-664: A tunnel officially known as the Robin Williams Tunnel (previously and formally referred to as the Waldo Tunnel ) is located at the highest elevation on US 101/SR 1 along the Waldo Grade. The first bore of the tunnel was completed in 1937 and the second in 1954, with the Waldo Sidehill Viaducts . The archways at the south-facing ends of the bores were painted in rainbows after

200-675: A 14-mile (23 km) undivided freeway through Redwood National and State Parks running inland east of the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park boundary. The freeway narrows to one lane in each direction at the Klamath River before losing its freeway designation in Klamath . The original placement of the highway near giant Coast Redwoods led to increased awareness of the destruction of the redwoods after decades of extensive logging, which ultimately led to

300-559: A 1959 law. Most of the bells eventually disappeared due to vandalism, theft or simple loss due to the relocation or rerouting of highways and roads. The State took over bell maintenance in 1933. After a reduction in the number of bells to around 80, the State began replacing them, at first with concrete, and later with iron. Justin Kramer took over the production of the bells in 1959. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) began

400-679: A building pad for the Shelter Point office complex. The tunnel is featured in the Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry and the Humphrey Bogart film Dark Passage . The honking of horns in the tunnel, often done deliberately for the sake of hearing the echoes, was the inspiration for harmonicist Bruce "Creeper" Kurnow's composition "Honk If You Love Harmonica." In the film Bicentennial Man (starring Robin Williams),

500-547: A coastal water route. While it is sometimes claimed that mission settlements were deliberately spaced approximately 30 miles (48 kilometers) apart to facilitate overland travel via horseback during the Spanish era, this claim is not made in any historical sources and first appeared in 20th-century advertising materials encouraging automobile travel along the route. The missions are in fact spaced at highly variable intervals and do not reflect any particular planning of this kind. It

600-636: A commemorative route which was adopted by the California Federation of Women's Clubs in 1902. In the early twentieth century, organizations and government agencies became interested in creating official designations or commemorations of roads and highways. Given the lack of standardized highway signs at the time, it was decided to place distinctive bells along the route, hung on supports in the form of an 11-foot (3.4 m) high shepherd's crook, also described as "a Franciscan walking stick". The bells were designed by Mrs ASC Forbes , who also owned

700-747: A futuristic view of a relocated highway bypasses the historic Waldo Grade. At the beginning of the 2015 Pixar film Inside Out , the main character's family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. Their first view of the Golden Gate Bridge - and the film's title card - appear as they emerge from the Robin Williams Tunnel. US 101 in CA U.S. Route 101 ( US 101 ) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway , stretching from Los Angeles , California, to Tumwater, Washington . The California portion of US 101

800-667: A high bluff north of the Mad River . As the highway reaches Clam Beach (a county park), motorists get their first magnificent full view of the Pacific Ocean north of the Golden Gate. North of Trinidad , the highway narrows to one lane in each direction after crossing Big Lagoon to pass inland of Stone Lagoon and follow the coastal bar between Freshwater Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean south of Orick . It becomes

900-699: A north–south alignment). It meets with I-405 in Sherman Oaks. The east–west geographical alignment of the Ventura Freeway and the north–south designation which appears on the freeway signs can be confusing to visitors; the same freeway entrance can often be signed as "101 North" and "101 West"; this is most common in the San Fernando Valley where the local E/W signing does not match the Caltrans' proper statewide N/S designation. After

1000-451: A restoration effort in 1996. Keith Robinson, Principal Landscape Architect at Caltrans developed an El Camino Real restoration program which resulted in the installation of 555 El Camino Real Bell Markers in 2005. The Bell Marker consists of a 460 mm diameter cast metal bell set atop a 75 mm diameter Schedule 40 pipe column that is attached to a concrete foundation using anchor rods. The original 1906 bell molds were used to fabricate

1100-466: A restoration project as part of CalTrans " Adopt-a-Highway " program. Permits issued by Caltrans for installations along state routes have detailed specifications on how the bell should be set up for safety and legal considerations. For some indigenous populations, the bells are painful symbols of the dehumanization of their ancestors, together with the domination and erasure of their culture. The Amah Mutsun tribal band shared with local authorities how

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1200-460: A short, 2-mile (3 km) expressway just north of Stafford . A short freeway then runs through Rio Dell before another short, 3-mile (5 km) expressway. Shortly before reaching the western terminus of SR 36 , US 101 becomes a freeway again between Fortuna and Eureka . North of Humboldt Hill , the road enters the City of Eureka (a potential new freeway cutting through or bypass of

1300-539: A two-lane road. North of Laytonville , US 101 ascends Rattlesnake summit (1,796 feet or 547 metres) before a descent to follow the South Fork Eel River and Eel River all the way to Fortuna near the mouth of the river. About 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Laytonville, US 101 becomes an undivided freeway near the community of Cummings. SR 271 is the old portion of US 101 through this area. At Leggett, US 101 meets SR 1 for

1400-581: Is also a safety corridor, is named the "Michael J. Burns Freeway," in honor of the State Senator who was a proponent of California's Highways. The highway becomes an unobstructed freeway south of the center of Arcata. Proceeding north it passes the junction for SR 299 (also the western terminus for that route), in the Valley West (northernmost) part of the college town. The highway continues north as it skirts westerly around McKinleyville on

1500-486: Is also traditionally claimed that the padres sprinkled mustard seeds along the trail to mark the windings of the trail's northward progress with bright yellow flowers, creating a golden trail stretching from San Diego to Sonoma, although this legend remains unverified. Valuable seeds were brought to California also marking the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro with trees for different uses. For example, ash trees were

1600-675: Is also used on the bridge, and they can be paid by either a FasTrak transponder or license plate tolling . The high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane leading to the bridge requires a car with three or more people. The US 101 Highway is part of the auto tour route of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail , a National Park Service unit in the United States National Historic Trail and National Millennium Trail programs. In 2005, Caltrans began posting signs on roads that overlap with

1700-903: Is called the James Lick Freeway , named for James Lick , a philanthropist , from the San Francisco county/city line, through the interchange with I-280 at the Alemany Maze , until the junction with the San Francisco Skyway ( I-80 ) and the Central Freeway near the city's Civic Center . US 101 continues in a northwestern direction on the Central Freeway, and then leaves the freeway, on Mission Street (northbound) and South Van Ness Avenue (southbound), to run north on Van Ness Avenue . At

1800-643: Is co-administered by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) while the segment in San Mateo County is co-administered by the separate San Mateo County Express Lanes Joint Powers Authority, and so drivers will see separate toll charges when using each segment. Tolls are collected only for southbound traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge headed to San Francisco. Fully electronic tolling

1900-643: Is designated as the Royal Road or El Camino Real . The commemorative route connects the former Alta California 's 21 missions . A former route of the highway over the Gabilan Range on the San Juan Grade to San Juan Bautista was bypassed in a 1932 realignment. Instead, shortly after leaving Salinas, US 101 joins SR 156 in Prunedale for about eight miles (13 km) as it crosses

2000-763: Is known as the Cuesta Grade . North of Atascadero, the highway joins SR 46 for about three miles (4.8 km) through Paso Robles . From Paso Robles to Salinas , US 101 is an expressway known as the Salinas River Valley Highway, since the Salinas River Valley extends from Santa Margarita to the SR ;156 junction in Prunedale . US 101 resumes freeway status between San Miguel and King City , bypassing

2100-645: Is not part of the state highway system. As a result, there is no US 101 or SR 1 signage on the bridge. US 101 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System , and is part of the National Highway System , a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration . Portions of US 101 are eligible to be included in

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2200-669: Is often called "The 101" (pronounced "the one oh one"). The highway has portions designated as the Santa Ana Freeway , the Hollywood Freeway , the Ventura Freeway , South Valley Freeway, and Bayshore Freeway , as well as El Camino Real in many non-freeway segments. The Redwood Highway , the 350-mile-long (560 km) northernmost segment of the highway, begins at the Golden Gate and passes through

2300-616: Is one of the last remaining and longest U.S. Routes still active in the state, and the longest highway of any kind in California. US 101 was also one of the original national routes established in 1926. Significant portions of US 101 between the Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area follow El Camino Real , the commemorative route connecting the former Alta California 's 21 missions . Although

2400-647: Is part of I-5 and Palomar Airport Road. It follows I-5 from Coast Highway (former Hill Street exit) in Oceanside to Palomar Airport Road in Carlsbad. From there the US ;101 bypass went onto Palomar Airport Road to merge with US 101 Bus. on Carlsbad Boulevard. As it approached the Coast Highway/SR ;76 exit on southbound I-5 in Oceanside, US 101 Bus. split off. US 101 Bus. followed

2500-727: The California Bell Company where they were cast. The first of 450 bells were unveiled on August 15, 1906, at the Plaza Church in the Pueblo near Olvera Street in Los Angeles . A 1915 map produced by the Automobile Club of Southern California traced the route that connected the missions for motorists to follow. The club and associated groups cared for the bells from the mid-1920s through 1931 after

2600-645: The California State Assembly in April 2015 on a vote of 77–0, and the State Senate in June 2015 on a vote of 37–0. The official sign was installed in 2016. As San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge are hidden from the northern approach of US 101/SR 1 by hills, automobile travelers heading south along this route get their first views of the city and its iconic bridge upon exiting

2700-614: The California State Legislature is as follows: Some older local roads that parallel these routes also have the name. Mission Street in San Francisco does correspond to the commemorative route. An unpaved stretch of the old road has been preserved just east of Mission San Juan Bautista ; this section of road runs parallel to the San Andreas Fault , which can be clearly seen where the ground drops several feet. Many streets throughout California bear

2800-627: The Conejo Grade , which is a 7% grade incline, the freeway enters the Oxnard Plain and runs concurrent with SR 1 for the first time. Upon reaching Ventura, there is an interchange with SR 126, which runs east to Santa Clarita . North of Santa Barbara, US 101 switches intermittently between freeway and expressway status (i.e. there is occasional cross-traffic), but there are no traffic signals until San Francisco . From Ventura and through Santa Barbara , US 101 closely follows

2900-528: The Gaviota Coast (generally no more than one to two miles [1.6 to 3.2 km] from the shore ) until Gaviota State Park , about 23 miles (37 km) west of Goleta . At Gaviota State Park, the highway shifts back from an east–west highway to a north–south alignment. About one mile (1.6 km) north of this point, the northbound lanes pass through the Gaviota Tunnel . A few miles north of

3000-499: The Russian River canyon and eventually a two-lane road south of Hopland , the first time since leaving San Francisco . Just before reaching Ukiah , US 101 becomes a four-lane freeway. In the community of Calpella, SR 20 merges with US 101 for the next 15.5 miles (24.9 km) to Willits . The freeway portion ends as the combined US 101 and SR 20 ascend the 1,956-foot (596 m) Ridgewood Summit ,

3100-556: The Russian River in Healdsburg and then following the river up the Alexander Valley . SR 128 joins US 101 in the town of Geyserville before splitting just north of Cloverdale . US 101 then heads up a steep hill just before leaving Sonoma County and entering Mendocino County . US 101 crosses into Mendocino County as a freeway for one mile (1.6 km), but then narrows to an expressway through

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3200-710: The San Benito County line, SR 156 splits from US 101 near San Juan Bautista while US 101 continues northward mostly as a four-lane highway until it reaches Gilroy . US 101 crosses the Pajaro River into Santa Clara County as a four-lane highway, with an interchange at SR 25 a few miles later. Upon reaching Gilroy , it becomes the South Valley Freeway (as in South Santa Clara Valley ), and at

3300-479: The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to remove the remainder of the Central Freeway and most other proposed freeways from the city's highway plan. For decades, southbound traffic on US 101 flowed on the one-way Turk Street from Van Ness Avenue to the Central Freeway, while northbound traffic used the parallel Golden Gate Avenue. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the structure,

3400-546: The Santa Clara Valley to the southern end of San Francisco Bay and on up the east side of the San Francisco Peninsula . Between 1683 and 1835, Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries established a series of religious outposts from today's Baja California and Baja California Sur into present-day California . Heavy freight and long-distance passenger movement was practical only via ships by

3500-709: The State Scenic Highway System . It is officially designated as a scenic highway by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) from Goleta to Las Cruces in Santa Barbara County , and through Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park in Del Norte County . This designation means that there are substantial sections of highway passing through a "memorable landscape" with no "visual intrusions", where

3600-557: The Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) are prohibited through the park. Just after the park boundary, the highway switches to a short undivided freeway and then eventually a divided freeway just before reaching Garberville . North of Garberville, US 101 reverts to an undivided freeway, which continuing north by northwest, passes through the 53,000-acre (210 km ) Humboldt Redwoods State Park , California's third largest State Park and

3700-617: The boosterism associated with the Mission Revival movement of the early 20th century. Streets throughout California bear the "El Camino Real" name. The route has been continually upgraded and is decorated with commemorative bell markers. In earlier Spanish colonial times, any road under the direct jurisdiction of the Spanish crown and its viceroys was considered to be a camino real . Examples of such roads ran between principal settlements throughout Spain and its colonies such as New Spain . Most caminos reales had names apart from

3800-654: The 21 Spanish missions in California (formerly the region Alta California in the Spanish Empire ), along with a number of sub-missions, four presidios , and three pueblos . Historically associated with a network of royal roads ( caminos reales ) used by inhabitants of New Spain , the modern commemorative route in the U.S. state of California is named after these roads, with its southern terminus at Mission San Diego de Alcalá and its northern terminus at Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, California . During

3900-731: The East Los Angeles Interchange in Los Angeles and the Mexican border in San Ysidro. This freeway construction by the California Department of Public Works put US 101 on an all new highway route alignment to relieve Oceanside and Carlsbad of their very heavy bumper-to-bumper burdensome traffic problem. Also before the bypass in the 1950s, US 101 followed North Coast Highway (formerly Hill Street) from San Luis Rey Mission Expressway (SR 76 and north end of

4000-427: The Gaviota Tunnel, SR 1 splits from US 101 and heads northwest, running along the Pacific coastline parallel and to the west of US 101. US 101 passes through Buellton , Los Alamos , Orcutt , Santa Maria , and Nipomo . South of Santa Maria, US 101 widens from a four-lane highway to a six-lane freeway. SR 166 joins US 101 for about 3 miles (4.8 km) before splitting just north of

4100-408: The Golden Gate Bridge" and then resumes at "a point in Marin County opposite San Francisco" to the Oregon state line. The bridge itself is maintained by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District instead of Caltrans . From the 1940s to 1991, various segments of US 101 between Los Angeles and San Francisco were upgraded to either a freeway or expressway. In the Los Angeles area,

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4200-460: The Golden Gate Bridge, US 101 enters Marin County and is known as the Redwood Highway. After crossing the bridge, US 101 climbs the Waldo Grade and passes through the Robin Williams Tunnel , the only one of its kind in 300 miles (480 km) (the other being the Gaviota Tunnel in Santa Barbara County ). Upon exiting the tunnel, it passes above the hillside town of Sausalito and descends to Richardson Bay , where SR 1 splits from

4300-438: The HOT lanes is required to carry either a FasTrak Flex or CAV (Clean Air Vehicle) transponder, with its switch set to indicate the number of the vehicle's occupants (1, 2, or 3 or more). Solo drivers may also use the FasTrak standard tag without the switch. Drivers without any FasTrak tag will be assessed a toll violation regardless of whether they qualified for free. The segment of the express lanes in Santa Clara County

4400-502: The HOT lanes' hours of operation is weekdays between 5:00 am and 8:00 pm. Solo drivers are tolled using a congestion pricing system based on the real-time levels of traffic. Two-person carpools and clean air vehicles with a solo driver are charged 50 percent of the posted toll. Carpools with three or more people and motorcycles are not charged. All tolls are collected using an open road tolling system, and therefore there are no toll booths to receive cash. Each vehicle using

4500-449: The L.A. neighborhoods of Echo Park , Silver Lake , and Los Feliz and heads to Hollywood and up through the Cahuenga Pass before reaching the San Fernando Valley . US 101 passes right next to the Universal Studios Hollywood and then intersects with SR 134 and SR 170 at the interchange known as the Hollywood Split . Here, the alignment of US 101 shifts to the alignment of SR 134 (i.e. heading northbound,

4600-445: The Oceanside–Carlsbad freeway bypass) to Harbor Drive. From there it followed Harbor Drive to Vandergrift Boulevard, San Rafael Drive, and the freeway onramp for I-5 north near the Camp Pendleton north entrance guardhouse gate. It merges with the I-5 northbound onramp to shoot onto the southbound lanes of I-5 to follow the freeway lanes all the way to Las Pulgas Road in Camp Pendleton. An old orphaned alignment of US 101, that ran through

4700-453: The San Francisco Bay Area, US 101 was originally divided. US 101W followed the same general right-of-way of today's US 101 through the region, primarily along what was originally signed as Bayshore Boulevard. US 101E then generally followed the right-of-way taken by today's I-880 from San Jose to Oakland, then across the Carquinez Bridge to follow what is now SR 37 , joining US 101W. The US 101E designation

4800-486: The appended camino real . Missions were present in Las Californias for decades before the establishment of any missions in what is today the U.S. state of California, with various Spanish missions established in present-day Baja California , Mexico , starting in 1697 with the Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó in present-day Loreto . The Portolá expedition of 1769 included Franciscan missionaries, led by Junípero Serra . Starting from Loreto, Serra established

4900-404: The approach to the Golden Gate Bridge in the Presidio of San Francisco via Santa Barbara , San Luis Obispo , and Salinas . (b) A point in Marin County opposite San Francisco to the Oregon state line via Crescent City . The definition purposely omits the segment crossing the Golden Gate Bridge , as it is maintained by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District and

5000-454: The bells represent historical injustices and oppression of their people, such as the punishment endured for missing a ring of the bell. In response, a bell at the University of California, Santa Cruz was removed by campus officials in June 2019. The issue was also present when the statues of Junípero Serra were damaged and/or removed in 2020 during the George Floyd protests which expanded to include monuments of individuals associated with

5100-409: The cities of Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel, San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point, and San Clemente, was located in south Orange County. The old roadway, from a dead end just west of I-5 and east of the railroad tracks in Mission Viejo to Cristianitos Road in San Clemente, followed Camino Capistrano, Doheny Park Road, Coast Highway and El Camino Real. It had interchanges with I-5 and California State Route 1. It

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5200-479: The city limits, while US 101 continues as a four-lane freeway before reverting to expressway status north of Nipomo. Farther north, SR 1 rejoins US 101 between Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo . Then US 101 takes an inland route through the Salinas Valley , while Highway 1 heads northwest, running along the Pacific coastline in California, parallel and to the west of US 101. A steep segment (7% grade) between San Luis Obispo and Atascadero

5300-400: The city was successfully blocked repeatedly). As the route traverses Eureka, the southern portion is known as "Broadway" and then as it bears east along Humboldt Bay , the Highway is aligned on a one-way couplet (4th and 5th streets). Five miles (8.0 km) later the highway leaves Eureka's northern city limit and continues north. The expressway style section between Eureka and Arcata , which

5400-410: The controversy over the genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas. The historical preservation commission of Santa Cruz reported to the city council in November 2020 that the bells represent a painful history for the indigenous people of the city, and noted that a bell in Mission Park Plaza had been stolen in 1999 and not replaced. Santa Cruz scheduled the removal of the last bell in the city, at

5500-451: The county line between Marin and Sonoma Counties. The entire area between Novato and Petaluma is also the voter approved Novato–Petaluma Community Separator, which forbids most development. Upon entering Sonoma County, the freeway widens again to six lanes from the county line to Windsor , passing through Petaluma , Cotati , Rohnert Park , and Santa Rosa . Upon reaching Windsor, the freeway returns to two lanes in each direction, crossing

5600-427: The early 1950s, traffic had become very heavy on US 101 through Oceanside and Carlsbad. The US 101 freeway bypass (Oceanside-Carlsbad freeway bypass) was built in 1953 and completed in 1955 by the California Department of Public Works (now Caltrans) and brought up by the San Diego Highway Development Association on a US 80/US 101 discussion on how to resolve the huge traffic loads on US 101 in Oceanside. Today it

5700-405: The establishment of Redwood National Park in 1968. The original highway segment through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is now a scenic alternate similar to Avenue of the Giants, named Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway in honor of the fourth director of the National Park Service and executive director of the Save-the-Redwoods League North of the town of Klamath just inside Del Norte County,

5800-494: The first of the 21 missions at San Diego . Serra stayed at San Diego and Juan Crespí continued the rest of the way with Gaspar de Portolá . Proceeding north, Portolá followed the coastline (today's California State Route 1), except where forced inland by coastal cliffs. Eventually, the expedition was prevented from going farther north by the entrance to San Francisco Bay , the Golden Gate . Crespí identified several future mission sites which were not developed until later. On

5900-429: The first segment of the Hollywood Freeway through the Cahuenga Pass opened in 1940, while the segment from the San Fernando Valley to Downtown Los Angeles opened in 1954, replacing Cahuenga Boulevard. The Ventura Freeway then opened in 1960, replacing Ventura Boulevard . The segment of the original two-lane alignment between Emma Wood State Beach north to the Mobil Pier Undercrossing near Sea Cliff , which followed

6000-421: The freeway and heads to the coast. US 101 then passes through Mill Valley , Corte Madera , Larkspur , San Rafael and Novato , before entering Sonoma County. The section between Novato in Marin County and Petaluma in Sonoma County changes from its original six or eight lanes through Marin to four lanes, creating a bottleneck, and is thus called the "Novato Narrows" by locals. The Narrows continue up to

6100-477: The freeway at about 9:35pm on January 5, in fill material that had been stable since highway construction in 1953. The slide first carried away a house on Sausalito Boulevard, and then destroyed a house below it at 85 Crescent Avenue, killing resident Sally Baum. Three hundred residents were evacuated to a Red Cross shelter. A crack developed in the roadway and, concerned that the highway might fail, CalTrans engineers closed all northbound lanes for twelve days while

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6200-422: The highest elevation along the route's 808-mile-long (1,300 km) trek through California. As US 101 resumes freeway status just south of Willits, SR 20 splits from US 101 shortly before it suddenly reverts to a 2-lane undivided freeway and eventually a highway north of Willits. US 101 then widens to a four-lane expressway until the intersection with the western portion of SR 162 , where it reverts to

6300-419: The highway closely follows the Pacific coast again. In Crescent City , US 101 once again separates into a one-way couplet (L and M Streets) for nine blocks. As it leaves Crescent City, US 101 becomes a divided freeway for the last time in California (built slightly to the west of the original two-lane alignment, now called Parkway Drive). As the 3-mile divided freeway portion ends, US 101 intersects

6400-411: The highway has been superseded in overall importance for transportation through the state by Interstate 5 (I-5), US 101 continues to be the major coastal north–south route that links the Greater Los Angeles Area , the Central Coast , the San Francisco Bay Area , and the North Coast (Redwood Empire) . Generally referred to as "101" by residents of Northern California , in Southern California it

6500-403: The historic Rincon Sea Level Road , was the re-signed as part of SR 1 . The last traffic signals along the route between the Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area were removed in 1991 when the section through downtown Santa Barbara was constructed to freeway standards after years of disagreement over the impact that the original elevated design would have on the community. In

6600-461: The historic 1776 Juan Bautista de Anza trail route, so that California drivers can now follow the trail. Instead of terminating in Los Angeles, US 101 once continued all the way south through San Diego to the Mexico–United States border in San Ysidro . However, this part was decommissioned on July 1, 1964, in favor of I-5 . Though much of U.S. Route 101 has been superseded by I-5, several street segments of former Route 101 exist. Much of

6700-455: The intersection of Soquel and Dakota avenues, for August 28, 2021, but the bell was stolen the night before it was to be removed. The Tribal Band, an organization of local tribes, led a ceremony to mark the occasion in spite of the theft. Several modern highways include parts of the commemorative route, though large sections are on city streets (for instance, most of the stretch between San Jose and San Francisco ). The full route as defined by

6800-438: The intersection of Van Ness Avenue and Lombard Street , US 101 heads west on Lombard Street, and then on Richardson Avenue, entering The Presidio , where it becomes a divided highway again (the Presidio Parkway). It is then joined by Route 1 before approaching and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge . From San Francisco north the highway is heavily traveled by commuters through to Windsor , just north of Santa Rosa . North of

6900-493: The last time, and from this point until Piercy, US 101 runs along a section of highway with frequent landslides. Caltrans bypassed the most difficult section in 2009 with unique construction of two bridges known collectively as the Confusion Hill Bridges . This project, funded by an emergency act from the State Legislature, moved the highway across the Eel River away from the troubled spots to prevent disruption in commerce and travel from infrequent, but costly, winter closures on

7000-534: The lobbying by a Caltrans employee, Robert Halligan , and for this reason the tunnel is sometimes unofficially referred to as the Rainbow Tunnel . After the death of actor and comedian Robin Williams in 2014, a petition was started on change.org to rename the Waldo Tunnel as the Robin Williams Tunnel, because Williams, a longtime resident of Marin County, is credited with leading San Francisco's comedy renaissance. A bill submitted by California Assemblyman Marc Levine after consulting with Williams' family passed

7100-441: The main transportation route to the far North Coast. North of Piercy, the freeway portion again ends and the road narrows down to two lanes, before another stretch of divided highway. Arriving in Humboldt County , another narrow two-lane portion of US 101 bisects Richardson Grove State Park . Because of the narrow lanes and the redwood trees that tower over this segment of the highway, standard-sized trucks in compliance with

7200-493: The marker for where a spring was to be found, as seen to this day at the church of Nuestra Señora del Tránsito  [ Wikidata ] in Fresnillo, Zacatecas . By the mid-nineteenth century, when California became a state, the route had been improved in certain sections, but was wholly inadequate for large stagecoaches and freight wagons. In 1892, Anna Pitcher of Pasadena, California initiated an effort to establish

7300-631: The mountains further north, through the Prunedale Cutoff. Before the Golden Gate Bridge was completed in 1937, there was regular vehicle ferry service across the Golden Gate strait, running from the Hyde Street Pier to Sausalito . Under the California Streets and Highways Code § 401 , the Golden Gate Bridge is legally not part of US 101. The portion of US 101 starting from Los Angeles ends at "the approach to

7400-608: The name of the road, often with scant relation to the original. A section of the old mission road, El Camino Real fronts the Rios-Caledonia Adobe in San Miguel . This road served stagecoaches and then was paved as part of the original US 101 highway. The route through the San Mateo and Santa Clara counties is designated as State Route 82 , and some stretches of it are named El Camino Real . The old road

7500-472: The original US 101 through downtown Oceanside and Carlsbad as former Hill Street/Carlsbad Boulevard (CR S-21) while the US 101 freeway followed modern I-5 and Palomar Airport Road. The south end of the freeway bypass is Carlsbad Boulevard and Palomar Airport Road and the north end is I-5 and the Coast Highway/SR 76 exit. The south end was modified after US 101 was decommissioned between

7600-571: The original organization which installed the bells fragmented. Distinctive route markers were added to U.S. Route 101 and other national auto trails when the joint board of state highway officials adopted the United States Numbered Highway System in 1926. The state highways forming El Camino Real were identified as Highway 1 , U.S. Route 101 and Highway 82 on the San Francisco Peninsula in

7700-454: The period of Spanish rule, there was no single road constructed by the Spanish to connect the missions, with most of the network of royal roads following historic Native American trading routes. These various caminos reales covered much of what is today California, but with no single special route designated to link the missions. The name was revived in the American era in connection with

7800-561: The potential designation has gained popular favor with the community. The south terminus of US 101 is in Los Angeles , about one mile (1.6 km) east of downtown Los Angeles at the East Los Angeles Interchange , also known as the "Commuters' Complex". This southernmost portion is named the Santa Ana Freeway , inheriting that title as the northerly extension of the roadway now known as I-5 . US 101 heads north for 2 miles (3.2 km) before merging with

7900-562: The replacement bells. The bells are most typically marked 1769 & 1906 , and include a designer's copyright notice. The two dates represent the date of the founding of the first Alta-California mission in San Diego, and the date of the setting of the first commemorative bell-marker, respectively. In 1997, the California Federation of Women's Clubs, in conjunction with California State Automobile Association , developed

8000-459: The return trip to San Diego, Gaspar de Portolá found a shorter detour around one stretch of coastal cliffs via Conejo Valley . Portolá journeyed again from San Diego to Monterey in 1770, where Junipero Serra (who traveled by ship) founded the second mission (later moved a short distance south to Carmel ). Carmel became Serra's Alta California mission headquarters. The Juan Bautista de Anza expedition of (1775–76) entered Alta California from

8100-609: The road was reinforced with vertical pilings. The closure cut Marin County off from the San Francisco Peninsula . Thousands of Marin County residents were stranded in San Francisco who could not figure out how to get to Marin by using the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge I-580 or the bus lines that serve Marin from the East Bay. Some of the earth from the landslide was later transported to Mill Valley to create

8200-518: The road's alignment turns left, or westbound) and thereafter is referred to as the Ventura Freeway until it reaches Ventura . Though confusing, the "Hollywood Freeway" name continues northward from this interchange on SR 170, and the "Ventura Freeway" name continues eastward to SR 134. From the Hollywood Split, US 101 is an east–west highway (until it reaches Gaviota State Park in Santa Barbara County where it shifts back to

8300-1128: The route in northern San Diego County is County Route S21 ; this includes Coast Highway in Oceanside , Carlsbad Boulevard in Carlsbad , Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas , Camino del Mar in Del Mar , and Torrey Pines Road in Torrey Pines . In San Diego, one alignment entered La Jolla Village on La Jolla Blvd, while a newer alignment went through Rose Canyon under what is now I-5. Roads followed by US-101 in San Diego included Mission Bay Drive, Pacific Hwy, Harbor Drive and Main Street. It ran along National City Blvd in National City , Broadway in Chula Vista and Beyer Blvd in San Ysidro . By

8400-507: The same time, it expands to three lanes in each direction. It then enters Silicon Valley when reaching Morgan Hill , and shortly afterwards expands to four lanes in each direction, with an HOV lane in the middle, before reaching San Jose . From San Jose to San Francisco, US 101 is known as the Bayshore Freeway as it passes through Palo Alto and the other major communities along the San Francisco Peninsula . US 101

8500-457: The segment of the Central Freeway north of Market Street was replaced with the surface-level Octavia Boulevard ; traffic on US 101 was then eventually re-routed to exit south of that at Mission Street/South Van Ness Avenue. With no direct freeway along US 101 through the City of San Francisco, the old US 101E/I-880/I-580 route remains as a faster bypass through the Bay Area. In

8600-514: The site of the largest remaining Redwood old growth forest in the world. A preserved portion of the original, bypassed highway route, known as the Avenue of the Giants for the huge, centuries-old redwood trees, parallels the highway for over 30 miles (48 km) in southern Humboldt County . US 101 again switches to another stretch of divided freeway near the town Pepperwood before reverting to

8700-685: The smaller towns of Camp Roberts , Bradley , and San Ardo , as well as the San Ardo Oil Field about five miles (8.0 km) south of San Ardo. Near this point, the wide agricultural bottomlands of the Salinas Valley begins. North of King City, US 101 once again switches intermittently between freeway and expressway status, passing through Greenfield , Soledad , Gonzales , and Chualar before reaching Salinas. Shortly after leaving Salinas, US 101 joins SR 156 in Prunedale for about eight miles (13 km). After crossing

8800-547: The southeast (crossing the Colorado River near today's Yuma, Arizona ), and picked up Portolá's trail at Mission San Gabriel . De Anza's scouts found easier traveling in several inland valleys, rather than staying on the rugged coast. On his journey north, de Anza traveled the San Fernando Valley and Salinas Valley . After detouring to the coast to visit the Presidio of Monterey , de Anza went inland again, following

8900-1214: The southern terminus of US 199 , which heads northeast as the Redwood Highway, passing through the Collier Tunnel and terminating in Grants Pass, Oregon . US 101 (no longer called the "Redwood Highway" at this point) is reduced to two lanes and continues north along the California coast until it reaches the Oregon border. High-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes along US 101 between SR 237 in Mountain View and Whipple Avenue in Redwood City opened on February 11, 2022. These express lanes were extended to I-380 in San Bruno on March 3, 2023, and are planned to be extended further south to I-880 in San Jose in Fall 2026. As of August 2022 ,

9000-541: The tunnel's southbound bore. On January 4–5, 1982, the freeway was completely closed for 24 hours as a result of two landslides on the Waldo Grade caused by a severe storm in the San Francisco Bay area, and partially closed for nearly two weeks. The first landslide was on January 4, with rock, mud and trees falling onto the highway blocking the southbound lanes and two of the northbound lanes. A second debris avalanche began about 50 feet (15 m) below

9100-475: The wake of the dot-com bubble expansion, the segment of US 101 between Morgan Hill and San Jose , also known as the Sig Sanchez Freeway, expanded to eight lanes between Cochrane Road and SR 85 exits between 2001 and 2003 and a new interchange at Bailey Avenue, which had been planned since the 1970s, opened in 2004. Originally, the ten-mile segment (16 km) was only four lanes (it

9200-610: The western end of the San Bernardino Freeway (I-10) . After merging with westbound traffic from the San Bernardino Freeway (I-10) , US 101 then proceeds northwest via the Downtown Slot under the northern edge of Los Angeles' Civic Center to State Route 110 (SR 110) at the Four Level Interchange . From here, US 101 becomes the Hollywood Freeway . It then passes through

9300-481: The world's tallest and only extensive preserves of virgin, old-growth coast redwood trees. The entirety of US 101 in California is designated as Route 101 in the state highway system, and is defined as such in section 401 of the California Streets and Highways Code: Route 101 is from: (a) Route 5 near Seventh Street in Los Angeles to Route 1 , Funston approach, and, subject to Section 72.1,

9400-614: Was constructed years before its completion. The three flyovers, with no on ramps or off ramps connecting them stood at 110-foot-tall (34 m) over US 101 for years in the 1970s (the SR 87/I-280 interchange also had this at the same time). It became the butt of many local jokes. The highlight prank occurred in January 1976, when a 1960 Chevrolet Impala was placed on the highest bridge overnight, where it obviously would be impossible to drive. The following day, San Jose City Councilman Joe Colla

9500-520: Was photographed standing next to the car, a photo which was circulated across many newspapers. It has been suggested this stunt helped lead to funding to complete the freeway. In 2010, the interchange was named the Joe Colla Interchange . El Camino Real (California) El Camino Real ( Spanish ; literally The Royal Road , sometimes translated as The King's Highway ) is a 600-mile (965-kilometer) commemorative route connecting

9600-463: Was planned to have six lanes when opened in 1984). The rebuilt segment was to alleviate the consistent congestion that had expanded as far south as Masten Avenue coming from Gilroy , and as far north as Bernal Road coming from San Jose. Traffic now typically only runs slow between the Bailey Avenue and East Dunne Avenue exits. The interchange at the beginning of I-280 and I-680 in San Jose

9700-537: Was removed by the 1940s and became SR 17 (later designated as I-880 and the westernmost section I-580 ), running from San Jose to Oakland and then across the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge . Meanwhile, Bayshore Boulevard was later redesignated as the US 101A bypass and then eventually upgraded to what is now the Bayshore Freeway . The first stretch that was completed between Redwood City and South San Francisco

9800-415: Was replaced by the San Diego freeway (which US 101 became part of it in 1958) and finally replaced by I-5 in 1968. In northern Orange County, US 101 followed Harbor Boulevard . U.S. Route 101 left Orange County, traversed southeast Los Angeles County, and entered the City of Los Angeles along Whittier Boulevard . Significant portions of US 101 from its southern terminus to the San Francisco Bay Area

9900-631: Was taken down in Santa Barbara. The primary control city that is listed on freeway signs along northbound US 101 through the Central Coast region remains San Francisco. As the result of freeway revolts in San Francisco in the 1950s, a direct freeway connection through the city to the Golden Gate Bridge has never been built. The Central Freeway was completed to extend from the Bayshore Freeway to Turk Street in 1959, before

10000-487: Was the Bay Area's first freeway when it opened in 1947. After the entire Bayshore Freeway was completed in the early 1960s, the old alignment along the peninsula was renumbered and renamed as SR 82 /El Camino Real. Various other freeway or expressway bypasses along the California Central Coast were also built. In 1991, the last traffic signal along US 101 between Los Angeles and San Francisco

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