State Route 24 (SR 24) is a heavily traveled east–west

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

that serves the eastern side of the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. A freeway throughout its entire length, it runs from the Interstate 580/

Interstate 980 Interstate 980 (I-980) is a short auxiliary Interstate Highway entirely within Oakland in Northern California, connecting I-580 and State Route 24 (SR 24) to I-880 near Downtown Oakland. I-980 passes the Oakland Convention ...

interchange (just east of the

MacArthur Maze The MacArthur Maze (or simply the Maze, also called the Distribution Structure) is a large freeway interchange near the east end of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in Oakland, California. It splits Bay Bridge traffic into three freeways— ...

) in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, and through the

Caldecott Tunnel The Caldecott Tunnel is an east–west highway tunnel through the Berkeley Hills between Oakland and Orinda, California. Its four bores carry California State Route 24. Named after Thomas E. Caldecott, former mayor of Berkeley, it opened in 19 ...

under the

Berkeley Hills The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that encompasses San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" (from the original Spanish ''Sierra de la ...

, to the Interstate 680 junction in

Walnut Creek A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bo ...

. It lies in

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and List ...

, where it is highly urban, and

Contra Costa County ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...

, where it passes through wooded hillsides and suburbs. SR 24 is a major connection between the

San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 in California, Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland ...

/MacArthur Maze complex and the inland cities of the

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...

Route description

SR 24 begins at the four-level stack interchange with Interstate 580 and

; this interchange is located on top of Grove Shafter Park. SR 24 initially heads north before turning east near the

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

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 (upgraded August 1999) and a surface street north of SR 24. After this, SR 24 crosses the

Contra Costa County ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...

county line through the four-bore

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. On the other side of the tunnel, SR 24 travels through unincorporated Contra Costa County before entering Orinda. SR 24 crosses the

Mokelumne Aqueduct The Mokelumne Aqueduct is a water conveyance system in central California, United States. The aqueduct is supplied by the Mokelumne River and provides water to 35 municipalities in the East Bay in the San Francisco Bay Area. The aqueduct and the ...

soon after entering the city of

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

. SR 24 terminates at the intersection with Interstate 680 just inside the city limits of

. The of the

Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which uses ...

(BART) system runs in the freeway's center median, excepting the vicinity of the Caldecott Tunnel and the approach to the interchange with Interstate 680. SR 24 is part of the

California Freeway and Expressway System The California Freeway and Expressway System is a system of existing or planned freeways and expressways in the U.S. state of California. It encompasses both State highways and federal highways in California. It is defined by Article 2 (commenci ...

, and is part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

. SR 24 is eligible to be included in the State Scenic Highway System; however, Caltrans has only designated it as a scenic highway between the eastern end of the Caldecott Tunnel and I-680, meaning that it is a substantial section of highway passing through a "memorable landscape" with no "visual intrusions", where the potential designation has gained popular favor with the community. SR 24 is designated as both the Grove Shafter Freeway, after streets the route travels along (Grove Street was later renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Way), and the

William Byron Rumford William Byron Rumford (February 2, 1908 – June 12, 1986) was an American pharmacist and politician. He was the first African American elected to a state public office in Northern California. Family background Rumford was born in Courtland ...

Freeway, honoring the first African American elected to a state public office in Northern California, from the Caldecott Tunnel to the I-580 interchange segment of the

, continuing henceforth as I-980 to the terminus with I-880. Berkeley Hills Orinda

SR 24 near Lafayette with BART track and Mt Diablo in the background

History

Highway 24 was designated in 1932 in conjunction with the ongoing construction of the Broadway Low Level Tunnel (renamed the

in 1960) which opened in 1937, connecting with the new

Eastshore Highway Interstate 80 (I-80) is a transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey. The segment of I-80 in California runs east from San Francisc ...

and the approaches to the new Bay Bridge by way of Tunnel Road and Ashby Avenue through

west of the

, and routed along Mount Diablo Boulevard through Contra Costa County east of the hills. Before either the bridge or the tunnel were completed, Highway 24 was provisionally routed starting from downtown Oakland at the major intersection of San Pablo and Broadway, which was also the terminal point of US 40 and State Highway 17. From this point, Highway 24 proceeded northward along Broadway to College Avenue, then along College to Claremont Avenue, up Claremont to Tunnel Road, then up into the Berkeley Hills on Tunnel Road to the old Intercounty Tunnel (also called the Kennedy Tunnel), through the tunnel into Contra Costa County. 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 Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

was signed as Route 24 until the same time. Older maps show routes for 24 which continue along

State Route 4 Route 4, or Highway 4, may refer to several highways in the following countries: International * AH4, Asian Highway 4 * European route E04 * European route E004 * Cairo – Cape Town Highway Albania * SH-4 road in Albania from Durres to Kakav ...

from the current intersection of 242 to the

Antioch Bridge The Antioch Bridge (officially the Senator John A. Nejedly Bridge) is an automobile, bicycle, and pedestrian bridge in the western United States. Located in northern California, it crosses the San Joaquin River- Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channe ...

, continuing along the river road to Sacramento, currently State Route 160, then continuing north to

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

, Marysville, Oroville, along the North Fork of the

Feather River The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is just over . The main stem Feather R ...

to a junction with State Route 89 (this segment is currently State Route 70), where it continued dual-numbered with 89 through Quincy. Highway 24 split from 89 near Graeagle, and continued east through Portola east until its terminus at

U.S. Route 395 U.S. Route 395 (US 395) is a U.S. Route in the western United States. The southern terminus of the route is in the Mojave Desert at Interstate 15 near Hesperia. The northern terminus is at the Canada–US border near Laurier, where the road ...

. Parts of the same route were also sometimes designated as State Route 84. At least one published map from the 1960s incorrectly showed Route 24 extending eastward from Interstate 680 in Walnut Creek to Route 4 in Pittsburg that followed the Ygnacio Valley Road-Kirker Pass Road-Railroad Avenue corridor, presumably as a future extension that never materialized. A 1970 State Highway Map shows this corridor as a future Route 24 bypas

A 1956 version of Thomas Brothers maps shows Mt. Diablo Blvd. where present day Northgate Road is and labeled as Route 24, winding and climbing the mountain.

Exit list

Mileage is measured from SR 24's original western terminus, now part of

References

External links

{{commonscat
California @ AARoads - State Route 24Caltrans: Route 24 highway conditionsAlternate routes considered for Route 24 in Oakland
San Francisco Bay Area freeways, 024

024 4 (four) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is tetraphobia, considered unlucky in many East Asian c ...

State Route 024 State Route 024 Transportation in Oakland, California Lafayette, California Orinda, California Walnut Creek, California

Route description

History

Exit list

See also

References

External links