California State Route 24

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State Route 24

Defined by S&HC § 324, maintained by Caltrans

Length:

13.53 mi^[1] (21.77 km)

Formed:

1934^[2]

West end:

I-580 / I-980 in Oakland

East end:

I-680 in Walnut Creek

State highways in California (list - pre-1964)
County routes in California (list)
< SR 23		SR 25 >
History - Unconstructed - Deleted - Freeway - Scenic

State Route 24 in the U.S. state of California is a heavily-traveled east-west freeway in the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay Area of northern California between Oakland (junction Interstates 580 and 980) and Walnut Creek (junction Interstate 680). It lies only in Alameda County, where it is highly urban, and Contra Costa County, where it passes through wooded hillsides and suburbs.

This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System^[3] and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System^[4].

1 Route description
2 History
3 Exit list
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Route description

Major cities Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs
Downtown Oakland (westbound; via I-980) San Francisco (westbound; via I-580 and I-80) Oakland (westbound) Orinda Lafayette Walnut Creek (eastbound) Concord (eastbound; via I-680)

SR 24 begins at the four-level interchange with Interstate 580 and Interstate 980 in Oakland; this interchange is located on top of Grove Shafter Park. SR 24 initially heads north before turning east near the Berkeley city limits.Route 24 rises from near sea level in downtown Oakland past its interchange with State Route 13, which is a freeway south of SR 24 (completed August 1999) and a surface street north of SR 24. After this, SR 24 crosses the Contra Costa County county line through the triple-bore Caldecott Tunnel and offers some attractive views of the hilly terrain through which it passes. Some protection of the views comes from the highway's designation as a California Scenic Highway. Due to the traffic jams, commuters get extended views of the scenery.^[5]

On the other side of the tunnel, SR 24 travels through unincorporated Contra Costa County before entering Orinda. SR 24 crosses the Mokelumne Aqueduct soon after entering the city of Lafayette. SR 24 terminates at the intersection with Interstate 680 just inside the city limits of Walnut Creek.^[6]

SR 24 is designated as the Grove Shafter Freeway from the Caldecott Tunnel to the I-580 interchange segment of the MacArthur Maze, continuing henceforth as I-980 to the terminus with I-880. It is known as the William Byron Rumford Freeway from I-580 in Oakland to the Caldecott Tunnel.^[7]

The Pittsburg/Bay Point Line of the Bay Area Rapid Transit runs in the freeway's center median, except around the Caldecott Tunnel.

[edit] History

This section does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008)
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Highway 24 was created with the opening of the Broadway Tunnel (subsequently re-named the Caldecott Tunnel) in 1937,^{[citation needed]} connecting with the new Eastshore Highway and the approaches to the new Bay Bridge by way of Ashby Avenue through Berkeley west of the Berkeley Hills, and routed along Mount Diablo Boulevard through Contra Costa County east of the hills.

Highway 24 remained along Ashby Avenue until completion of the Grove-Shafter Freeway in the late 1960s. This new freeway, which ran from the Caldecott Tunnel through downtown Oakland to the MacArthur and Nimitz Freeways, was designated Route 24 and Ashby was re-designated Route 13.

Route 24 used to extend much further east. The section of Interstate 680 between the current terminus of SR 24 and State Route 242 was dual-signed I-680 and SR 24 until ca. 1987; State Route 242 which runs primarily in Concord was signed as Route 24 until the same time. Older maps show routes for 24 which continue along State Route 4 from the current intersection of 242 to the Antioch Bridge, and occasionally reappearing along the river road to Sacramento, currently State Route 160. Parts of the same route were also sometimes designated as State Route 84.

[edit] Exit list

Note: Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured in 1964, based on the alignment as it existed at that time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.

County	Location	Postmile ^[8]^[9]^[10]	#^[11]	Destinations	Notes
Alameda ALA R1.85-R6.24	Oakland	R1.85	2A	I-980 to I-880 – Downtown Oakland	Continuation beyond I-580
		R1.85	2B	I-580 (MacArthur Freeway) – San Francisco, Hayward	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		R2.59- R2.77	2	Martin Luther King Jr Way, 51st Street	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		R3.06	3	Telegraph Avenue	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		R3.32	3	Claremont Avenue	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		R3.55	4A	College Avenue	Westbound exit only
		R4.15	4B	Broadway	Signed as exit 4 eastbound
		R5.12	5A	SR 13 south – Hayward	Signed as exit 5 eastbound
		R5.12	5B	SR 13 north – Berkeley	Eastbound exit is via exit 4
		R5.47	6	Tunnel Road
		Caldecott Tunnel through the Berkeley Hills
Contra Costa CC R0.00-R9.12		Caldecott Tunnel through the Berkeley Hills
		R0.40	7A	Fish Ranch Road
	Orinda	1.20	7B	Gateway Boulevard
		R2.32	9	Orinda, Moraga
		R3.47	10	St. Stephens Drive, Hidden Valley Road
	Lafayette	R4.40	11	Acalanes Road, Mount Diablo Boulevard, Upper Happy Valley Road
		R6.51	12	Oak Hill Road – Central Lafayette, Moraga	Signed as exit 13 westbound
		R7.66	14	Pleasant Hill Road, Mount Diablo Boulevard
	Walnut Creek	R9.12	15	I-680 south / Ygnacio Valley Road – Sacramento, Concord, San Jose, Dublin	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; signed as exits 15A (south) and 15B (north)
	Walnut Creek	R9.12	15A	Mount Diablo Boulevard	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance