Arroyo Seco Parkway – Los Angeles CA

Description

One of the oldest freeways in the United States, the Arroyo Seco Parkway (today’s Pasadena Freeway) is an 8.2-mile road connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, CA. It was built by the California State Division of Highways (today’s Caltrans) in three stages between 1938 and 1953, with the first two stages completed during the New Deal. The first 6-mile stage was built between 1938 and 1941; the second 2.2-mile stage (also known as the “Southerly Extension”) was built between 1940 and 1943. There is some dispute about the sources of funding, but we know the federal government contributed via the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads (today’s Federal Highway Administration), which itself received funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) as well as the regular federal budget during the New Deal.

Plans for an “Arroyo Seco Highway” had been in the works for decades when, in 1935, the State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) allocated $20,000 for a route survey through Pasadena and South Pasadena. Construction commenced three years later by private contracting companies as well as the California State Division of Highways with local, state-funded labor. “To expedite the process of construction along the parkway, many of the workers performed double shifts. […] In addition to the grading and paving of the roadbed, the contracts often required other tasks in varying combinations, including the installation of curbs, gutters, walls, storm drains, service roads, and the removal of trees and other obstructions. The contracts frequently required the erection of bridges and underpasses – the most costly and time-consuming part of the process” (HAER No. Ca-265, p. 56). Excavation of the Arroyo Seco Flood Control Channel (by the WPA) provided material for rough grading of the Parkway, while the Army Corps of Engineers’ Los Angeles River flood control project provided material for some parkway embankments.

The construction of the $4 million Southerly Extension “included the transformation of the tunnels for northbound traffic; the construction of a second bridge over the Los Angeles River; a grade separation with Riverside Drive, allowing northbound drivers to turn left onto that road under the new bridge; the construction of a new four-lane, 46’-0” southbound roadway; the erection of four additional bridges, the installation of a lighting system, and the completion of a mile and a half of storm drains” (HAER No. Ca-265, p. 61). Moreover, “because of the road’s high-speed nature and its ability to rapidly transport soldiers and equipment to ports of embarkation, the United States War Department declared the Southerly Extension project part of the National Strategic System of Roads by mid-1941. This allowed for federal funding, W.P.A. labor, and priority use of scarce materials like steel and concrete. […] W.P.A. forces were used to complete much of the preliminary work, such as the right-of-way clearing, reconstruction of various Elysian Park facilities, roadway grading, the construction of rubble retaining walls, and the careful boxing of ‘desirable’ pre-existing trees for their later replanting along the roadway” (HAER No. Ca-265, p. 63).

In addition, the WPA contributed funding to the construction of a 60-foot earth-filled dam for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a project that totaled approximately $300,000.