U.S. Route 101 - History

History

Parts of Historic Route 101 can still be found in San Diego County between Oceanside and the border with Mexico under a variety of different names. Through Oceanside it is called Coast Highway. In Carlsbad it becomes Carlsbad Blvd, but to the south in Encinitas it is Coast Highway 101. Solana Beach keeps it consistent with Highway 101, but Del Mar changes it to Camino Del Mar. All of those together make up San Diego County Route S21. From there it continues along Torrey Pines Road to Interstate 5 in La Jolla. The old 101 routing continues on I-5 in San Diego until Pacific Highway, the old U.S. 101 freeway a little west of current I-5. It then continued on Harbor Drive and Broadway through Downtown San Diego and Chula Vista, then onto National City Blvd in National City. The southern parts of I-5 were U.S. 101 for a period before I-5 was completed also. All have been decommissioned, but the roadways still exist and are occasionally signed as Historic 101.

Most of Historic 101 between Gilroy and San Francisco is still active, either signed as Business 101 or as State Route 82. The 101A bypass, however, is mostly discontinuous and is paralleled by the actual freeway, in some cases serving as an access road to the freeway.

Large parts of the old U.S. Business 101 and State Route 82 surface roads between San Francisco and San Diego are designated El Camino Real (The Royal Road), a designation originally given any thoroughfare under the direct authority of the King of Spain and his viceroys. These portions constitute the first major road in California.

Before the Golden Gate Bridge was completed, Highway 101 was divided in the San Francisco Bay Area. U.S. Route 101W followed the same general right-of-way of today's 101 from San Jose to San Francisco. U.S. Route 101E (east) 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 California State Route 37, joining US 101W. Since there was no Golden Gate Bridge yet, US 101W became a ferry ride across the Golden Gate Strait. As today, US 101W proceeded up Van Ness, but without any left turn at Lombard, ending at the Hyde Street Pier. From there, motorists would drive onto a ferry boat which would cross the Golden Gate to Sausalito, where they would drive off the ferry directly onto the main street of Sausalito, which was signed for U.S. 101 once again.

The US 101E designation was removed by the 1940s and became state Route 17 (later Interstates 880 and 580) between San Jose and Santa Cruz. As the Bayshore Freeway was built along the east side of the San Francisco peninsula in the early 1950s, old U.S. 101 along the El Camino Real was posted as U.S. 101 Alternate or 101-a, and the freeway was marked U.S. 101-Bypass or 101-B. In 1964, when California renumbered numerous state highways, El Camino was renumbered California 82 and the Bayshore Freeway lost the Bypass designation.