EASTSHORE FREEWAY

(Redirected from Eastshore Highway)

The 'Eastshore Freeway' is a segment of Interstate Highways 80 and 580 which runs along the northeast shoreline of San Francisco Bay in northern California. It begins at the Carquinez Bridge and ends at the MacArthur Maze interchange just east of the western end of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Interstate 580 joins the Eastshore Freeway at an interchange in Albany.
The Eastshore Freeway was created in the mid 1950s (construction commenced in 1954) by re-engineering the 'Eastshore Highway', a thoroughfare constructed in the 1930s (1937-39) as one of the approaches to the Bay Bridge and designated as part of U.S. Highway 40. The Eastshore Highway began in El Cerrito at an intersection with San Pablo Avenue at Hill Street between Potrero Avenue and Cutting Blvd., adjacent to the location today of the El Cerrito Del Norte station of BART. It was not a freeway in that access was at intersections with adjoining streets rather than by ramps. The Eastshore Highway ran from El Cerrito to the Bay Bridge along the same routing as today's freeway, although it was much narrower. A causeway was constructed for this purpose by filling in part of the mudflats along the bayshore. In the stretch from University to Ashby Avenues in Berkeley, this resulted in the creation of an artificial lagoon which was developed by the WPA in the late 1930s as "Aquatic Park".
The frontage road along the east side of today's Eastshore Freeway between Buchanan Street in Albany and Hearst Avenue in Berkeley retains the name "Eastshore Highway". The terminal segment of the old Eastshore Highway in El Cerrito between Potrero and San Pablo Avenues is today named "Eastshore Blvd.".
Originally, the name "Eastshore Freeway" applied first to what is today known as the "Nimitz Freeway" (I-880) upon its construction in 1947. This freeway was dedicated in 1958 to Admiral Nimitz, and so for a few years in the 1950s, the Eastshore Freeway actually stretched the entire length of the east shore of San Francisco Bay. Until the late 1960s, the Eastshore Freeway was also designated as part of State Highway 17 together with the Nimitz.
The Eastshore Freeway was officially re-named the "Kent D. Pursel Memorial Freeway" in 1968, but it is hardly recognized as such by the public. The maps of the California State Automobile Association (CSAA), for instance, still show the name "Eastshore Freeway".

Contents

Communities served

Major Intersections

References

Communities served

★ Oakland (MacArthur Maze)

★ Emeryville (One exit: Powell Street)

★ Berkeley (Three exits: Ashby Avenue, University Avenue, Gilman Street)

★ Albany (One exit: Buchanan Street)

★ El Cerrito (One exit: Central Avenue)

★ Richmond

★ San Pablo

★ Pinole

★ Hercules

★ Rodeo

★ Crockett

Major Intersections

Freeways intersecting with the Eastshore Freeway include:

★ MacArthur Freeway (I-580)

★ Nimitz Freeway (I-880)

★ John T. Knox Freeway (Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Approach) (I-580)

★ John Muir Parkway (SR-4)

References

★ 2006 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California, , , , Caltrans, ,