FACT SHEET

Important Events in Caltrans History

1895

The Bureau of Highways is created with the Appointment of Lake Tahoe Wagon Road Commissioner and Commissioners of Bureau of Highways. The Bureau studied highway needs and made recommendations for a 4,500-mile State Highway System.

1897

California’s Department of Highways was created and operated until operated until 1907 when the State Department of Engineering was created. The State legislature made its first appropriation for certain “State Roads.”

1907

The State Department of Engineering was created. The Department of Highways and Lake Tahoe Wagon Road Commission were placed under the control of new department.

1909

California’s first State Highway Bond was passed by the legislature. The State Highways Act of 1909 was approved by voters in 1910. It provided $18 million for construction and acquisition of a State Highways System. 

1911

The three-member California Highway Commission was created to oversee highway maintenance and construction. This legislation also provided for a Highway Engineer, appointed by the Governor to serve as the Executive Officer of the Commission.

1912

The first State highway construction contract was awarded and signed, with work beginning the same year. Awarding this contract marked the beginning of construction on the Highway 1, El Camino Real, Pacific Coast route.

1923

The first State Gas Tax was created to fund the expansion of the State Highway System. Initially the tax was set at 2 cents per gallon. Accompanying legislation also created "Motor Vehicle Fuel Fund," with some of the funding going directly to counties and other funds being deposited into the "State Highway Maintenance Fund" for the purposes of maintenance, repair, widening, resurfacing, and reconstruction of state highways and roads and highways in state parks.

1934

The state sign route numbering system was adopted.

1936

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened to traffic. The bridge represented a remarkable engineering and political achievement.

1937

State Route 1, also know as Pacific Coast Highway, was completed serving as an important tourist and commercial corridor. This is was the first compete north-south highway in California.

1940

The Arroyo-Seco Parkway, California’s first freeway, was dedicated on Monday, December 30, 1940. This project marked the beginning of the Freeway era in the Golden State.

1947

The Collier-Burns Act was passed that provided $76 million annually for new construction of highways.  Gas and diesel taxes were raised by 1-1/2 cents and driver license and registration fees were increased. The Division of Highways was reorganized in order to deal with the greater volume of work generated by the Act.

1953

California’s gas tax was increased to 6 cents per gallon to fund the improvement of the highway system.

1956

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Under the Act, the Federal government supplied 90 percent of funding for interstate highways with the State paying the remaining 10 percent.

1960

The Winter Olympics held in Squaw Valley served as impetus to build Interstate 80. Interstate 80 became the first all weather, trans-Sierra Nevada highway and was nationally recognized as a major engineering achievement.

1961

California established the Highway Transportation Agency that consisted of the Department of Public Works (which includes the Division of Highways), Department of Motor Vehicles, and the California Highway Patrol.

1963

The first rapid transit funding was authorized with the passage of the Collier-Unruh Act. This bill allowed counties to increase the in-lieu tax by one-half cent for development of rapid transit systems. The legislature also increased the gasoline tax to 7 cents a gallon.

1964

Signed into law by Governor Edmund G. Brown on May 14, Senate Bill 64 provided for renumbering of the state highway system effective July 1, 1964.

1965

The Highway Transportation Agency was renamed the Transportation Agency.

1969

The Business and Transportation Agency was formed from the departments and boards of Aeronautics, Highway Patrol, Corporations, Housing and Community Development, Insurance Motor Vehicles, Public Works (which included the Division of Highways), Real Estate, Savings and Loan, and State Banking.

1970

The opening of first High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lane occurred in the San Francisco Bay area. A one-half mile, peak period, west-bound bus lane was installed through the toll plaza of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on April 20. This was an element of a program of experimental bus and car pool lanes installed through the toll plaza on December 8, 1971.

1971

The first Traffic Management Center in California was established in Los Angeles. The "42-mile Surveillance Loop"  included the Santa Monica, San Diego, and Harbor Freeways. This was a significant milestone in the development of a fully-automated traffic management system and included elements such as underground "loop detectors" and ramp metering. The passage of the Transportation Development Act, extended the state's retail sales tax to include gasoline, and provided for a portion of that revenue be returned to local government for transportation purposes. This provided a significant new source of revenue for local transportation facilities, in particular, for transit purposes.

1973

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) was formed to unify all transportation functions under a single Department.

1978

The California Transportation Commission was created to replace the California Highway Commission, State Transportation Board, Aeronautics Board and California Toll Bridge Authority, for the purpose of advising and assisting the Governor and Legislature in formulating and evaluating state policies and plans for transportation programs.

1980

Business and Transportation Agency was renamed the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency to better convey its broader mission.

1983

California’s gas tax was increased to 9 cents, the first increase since 1963.

1987

The 12th and final Caltrans district was established in Orange County.

1989

The massive Loma Prieta Earthquake occurred on October 17, raising awareness for the need to strengthen and retrofit State highway bridges. After the earthquake, emergency transportation was greatly impacted in the Bay Area, however, Caltrans reopened the Bay Bridge in an amazing 30 days.

1990

The State gas tax was increased to 14 cents with a yearly increase of one cent per year for four more years. A State Master Plan for Transportation was adopted with a focus on reduction of traffic congestion, with an emphasis on expanding bus, rail and other public transit systems as opposed to adding more freeways.

1994

The State’s gas tax reached 18 cents per gallon. After the Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles on, January 17, Caltrans reconstructed I-5/Hwy 14, the Gavan Canyon Bridge and the Santa Monica Freeway I-10 in record time.

1997

The passage of Senate Bill 45 substantially changed the process by which state and federal transportation funds are allocated placing the majority of responsibility for planning and prioritization of project funding in the hands of local and regional agencies rather than the State. In order to improve efficiently the first dedicated electronic toll collection lane opens on the Carquinez Bridge in August reducing congestion.

2002

The first Amber Alert notification occurred on August 1 when two teenage girls were abducted near Lancaster, California. Milton Walters, a Caltrans District 9 equipment operator, spotted the abductor's white Bronco, scratched the license number in the dirt and on his lunch box and contacted the CHP.

2004

The Transportation Congestion Improvement Act, also known as Proposition 42, was approved by voters on the November 2004 ballot to protect transportation funds. This Act limited the use of transportation funds for other non-transportation related needs.

2005

Caltrans developed the Goods Movement Action Plan, which offered solutions to improve the flow of goods while reducing environmental impacts related to good movements. The Department also distributed $5 million in federal funds as grant to metropolitan planning organizations to produce regional “blueprint’ planning documents designed to improve environmental quality.   

2006

Voters approved Propositions 1A and 1B. Proposition 1A permanently protected Proposition 42 transportation funds and required previously diverted funds to be repaid. Proposition 1B authorized the sale of $19.9 billion dollars in bonds for a broad range of transportation projects.

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Self-Anchored Suspension (SAS) span contract was awarded in April, which was the largest public infrastructure contract in California's history. Caltrans seismically retrofitted 99.5 percent of all State-owned bridges, making them stronger and safer should a major earthquake occur.

2007
 
Caltrans, working with it partners in the private sector and government, was able to over see the reconstruction of the I-880 and the I-580 approaches to the San Francisco- Oakland Bay Bridge in a record 26 days following a devastating accident that compromised the structure.

Construction on the Devil’s Slide project began on highway 1 in San Mateo County in September. Caltrans designed this project to bypass the dangerous and maintenance intense Devil’s slide which was frequently closed because of storm damage. This project will consist of two parallel 4,200 foot long tunnels and a two 1,000 foot long bridges when complete.

In October, Caltrans quickly responded to a fiery crash in a tunnel on I-5 near Santa Clarita that killed three people and involved 31-vehicles. Caltrans was able to clear the tunnel and reopen the route in a remarkable three days.

The Department of Transportation, for the first time in history, oversaw $10 billion dollars worth of construction occurring on the State Highway System.

2008

Caltrans completed the rehabilitation of a .75 mile stretch of the I-5 in Downtown Sacramento know as the “boat section” in a record 40 days rather than the projected two years with a minimal amount of inconvenience to the public.

2009

California received $3.64 billion form the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Economic Stimulus Package) for transportation and was the first State in the nation to obligate $1.5 billion to projects. These projects include a $1 billion dollars lane widening on I-405, a $13.5 million project to resurface and repair a 50 year old section of I-80 in the Bay area and $1 billion to replace sections of Doyle Drive in San Francisco.