Telling a Story Through
Highway and Planning Maps

The History of Sacramento Freeway Development

This page attempts to give a brief summary of the development of the freeway system in the Sacramento area. However, for the real, good details, from someone who knows their stuff, you should visit Joel Windmiller's Highwayman Routes. Joel focuses on Central California Highways, and provides the Highway History of several Central California routes.

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Figure 1. 1950s Planning Map for the Freeway System in Sacramento

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Figure 2. Sacramento Area Excerpt from 1963 State Highway Map

Figure 1 shows a rough planning map for the Sacramento area from the 1950s (I don't have the exact date). The numbers on the map were provided by Joel Windmiller. Figure 2 shows the 1963 State Highway map for Sacramento. Comparing and contrasting these maps, one notices the following:

• LRN 3. This is the original routing of US 40 and US 99E into Sacramento. This is now I-80 to the I-80/Business Route 80 (Route 51) split, Business Route 80 (Route 50) to the Business Route 80/Route 160 split, and Route 160 into downtown Sacramento.
• LRN 4. This is the original routing of US 99, now Route 99. The portion from the S into Sacramento was cosigned with US 50, and is approximately the same route. Within Sacramento, the surface street routing is no longer part of the state system.
• LRN 6. This is the original downtown routing of US 40 and US 99W. The original surface streets are no longer part of the state highway system, although a portion of this route is now part of Business Route 80. A small part of this is part of unsigned Route 275.
• LRN 11. This is old State Sign Route 24, present day Route 160.
• LRN 50. This was the route of old Sign Route 24 and old Sign Route 16 through Sacramento. It now is part of unsigned Route 84.
• LRN 54. This is Route 16 out of Sacramento. LRN 98. This is Business Route 80, also known as Route 51. It carried US 99E from US 50 N to US 40.
• LRN 99. This is part of present-day unsigned Route 84.
• LRN 232. This is Garden Highway, and at one time was part of Route 24. It is no longer in the state highway system. However, N of what is shown on the map, this is the route for Route 99 to Marysville.
• LRN 238. This was the planned routing for I-5 into and out of Sacramento. The actual route that I-5 takes now is quite different; see Figure 3.
• LRN 242. This is an interesting route. Originally proposed to be the I-880 routing around Sacramento, due to a variety of factors (see the page on Business Route 80), this ended up as the I-80 alignment around the city. LRN 247. The 1963 map shows LRN 247 as a route from LRN 4 (US 50/US 99; present-day Route 99) near Elk Grove to LRN 246 (Elkhorn Blvd) near Antelope. This is on the books as Route 143; it was never constructed.
• LRN 248. This route was defined in 1959 as the route from LRN 238 (present-day I-5) near Sacramento to LRN 247 (Elk Grove Florin Road) S of LRN 54 (Route 16). This is present-day Route 148 between I-5 and Route 143.

The planning map shows some additional routes that were not on the 1963 map, either due to the area covered by the map, or for other reasons:

• Route 16. The segment of interest is defined to run from Route 20 to Route 5 near Woodland via Rumsey and Woodland.
• Route 65. The "Eastside" Freeway, for the most part, unconstructed (except for two portions: a piece in Sacramento, and a highway between Bakersfield and Fresno). The unconstructed portion runs from Route 198 near Exeter to Route 80 near Roseville on a route along the easterly side of the San Joaquin Valley. The constructed portion runs from Route 80 near Roseville to Route 70 near Marysville.
• Route 102. Defined to run from Route 5 near Elkhorn to Route 80 near Auburn. Unconstructed.
• Route 113. The segment of interest is defined to run from Route 80 near Davis to Route 99 passing near Woodland.
• Route 244. This route, at the time of the planning map, ran from Route 80 to Route 65 in Fair Oaks. Over time, this route has been truncated; compare the planning map with the 1994 map. The route has been truncated even further since 1994; it now only runs from Route 80 to Auburn Boulevard in Carmichael.

Constrast the planning maps with the map in Figure 3, which is the 1994 State Highway inset map for Sacramento:

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Figure 3. 1994 State Highway Map Inset for Sacramento

This map shows that Route 102, Route 143, Route 148, and Route 65 are undetermined, and unlikely to be built. It shows a new Route 256, which wasn't defined in 1963. Other routes exist (such as Route 84 or Route 275), but are unsigned. Contrasting this with a 2000 map (alas, no longer available), one can see a significant change in Route 102. There was a planned realignment from the Auburn-Folsom-Rio Linda-Elkhorn routing of Route 102 (which would've crossed I-80 twice and parallelled Folsom Lake and Elkhorn Boulevard/Greenback Lane) in 1994 as contrasted to the mid-1990s plan of a direct route from Auburn to Elkhorn/Natomas crossing through undeveloped areas in Sacramento and Placer County.

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