page_title: Interstate 280 (California)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 280 (California) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Cars driving on I-280 near Page Mill Road
context_page_description: Interstate 280 is a 57.5-mile-long major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It runs from I-680 and US 101 in San Jose to King and Fifth Streets in San Francisco, running just to the west of the larger cities of San Francisco Peninsula for most of its route.
  From I-880 in San Jose to State Route 1 in Daly City, I-280 was built and dedicated as the Junipero Serra Freeway, after the Spanish Franciscan friar who founded the first nine of 21 Spanish missions in California from San Diego to San Francisco. One of the dedication signs still indicates that the Junipero Serra Freeway is known as the "World's Most Beautiful Freeway" due to its scenic route through the San Francisco Peninsula. From State Route 1 to the James Lick Freeway in San Francisco it is officially called the John F Foran Freeway. From the James Lick Freeway to its northern end at King Street and Fifth Street, I-280 is called the Southern-Embarcadero Freeway.
  I-280 is one of two 3-digit Interstate designations to appear on opposite coasts of the United States. I-110 in California and Florida is the only other designation.
context_section_description: Interstate 280 was added to the Interstate Highway System on September 15, 1955 as a route from San Jose north to San Francisco. This ran along the present alignment of I-280 south of San Francisco, but in San Francisco it ran north parallel to State Route 1, past the planned west end of Interstate 80 which would have been at the junction with the Panhandle Freeway just south of Fulton and Park Presidio, along what would have been the Park Presidio Freeway north to the south approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. At that point, I-280 would have met Interstate 480, which would have headed east on Doyle Drive (U.S. Route 101), the Golden Gate Freeway, and onto the Embarcadero Freeway to reach the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. I-480 would have continued south on the never-built section of the Southern-Embarcadero Freeway from Folsom and the Embarcadero to 5th and King Street, then along the present Southern-Embarcadero Freeway to meet the Southern Freeway (now I-280) near the Alemany Maze, which served as the 101A Bypass until I-280 was built. The I-280 number was approved on November 10, 1958.
  In the 1964 renumbering, the Route 280 designation was officially applied to the planned route. This replaced SR 1 in San Francisco; the new SR 1 alignment turned northeast where I-280 now runs, quickly ending at State Route 82 (San Jose Avenue/Alemany Boulevard). SR 1, however, continued to be signed along its former (and current) alignment, which had not been upgraded to freeway standards.
  A realignment approved January 1968 took I-280 onto its current route. This ran along what had been SR 1, SR 82, State Route 87 and I-480 (downgraded to a State Route then), ending at Interstate 80 at the west end of the Bay Bridge. This change was made on the state level in 1968, restoring SR 1 to its current alignment and truncating SR 82, SR 87 and SR 480.
  For the scenic portion, the section of I-280 between SR 85 (Cupertino) and SR 84 (Woodside) was completed in the late 1960s. The section between SR 92 (San Mateo) and SR 84 was not completed until the 1970s. Until then, traffic was routed on Cañada Road between the two ends.
  The short piece of I-280 between 3rd Street and SR 480 in downtown San Francisco was never built, and the piece from 5th Street south to U.S. Route 101 originally terminated mid-air, to connect to the second proposed location of a parallel bay bridge (which was never built) but was reconfigured to the King St on/off ramps after it was damaged by the 1989 earthquake. The piece between SR 480 and I-80 was torn down along with the rest of the Embarcadero Freeway; ramp stubs which would have connected the freeways were removed as part of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge Western Approach reconstruction project.
  The interchange at the beginning of I-280 at I-680 and U.S. Route 101 in San Jose was constructed years before its completion. The three flyovers, with no connecting ramps, stood as a 110-foot-tall (33.5 m) monument to inefficiency for years in the 1970s, becoming the butt of local jokes. The highlight prank occurred in January 1976, when a 1960 Chevrolet Impala was placed on the highest bridge overnight, where it obviously would be impossible to drive.  The following day, San Jose City Councilman Joe Colla was photographed standing next to the car, an image that was circulated across many newspapers.  It has been suggested this stunt nudged the State of California to find the funds to complete the freeway. The ramps opened five years later in 1981. In 2010, a resolution was introduced in the state legislature to name it the Joe Colla Interchange in memory of the late councilman.
caption: Cars driving near Page Mill Road on I-280.
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