p~-------------------..iil 1*.1

Official Journal of the Division of Highways,Departmenl of Public Works, Siale of CaliFornia

Public WO/ks 8vi/ding

Twe//th (Jnd N $Jreeh

So"atneo/o

Nos. 9 .. 10September-October

KENNETH C. ADAMS, Editor

HElEN HALSTED, Assistant Editor

MERRITT R. NICKERSON, Chief Photographer

Vol. 35

California Highwaysa11 d ]) 11 blie l¥0rks

Poge

9

65

26

313234

5051

52545556

373840

444548

12

30

19

24

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Noture Garbs Her Mountains in Autumn Colors in Ad"ance of Mantling ThemWith Winter Snows. This Photo Was Taken on luther Pass Highway, SignRoute 89, West of Lake Tahoe by Robert A .. Munroe, Photographic Section,Department of Public Works, M. R. Nickerson, Chief__ _ . ._ Cover

San Fernando Valley Freeway, Illustrated .. .... __ ._____________ _ .•_.__8y J. E. Edc.hordl ond l. $, Van Voorhi~, AS1.tstant Oistrici Engineer"s'

Eureka Slough Bridge, Illustrated_______ _ . .... . _By Alton f. Kay. A,sociol, Bridge enll;Mer

New Span Open, Illustrated __._. __8y T. F~ed ~ags"olNj Ass,slont PuhHc Work$ Director

Harbor Freeway, Illustrated .~. __ •. __• .... _By Ml:lurl~c E. Camp o1'1d Roy AI ColtinS I Resident e(lsine-er~

California's Longest County FAS Route Completed, Illustrated __•..._ey w, a. Mcl.,tO.=ih~ County Rood C()mMi'$s..ono~.ond T. G. Vought, ASJo"~'ant Engir\eer

Carquinez Bridge, Illustrated .....__.. ~~ .By Leonard C. HoHi!.te-r, Prcie.c.t~ Enginver: C~rqiJ;nez

In Costro Volley, Illustrated • __.. .. _By.J. D. CclUns, Resident Engineer

New Richardson Bay Bridge __ ~Banning Freeway, Illustrated.•_. .. _ _ _ __

Construction Training Aids, Illustrated . . ._.... _Boy N. E. Cornolius, .A~sistonf Construction E'ng;ne-ttr~ cnd O. C. Hinton, Avdio·Visl.lol Sp(-<iOlI;~1

An Interesting Historical Letter_ _ _

Retirements From Service .. _

Progress Report on US 40, IIlustrafed __8y R, C. Orout, A$.!.i!font Highway Engineer

Alameda County Highway Projects - ----Merit Award Boord Winners _ .-----------

Epoxy Adhesives os Structural Repair Material, Illustrated ..- -By Herbed A. Roon~YI AS$Clciotc Chemical TMfing En9in~r, oP'\d E. D. BOll!.,

S6nlor C!lomiccl T.aStifl9 Engineer

Rood Commissioner, Southern Rhodesia, Studies Our Highways ---- ...

Vallejo Merchant Anticipates Freeway -'-- - -, .-..- ---.-- -

Out of the Mail Bog --..---------_.--.- -~- ----- -- -"--In Memoriam-George M. Leatherwood .. -- .----

US 99 • ... .---------......----- -.-----......-- --- -- .. -- ---

Hydraulic Tower Platforms Aid in ~Iate Highway Work__By A. C. Dildine, Sl.,:nior Equi~menj EI'\!]lncer

Correlation of Geometric Design ond Directional Signing_. -_ .... _..... 56State Highway Engineer Answers a letter .. .. .. -.-....- -. .._ ..__. 59

Borrow Site Headaches, lliustrated .. -.. ..--- ....,,;- .. -.. -. --~-- -"- _.. _.. __ .._..._.. .._.. _ 60By J. M. Asbil!, District Ri2ht cf Way Age"'} and P. C. Morns, DI!.tnct Moferio'.s Engineer

Techniques of Making Lond Economic Studies.-- - --' -- -- __

Address comm r.mieol;on! 10

CALIFORNIA HIGHWAYS AND PUBLIC WORKSP. O. Box 1499

Sacramento, California

Published in the interest of highway developmenf in Coli..fornia. Editors of newspapers and others ore privileged touse matter contained herein. Cuts will be glodly loonad

upon request.

-- --_. ------

By J. E. ECKHARDT and L S. VAN VOORHISAssistant District Engineers, District VII

Excellent Progress

Is Being Mode

San FernandoVa ey Freeways

THE SAN FERNANDO Valley is a veryimportant part of the City of Los An­geles lying between the Santa MonicaMountains. the Santa Susana Moun~

tains, the San Gabriel Mountains, andthe Verdugo Mountains. In the north­erly pan of the valley is the City ofSan Fernando occupying the uniqueposition of being entirely surroundedby another city when the City of LosAngeles in the early twenties extendedirs limits to include the San FernandoValley. The valley roughly comprisesthe same area as the old original"R:mcho Mission de San Fernando" ofearly Spanish days.

Its history, past and present, is mostinterestingly set forth in the book en­titled, "San Fernando Valley," by \,y.y\,. Robinson, published by the TitleInsurance and Trust Company of LosAngeles, California, that is available toapplicants free upon request. A col­lector of Californiana would do wellto obtain this book for his library.From the fore Nord of this book byStuart O'IHelveny, President of T. 1.and T. Company, is quoted the fol­lowing:

Hidorlu.1 Past

"San Fernando Valley S\lmmarius thestory of the whole of California. Formerlythere were Indian villages along the watercourses of the valley. Antelope once racedits broad plains. Spanish explorers, beginningin 1769, crossed the valley. It had a. missionperiod, then rancho days. Revolurioruryarmies marched irs length. The valley hada gold rush, an era of pioneer settlement.Great sheep and wheat ranches gave wayto small farms, fruit orchards, communities.large population are:l..~. and indllSCry."

There is in this book much valuableinfonnation about the Mission SanFernando Rey de Espana that was es­tablished September 8, 1797, by Fr.Juan Crespi. If even more detailed in­formacion is desired concerning theearly days of the San Fernando iVlis­sian, reference can be made withprofit to California Highways and

Public Works) issue of January-Feb­mary, 1945.

Referring again to the T. I. & T.book, Mr. Robinson Ms considerableof interest to report about the his­caric trails and roads giving access tothe San Fernando Valley, referring tothem as "gateways." In the light afrecent freeway developments in thevalley what he has to say about two

of these gateways is of particular in­terest:

Gateways ta Valley

"By Cahuenga Pass. once so nanow onlynorsemen could use it, now a broad muJti­laned highway crowded with c:u-s, the ex­plorer" of the 1950's could quickly le:l.·ve theSan Fernando Valley and be in Hollywood.He m:l.Y prefer to extend his ·tour to TIl"­bank, tbe ciey which today is usually -:!..,.scribed as being in rhe easterly end of ';~:

Conclusions of Commiulan

"Among the conclusions reached by tcommissioners. on the basis of the infantrion and darn sobmitted to the commissiand upon independent on-the-ground i,;w·tigation by rhe commission, are:

"1. Au exterior e'Glmjn~rion of rhe honalong three Jines under consideration incates, generally speaking, chat they balarDue in quality though not in quantity. 1majority of the homes on anyone of \lines are beauciful properties with :\pppriate lawns and lr-lrdens with a value \.(above the <Iver:lgc: of California residentbur we cannot S<lY chat any tiner proper>will be raken on one line than on (he oth

"2. Much has been said ot the hearing:in the documenrs filed about giving csideration co the human values :IS well a!rhe engineering cotlsidc:rations. Weknowledge that we have given serious csideration to those values. In last anal

Valley is ~11 area of somc 200 squ:!.rc milcompletely surrounded by phl'sicaJ barriewirh only five major gateways susceptible,developmenc to highway standards capahof serving dense vehicular traffic. Themain gateways are Calabasas on the we,"Veldo" ClOyon-Newhall on the nonSepulveda Boulevard and Cahuenga pass «the south, and the narrow valley of thc LAngeles River (0 the southeast.

SEPULVEDA FLOOD CONTROL BASIN

California Highway Commission andthe soh.·ing of engineering problems inconnection therewith has not been aneasy task. The engineers of the StateDivision of Highways have cooper­ated with the engineering staffs of thevarious cities in the vaHey in workingout engineering details of planningand design so that the resulting free­ways will provide the greatest trafficservice for the lowest possible coSt.The California Highway Commissionhas held many public hearings in es­tablishing the freeway routes in theSan Fernando Valley.

Typical of these public hearingswas the one held July 14, 1954, re­garding the Riverside-Ventura Free­way location and, in this instance, thecommission published a report setringforth for the people of the San Fer­nando Valley the difficult problemswhich were being faced. SigniEcantstatements are quoted from the reportas follows:

"The broad aspects of the problem areevidenced by the faer that the San Fernando

Cahuenga Pan

Public Hearings Held,

The evolution of the present free­way pattern in the San Fernando Val­ley from the old historic trails of thepadres into modern freeways has beennatunll and logical as the mode oftransportation has changed from ox­carc to automobile. Even so the estab­lishment of freeway routings by the

Femando Valley. Ir is at leasr a 'gateway'to rhe valley. Before the city exiSted irs hodwas shown on old maps as rhe 'Pueno Suelo'-or gateway. Burbank has its own intereSt­ing scory. for it was a part of rhe 4,OOO-acreRancho Providencia, which-in rhe 1860'scame inro the hands of Or. David Burbank(whence the name of the cicy), and also apart of the 36.000-acre Rancho San Rafael,whose first owner was Corporal Jose MariaVerdugo of the Spanish Army. Today Bur­bank. with its 80,000 people. largely nils thearea of the 'gateway' of Spanish days, closepressed by the Verdugo Mountains to thenorth and the Sam:l Monicas to the south.Through it runs the old highway, the SanFernando Road. over which in the Spanishand Mexican periods ox-drawn carreras lum­bered between the Pueblo of Los Angelesand rhe Mission of San Fernando. Burbankis a cicy of homes, parks, schools, churches.manufacturing plants, and is an aircraft andmotion picture center. Lockheed AircrafrCorporarion is here, so, roo, the hugeWarner Brothers StUdio. the \Valt DisneySrodio, and the acreage used for ourdoor'shooting' by Columbia Pictures Corpoca­tion~H

The Cahuenga Pass gate'way, south­erly of the Universal-InternationalStudios called "Universal City," isnow the location of the HollvwoodFreeway with its 10 miles of com­pleted construction into the Los An­geles Civic Center. The Burbank gate­way is now the location for theGolden State Freeway, which is underconstruction. Another historic gate­way into the valley via SepulvedaCanyon is the location for the SanDiego Freeway. As the accompany­ing map shows, the San Diego Free­way will roughly parallel SepulvedaBoulevard, and the Ventura Freewaywill be substantially along the generalroute of Ventura Boulevard, the old"Camino ReaL" The Golden StateFreeway to the northwest leadingover the Ridge Route to Bakersfieldhas a northerly branch, taking off JUStbeyond the City of San Fernando,called the Sierra Highway that goesthrough Fremont Pass, another impor­tant "g.ateway."

2 California Highwc

we have to bal:\nce out 159 additional homesand 106 more residenti~ units which Line (requires over Line IJI, and 270 more homeslind 110 more residential units over Line IV,against objectionable (earures inherent inLines III and IV. Places of residence canbe muved. Admittedly, it takes time to de­velop gardens and to change rcsidences intohomes but a few years accomplishes thescadjustments. A freeway located in thewrong place is an UJlcorrectable error andthe whole community suffers iTrep:l.rablyand continuously over a great many years.

Sound Problems

"3. In speaking of the detriments on LinesIII and IV, we are not thinking so much ofthe potential injuries directly to the soundrecording companies except as these 3re re­flected in the general economy of the com­munity. Experience has taught that discon­tinuance of paychecks over extended periodsresults in community economic upsets andsometimes in family financial tragedies.These matters are essentwly 'human values'and such wounds are not easily healed.

"4. From a community srandpoinc, the so­called 'disrurbmce' of the occupants of thehomes not taken but lefr adjacent to thefreeway will, in our opinion, more chan beoffset by the material reducrion of identicalkinds of disturbance to occupancs of homeson city streers {or there is cerrain (0 be farless start-stop traffic if Line I is constructed.Finall:r, from the same broad communitysrandpoint, the material reduerion of trafficvolumes and rl":l.ffic hazards on the citystreets and avenues is a major communityvalue in the favor of Line I. This clearlyappears when we measure rhe over-ail char­acter of rhe traffic in the south portion ofrhe San Fernando Valley. The far grealerpercentage of it .is of local origin and verylargely also for local deStination."

Highway Commission Adlon

The above paragraphs are quotedbecause of their direct application cothe problems of freeway location inthe San Femando Valley and also be­cause the situation portrayed is typi­cal of the thoughtful and detailed con­sideration which the members of theCalifornia Highway Commission giveto these problems. As shown on themap accompanying this story, all ofthe freeways for the San FernandoValley have been covered by theadoption of freeway resolutions bythe California Highway Commission.After the commission has adoptedfreeway resolutions fixing the genera]location of the freeway route, theState Division of Highways can thenstart detailed designs, negotiate for theacquisition of righrs of way, and pro­ceed with construction contracts asfunds can be provided therefor.

and Public Works

San Fernando Valley, an area wherethe population has more than doubledin the last 10 years (325,000 in 1946to 790,000 in J956), has developedgrowing pains such as few areas inSouthern California have ever experi­enced. One of the most critical is theproblem of transportation. With theSanta Moruca Mountains separatingthe valley from industrial and busi­ness developments of other Los An­geles areas, and with the valley lyingin the path of the only natural trafficroutes leading from Los Angeles tothe north, the inevitable result hasbeen the development of very seriousrraffic problems. The completion ofthe Hollywood Freeway to Lanker­shim Boulevard and Vineland Avenue

at a cost of $55,000,000, while provid­ing some traffic relief, has also beenresponsible to a degree for the rapiddevelopment that has occurred in thevalley. This same statement could ofcourse, be made regarding almost anyundeveloped area through which asection of freeway is completed.However, it is particularly applicable(Q the San Fernando Valley.

Golden State Freeway

As shown on the accompanyingmap, present plans propose the devel­opment of the Golden State Freewayand the San Diego Freeway as addi­tional routes connecting the valleywith the Los Angeles metropolitanarea. By providing the Olympic Free-

3

Pacific

leGendCOMPLETED • .......UNDER CONSTRUCTION _

OR BUDGETEDUNDER FREEWAY RESOLUTION OOOOO

SCALE2 I 0 2~-

MILES

4j

way as an east-west route through theindUStrial area just south of the cen­tral business distri.ct of Los Angeles,further aid in the distribution of trafficwill be provided. The Ventura-River­side Freeway will provide for east­west movement through the valley,serve as a connecting link with theother freeways proposed and providefor traffic destined for the coastal area

to the north. On the Ventura Free­way westerly of Calabassas, at a costof $14,000,000, all but 3.2 miles of the37 miles to the City of Ventura, havebeen completed to freeway or ex-­pressway standards. The Golden StateFreeway will provide the main routefrom the valley north over the RidgeRoute to the San Joaquin and Sacra­mento Valleys.

ltollywl:lod Preeway E"1en~il:ln

A major step in the rapidly devel­oping freeway construction for theSan Fernando Valley occurred whenDirector of Public Works, Frank B.Durkee, on August 16, 1956, awardedthe contract to Griffith Company forconstrUction of a l.l-mile unit of theHollywood Freeway Extension. Thisunit extends from Lankershim Boule-

CaliFornia Highways

vard to Moorpark Street and carriesa construction allotment of $2,172,000.The contract plans provide for aneight-lane freeway section, with com­pletion of construction scheduled forOctober, 1957.

Initial construction work on thisfreeway link started with the awardof contract On January 20, 1956, toOberg Brothers for the cwo bridgesto carry this freeway over the LosAngeles River and over Vineland Av­enue. Th.is bridge construction con­rract has an allotment of $1,022,500and is 35 percent completed, with theestimated date of completion beingDecember, 1956. A part of the ObergBrothers contract provides for the re­location of Tujunga \-Vash with a newdrainage structure northerly of theexisting crossing under Vineland Ave­nue. By building the channel in thenew location it becomes possible toreplace the existing Vineland Avenuebridge with roadway embankment.

This new freeway unit will providebetter collection and distribution fa­cilities for San Fernando Valley trafficutilizing the Hollywood Freeway be­cause of the new interchange facili­ties provided at Vineland Avenue andthe temporary ramps to be con­structed cormecting with MoorparkStreet. These will be additional trafficfacilities supplementing the on-and­off connections from the presentwesterly end of the Hollywood Free­way at Ventura Boulevard.

Ventura freeway

The full potential of this one-mileunit of the Hollywood Freeway Ex­tension, however, will not be realizeduntil the interchange system with theV cneura Freeway is provided and theVentura Freeway is fully completedwesterly to Calabasas, the west citylimits of Los Angeles. On this laterportion of the Vemma Freeway,much has been accomplished with re­spect to the acquisition and clearingof necessary rights of way, and somebridge construction has already beenstarted.

~onstruction is under way on twObndges to carry the new VenturaFreeway over Topanga Canyon Roadaod over eJcisting Ventura Boulevardin the Woodland Hills area of the SanFernando Valley. This contract, also

and Public Works

with Oberg Brothers, is now 70 per­cent complete and carries a construc­tion allotment of S703,700. The workis scheduled for completion Novem­ber, 1956.

Two sections of the Ventura Free­way in the San Fernando Valley arecovered by allocations in the 1956-57Fiscal Year budget as adopted by theCalifornia Highway Commission lastNovember. One of these units extendsfrom Kelvin Avenue to Calabasas andwill utilize the two bridges now underconstruction by Oberg Brothers. Thissection is 3.8 miles in length and car­ries a budget allotment of $3,600,000.The plans are completed, the right o{way is clear for construction, and bidswere opened on August 30, 1956. Thelow bidder was the Fredericksen &Kasler of SacramentO, and the Jow bidwas $3,435,889.

Second Sactlon of Freeway

The second sectjon of the VenturaFreeway, 2.6 miles in length, extend­ing from Sepulveda Boulevard to En­cino Avenue, is to be combined as asingle project with the section of theSan Diego Freeway from a point nearValley Vista Boulevard to BurbankBoulevard, 1.8 miles in length, whichwill include the interchange betweenthe Ventura and San Diego Freeways.An aJlonnent of $7,535,000 for thecombined project is carried in the1956-57 Fiscal Year Budget. This 1.8­mile section of the San Diego Free­way will provide connections with thebridge to carry the San Diego Free­way over existing Ventura Boulevardnow under construction by ObergBrothers, contractors. This conuactcarries a construction allotment of$500,000 and is now 90 percenr com­pleted. The estimated date of comple­tion is Ocrober, 1956. The plans forthis 1.8-mile section of the San DiegoFreeway in the San Fernando Valleyare complete, and right of way acqui­sition is satisfactorily progteSsing sothat it is expected that constfllctionwi]) be under way on the combinedunit of the Ventma Freeway and SanDiego Freeway early this fall.

This lea \reS two sections of the Ven­rura Freeway between the west citylimits of Los Angeles and junctionwith the Hollywood Freeway Exten­sion that require future financing be-

fore construction can proceed. One ofthese is from Encino Avenue to Kel­vin Avenue in the Reseda area, 3.9miles in length. The other section isfrom Sepulveda Boulevard to a con­nection with the Hollywood FreewayExtension through the Studio Cityarea, 5.3 miles in length. Good prog­ress is being made on right of wayacquisition for these other sections.On tbese two units a constructionschedule cannot be established at thistime because the matter of financingwill have to be worked out by theCalifornia Highway Commission in itsconsideration and determination of fu­ture state highway budg'ets.

RivBrslde Freeway

An easterly extension of the Ven­tura Freeway, known as the River­side Freeway, will provide a connec­tion with the Golden State Freeway.Plans are now being prepared on this4,8-mile freeway. This is a vital lint:in the freeway system necessary t6provide badly needed traffic service tothe San Fernando Valley because,when the Riverside Freeway and theGolden State Freeway between Bur­bank and Boyle Heighcs in East LosAngeles are completed, an additionaltraffic arterial will then be availableto supplement the existing HollywoodFreeway. This is the most practicaland most expeditious way in whichwe can secure relief from the trafficcongestion now existing on the Hol­lywood Freeway that, according tolate traffic counts, is carrying a maxi­mum load of 185,000 vehicles per day.

Completion of these first priorityfreeway units for the San FernandoValJey will provide an alternate roureinto or around the Los Angeles CivicCenter and downtown area. Thesefreeway units, when completed, willcertainly do much to relieve the trafficoverload now existing on the Holly­wood Freeway between the San Fer­nando Valley and the Los AngelesCivic Ceorer.

It is very desirable to have theseparticular sections of freeway com­pleted, or nearly so, before fureherunits of the Hollywood Freeway Ex­tension are put under construction tobring it to its northerly terminus ata junction with the Golden StateFreeway near Pacoima, otherwise the

5

traffic now using San Fernando Roadand Riverside Drive would be di­verted to the Hollywood FreewayExtension, and additional traffic wouldthen be forced onto the already over­crowded Hollywood Freeway.

San Diego Freeway

Another freeway that should bementioned that is of great interest coSan Fernando Valley motorists, be­cause its development and completionwill greatly improve traffic conditionsin the valley, is the San Diego Free­way. This freeway is 93.7 miles inlength. It extends southerly fromjunction with the Golden State Free­way near the City of San Femando

6

in close vicinity to existing SepulvedaBoulevard over the Santa MonicaMountains through the West Los An­geles area and along the e"Jsterly sideof the Los Angeles International Air­port. Then it swings easterly, passingto the south of the Long Beach Mu­nicipal Airport and then southeasterlyinto Orange Counry, to a Junctionwith the Santa Ana Freeway at EITaro. Then it proceeds in close vicin­ity to existing U. S. Highway 101through San Juan Capistrano and SanClemente to the Orange-San Diegocounty line.

The construction of the bridge tocarry this freeway over Ventura Bou­levard has already been described.

Other construction is now in progre:in the West Los Angeles area. WOf

on the Sunset Boulevard Overcrosing and three other nearby bridgcosrjng $723,000 was completed Fe'ruary of this year. In this same anconstruction under two contracts withe Thompson Construction COl

pany is now in progress to compl(2.3 miles of the San Diego Freewbetween Ohio Avenue and CasiaDrive. The construction allormeltotal $4,000,000. The estimated datecompletion is March, 1957. The ccsuuction includes seven reinforcconcrete bridges and the extenstraffic interchange system at \VilsnBoulevard.

California Highwc

Right of Way Acqui5ition

Over the entire length of this free­way at \Tarioos locations, planning, de­signing, aod right of way acquisitionis in progress as weB as the construc­tion that has been described. In manylocations, advance right of way ac­quisition funds, frequently called"Chapter 20 i\loney," have been util­ized in the pllrchase of vacant landsto forestall construction of privateimprovements which, if allowed toproceed, would have made furureright of way COSt many times greater.On the San Diego Freeway, $5,000,­000 have been expended from Chap­ter 20 Money. The total expendituresto date for right of way acquisitionand construction on this freeway isclose to $28,000,000. The 1956-57Fiscal Year budget contains an allot­ment for right-oE-way acquisition onthe San Diego Freew~y of $2,740,000.

The San Diego Freeway is a trafficfacility badly needed by the San Fet­nando Valley motorists, being valu­able because it will take throllgh traf­fic around the built-up and heavilycongested Los Angeles business andindustrial areas. vVhen completed: alarge portion of the through trafficnow using the Hollywood and SantaAna Freeways can to great advantageutilize the San Diego Freeway as abypass route. It will be of furthervalue when the future Olympic Free­way has been constructed for trafficdesrined for Los Angeles, becausethen another alternate route supple-

menting the Hollywood Freeway willbe available.

Golden Stato F~eewoy

In District VII the Golden StateFreeway is 72.7 miles in length, ex­t~ndin~ northwesterly from the junc­tion WIth the Santa Ana Freeway inthe Boyle Heighrs area of East LosAngeles, skirting Elysian Park, throughGriffith Park, through sections of theCities of Glendale and Burbank,through the San Fernando Valley inthe general vicinity of San FernandoRoad, and over the Rido-e Routet.o the Los Angeles-Ker~ countyline near Lebec. FortY-bve miles ofthis freeway from the north city·limirs of Los Angeles over the RidgeRoute to the Los Angeles-Kerncounty line have been completed ata cost of S12,000,000, as a four-la.nedivided expressway. In fact. this high­way facility operates as a freeway be­cause crossroads ate infrequent androadside development is sparse.

From the north city limits of LosAngeles for three miles southeasterly.therefrom, the Golden State Freewavhas been developed as a full freewa~providing connections on freewa~­standards CO the north, with the SieriaHighway through Fremont Pass andconnections to the east with FoothillBoulevard, and to the somh withSepulveda Boulevard and San Fer­nando Road. This three-mile sectionof freeway, that is sometimes called"The Tunnel Station Job," was con­structed at a cost of $3,300,000 and

was opened to public traffic August,1955.

There are three construction con­tracts now in progress on the GoldenState Freeway in the Burbank-Glen­dale and Griffith Park area of Los An­geles. These three contracts are withthe Vinnell Co., Inc., and Vinnell Con­structors. The contracts provide fullfreeway construcrion for five milesbetween Glendale Boulevard in LosAngeles and Ash Street in Burbank.The total of the three constructionallotments is $10,000,000. The workis scheduled for completion late 1957or early 1958.

While much progress has been madein design and right-of-way acquisitionon other units of the Golden StateFreeway, a construction schedule forcompletion is not available at this timebecause this is dependent upon avail­3bility of construction funds as to bedetermined by rhe California High­\va V Commission in its considerationof furure budgets.

Foothill F~eew"y

Of all the freeways that will easetraffic conditions in the San FernandoValley. the least progress has beenmade on the Foothill Freeway.

As of this date there are two milesof the Foothill Freeway in the Flint­ridge-Altadena area in the viein.icv ofDevil's Gate Dam Reservoir, that havebeen covered by freeway resolutionby the California Highway Commis­si'on, and completed. A special prob­lem existed at this location due to

LEFT-Cons/ruetion 0' bridge aeroIS Los Ange/al River. RIGHT-This photo .hows ",nsfrudion through 8urbank.

and Public Works 7

intoler:lble traffic conditions whereFoothill Boulevard was previol1slycarried on a narrow two-lane road­way over the crest of Devil's GateDam. In correcting this situation itwas necessary for the State Divisionof Highways to construct a short sec­tion of the Foothill Freeway to fuJIfreeway standards. This was com­pleted and opened to traffic in Octo­ber, 1955, at a total cost of $2,700,000.

Advance preliminary engineeringstudies are now in progress upon vari­?us sections of the Foothill Freeway10 order to expedite its development,although no recommendations havebeen ~a~e ro the California HighwayCo~mlsslon by the State HighwayEngmeer as to specific locations forthe Foothill Freeway easterly andwesterly from the completed section.It is to be expected that advance plan­ning will now be expedited becausethe Foothill Freeway has been rakeninto the l!. S. Inter:t~te Higlnvay Sys­tem and IS now ehglble for participa­tion in the new federal aid funds thathave been created by the Federal AidHighway Act of 1956.

In Interstote System

Other freeways in the San FernandoValley that have been taken into theU. S. Interstate Highway System arethe Golden State Freeway and theSan Diego Freeway. It is to be ex­pected that right-of-way acquisitionand construction will be speeded upon all freeways in the San FernandoValley area by reason of the addi­tional funds made available to Cali­fornia under the Federal Aid High­way Act of 1956.

The California Highway Commis­sion met in Sacramento during the lat­rer parr of the month and on Augusr25. 1956, announced the addition of$.47,245,000 to the state highwaynght-of-way acquisition program. and$16,300,000 to the construction pro­gram for the 1956-57 Fiscal Year. Ofthese amounts, $2,000,000 was allo­cated by the commission for increaseto tbe right-of-way acquisition pro­gram for th.e Golden State Freeway.In commentmg upon this, Director ofPublic Works Durkee, cruurman ofthe commission, said:

"Our planning is oecessarily based on ac­quiring rights of W;l.y in an orderly man­ner ahead of consrroction. The necessary

8

speedup in acquisition of right of way. asreflected in this action by the comm!ssiOIl,is very imporranc in the early advancemenrto the construction suge of many ptojects.The right of way actions involve somemajor construction projecrs which may beincluded in the 1957-58 Fiscal Year budget,now nnder consideration by rhe commissionfor adoption Within the next cwo months,Dr in succeeding fiscal years."

Freeways for the Sao FernandoValley have created many compli­cated and difficult problems that havebeen solved, but many more still lieahead which have nOt yet been set­tled. Successful solutions that havebeen worked out have been to a laraeoextent because of the splendid co-operation which has been receivedfrom the city and county public offi­cials and the engineering departmentSof the cities through which the free­ways are located. We are sure subse­quent agreements will be reached onother pending and futUre matters ina like manner, because there is everyreason to believe that the same spiritof mutual cooperation will continue.

liTHE BRnHREN OF THE ROAD"GARD"£N GROVE

Few of the countless thousands ofautomobile and truck drivers whopass over California's fine highwaysrealize the time. money and chouahtit takes to design, build and maint~inthese smooth rivers of traffic.

The first ones to come along arethe surveyors-those boys who plantstakes in odd spors and make thevarious measurements in three dimen­sions necessary to gain the requireddata, assisted by airplane photographs.

The design boys next do their bitand turn out :l roll of plans ready tostart cO[1stn~ction.The Right of \-Vayboys meantime have secured title tothe necessary property over whichthe highway will be built. Then comethe construction men, who, along withthe materials department and bridgemen, direct the placing of foundationand wearing surface, most of wh.ichis done by experienced contractors.

Now the Maintenance Departmenttakes over. These men are truly the"Brethren of the Road." No matterhow severe the weather, rain, snow ordrought, earthquakes, floods or fire,these determined men are constantly

Division SlatesOpinion SurveyAmong Employees

What do Division of Highways em­ployees think of their opportunities towork effectively, their training needs,their opportunities for advancement,their supenrision and other aspects oftheir jobs?

In the near future the division isplanning to conduct a state-wide em­ployee opinion survey to find the an­swers to these and related questions.Purpose of the survey is to provlde asound basis on which to plan for in­creased efficiency and decreased em­ployee turnover, particularly with re­spect to technical personnel.

The first step will be to obtain afrank, forthright expression of the in­dividual employee's point of viewThe employee opinion survey is :1

well-recognized method of provid­ing rhis jnformation in large-scale pri­vate industry and has been adapted rcgovernmental agencies as well. It wa~

tried on a pilot basis in one distric1of the Division of Highways, and pro­duced worthwhile results.

Forms wjll be distributed to eademployee. Questions will be askeabout his views concerning his jobThe form will nor be signed, and wilnot be identified in any way with theindividual employee who fills it outComplete anonymity is of course essential to obtaining an objective pic·ture.

When the results of the surve,have been tabulated and analyzedthey will be published in Califomi,Highways and Public Works.

on the job, day :lnd night, keeping thohighwa.ys passable at aU times. T,them, probably as much as to an'other group, we owe much more cor;sideration rhan has been given at timein the past. Many of these men havbeen injured or killed in the performance of their duty. Whenever you sean orange-colored pickup, truck 0

piece of heavy equipmeot with a diamond <t>, bear in mind that the'are trying to serve you 100 percenin spite of all difficulties. Give theryour suppOrt.

W. V. BRADY

Cafifornia Highway

Harbor Freeway Construction ProgressOn Important Proied

By MAURICE E. CAMP and RAY A. COLLINS, Resident Engineers, District VII

FREE\,VAY CONSTRUCTION" of consider­able interest to the people of LosAngeles and vicinity was completedduring 1956 or is now rapidly pro­gressing LOward completion on theHarbor Freeway. This freeway whencompleted will extend for 22.4 milesfrom its northerly terminus at the in­tersection with the Hollywood Free­way at the four-level traffic inter­change structure near the Los AngelesCivic Center to its southerly terminusar Barren' Street in the San Pedroarea. As ~f today the total spent andobligated for righrs of way a.nd con­structing on the Harbor Freewaystands at $84,000,000. At the northerlyend of the completed 4.3-milc sectionthe average daily traffic is no\v 175.000vehicles.

vVith the football season nO\\I athand it is of special interest to fansattending the Exposition Park Memo­rial Coliseum games that there 2fenow four freeway traffic Janes avail­able to southbound traffic connectingwith outlet ramps nt Exposition Bou­levard and at Santa Barbara Avenuethat lead dircctlv to the coliseum. Tofacilitate the no;thbound traffic move­ment at end-of-game time there areinlet ramps located at Santa BarbaraAvenue, at: Exposition Boule\'ard andar Hope Sneet. To accommodate theheavy pedescrian traffic occasioned byfootball fans parking on the easterlyside of the freeway a 12-foot dearwidth pedestrian undercrossing hasbeen put into service at 38th Street torake people UndtT the freeway.

!lu. RClmps Co"st~ucted

Bus ramps have been constructedunder an agreement with the City ofLos Angeles for north and south­bound traffic on Jefferson Boulevardand southbound traffic at Santa Bar­bara Avenl1e. Another pedestrian un­dercrossing has been constructed at40th P13ce for use with a bus rampto be constructed on the adjacent con-

and Public Works

tract, for norrhbound traffic at SantaBarbara Avenue.

lmmediatelr following the ribbon­cutting ceremony held on March 27,1956, under the sponsorship of the LosAngeles Chamber of Commerce, a 1.4­mile section of eight-lane free\vay andtwo lanes of a southbound distributor'road from 37th Street to Santa Bar­bara Avenue were opened to traffic,extending the southerly temporaryterminus of completed Harbor Free­way 4.3 miles from the four-Ie\"eltraffic interchange structure whichdistributes traffic to the Hollywood,Pasadena, Santa Ana and San Bernar­dino FreewaYs, Lieutenant GovernorHarold J. Po'\vers officiated at the rib­bon cutting ceremony. With publictraffic on the main freeway lanes it\vas then possible to complete theramps at Flower Sueet and 23d Street,-\rhere temporary widening had beenprovided ro handle traffic at the tem­porary terminus of the freeway por­tion that had been opened to trafficafter a previous contract was com­pleted.

To speed up traffic movement tem­porary interchange ramp facilities, inaddition to the nOflilaJ inlet and out­let ramps at Santa Barbara A venue,were constructed two lanes \vide fordistribUtion of traffic via the east andwest fronrage streets which were alsoconstructed on this and the next con­tract somherly of Santa Barbara Ave­nue.

F~&ewlJYCo"trr:c'

Thi~ contract for 1.4 miles freewayconstruction between 23d Street andSanta Barbara .Avenue was awardedon Apri] I, [9.14, to J E. Haddock,Ltd .. of Pasadena, California, with acont'ract allotment of $3,438,300. Themajor elements of this work in addi­tion to the roadwork consisted of 10bridges, 11 retaining walls, one sronnwater pumping plant and three pedes­trian undercrossings. Numerous stormdrains and sanitary sewer lines were

relocated by the contractOr, and gas,electric, water, and telephone facili­ties were relocated by the variouspublic utility companies.

Due to a relatively dry winter sea­son and to the fact that the naturalsoil excavated on this project was ofa granular nature very little time wasJoSt because of rain. The project wasfinished well ahead of the 400 work­ing-day contract time, adjusted to in­clude approved additional time allow­ances. This was made possible by thevery cooperative efforts of the primeconcractor who takes pride in doinga good job and making It available torhe public as quickly as possible.

HeClvy EXCClvation

The major portion of the fill mate­rial on this project came from road­way excavation on the freeway be­tween 24th and 32d Streets and thismaterial was placed between GrandAvenue, neal 32d Street, and 39thStreet. Borrow areas ln the roadwayexcavation section of the next con­tract southerly of Santa Barbara Ave­nue, where the freeway is belowexiSting ground level, supplied the re­mainder of the earth required to com­plete the portion between Grand Ave­nue and Santa Barbara Avenue. Therewere 542,649 cubic yards of roadwayexcavation and 13,883,989 stationyards of overhaul involved in thiscontracr.

All of the select material placed onthis project in the backfill of bridgeabUlmeuts, retaininQ' \valls and stonndrain strucmre backfill, as well as toconstruct tbe structural section of theroadbed, was excavated in the vicinityof A.dams and Flower Streets wherethe freeway seerion cut through anold streambed. During the excavationto a depth 30 feet below the normalstreet level for a storm drain pipelinenorth of Adams Boulevard, AssistantResident Engineer Jack L. Nauslaruncovered the remains of a prehis-

19

U. Gov. Harold Power! dip. ribbon to open new Harbor Freeway .ec/ion. Snown ore, 'rom lell, Super;Kenneth Hahn, Chamber of Commerce Vice Pre,idenl John C. McHo"", Councilmal! Don Allen, Po'"Councilman Ch"r1es Navorra, Sixlh Agrkulfu,al Distrid Vi<e President Norman Lyon, Councilman GorHahn, Police Chiel WJ/Jiom Parker, Hjg~woy Commi.. ioncr Robert McClure.-Los Angeles Examiner ph

toric animal. The bones were sochalky and in such a state of generaldisintegration that it was impossibleco remove and preserve them as a unit.It was found that the animal had onestubby horn about eight inches longand a very thick skull bone structure.There was a very unusual double rowof teeth in a portion of the jawbone.

Structural Section of Road bed

The material for the structural sec­tion of the roadbed was processed atthe excavation site by removing over­sized materials, including boulderswhich ran from 6 to 10 inches indiameter, crushing them in a jawcrusher and recombining the productwith the fine material which bypassedthe crusher. This material was con­veyed by a continuous belt into seveo­cubic-yard dump trucks which dis­tributed it to the point of use on thegrade.

In the roadway section which waswithin the select material excavationar~ the select material was left inplace with a small working excess atthe time of roadway excavation andlater processed in place by scarifyingand windrowing with a motor grader.This was fonowed by reduction tomaterial within specification limits bythe use of portable hammer-mill typecrushers. The material was processedwith the use of a rock buster pulledby a tractor at the start of this 'work.This machine did a good job of re­ducing the material but all of the ma­terial from the largest boulders downto the .fine sand was passed throughthe hammers and more fines were pro­duced than were needed. This equip­ment was replaced with a loader com­bined with a grizzly to separate theoversize material which was crushed"....ith a hammer mill and recombinedwith the fines as discharged onto theroadbed.

Pavement Placed

After placing steel forms the upperfour inches of this crushed select ma­terial was cement-treated with 3Y2percent portland cement for use assubgrade under eight-inch class "B"portland cement concrete pavementand the upper six inches was mixedwith 2 percent portland cement whereused as base under four-inch type"A" plant-mixed bituminous paving.

20

This cement treating process was car­ried out by bulle delivery of cementinto the windrowed material, folJowedby mixing with a mixer throughwhich the water was added, spreadingwith a land plane, rolling with a three­wheel steel roller, and finish rollingwith a pneumatic-tired roller. Thesurface of this material was sealedwith liquid asphalt MC-2 when com­pleted. The pavement was placedwith conventional equipment.

Cross-over galvanized steel waterlines were placed in four-inch asbes­tos cement conduit under the road­way structural section prior to cementtreatment to facilitate the future in­stallation of watering systems forroadside planting in this area. Testingof completed waterline installationswas done with nitrogen gas underpressure. In driving steel headed pinsfor the concrete paving forms theseemingly impossible happened. Onelong pin was driven clear through a2 jl-inch pipe and casing.

Box Girder Bridges

In constructing the reinforced con­crete box girder lype bridges overcity streets, timber false work was

used to meet city reguirements, tstructures constructed over free\\cut sections were supported on aminum tubing falsework for simplicy in handling, moving, and expe(iog the work.

On the Harbor Freeway contr:between 23d Street and Santa Barb:Avenue as above described, MaurE. Camp was resident engineer athe principal assistants were ChesPalmer and Robert Klesges. 1Bridge Department representative \H. J. Scott. Mr. George Wiggers ~

general superintendent for contracJ. E. Haddock.

Coatract Number S4-7VC7S.F

In addition to the 1.4-mile sectiof eight-Jane freeway between ,Street and Santa Barbara Avenue tiwas opened to public traffic on Mal27, 1956, n 2.S-mile length of the Hber Freeway in the City of Los igeles between Battery Street in ~

Pedro and Pacific Coast HighwayWilmington was completed and Iinto full use for public traffic on Jr19, 1956. Details of this constructwere described by Resident EnginF. E. Sturgeon in the July-Augl

California Highwc

1955, issue of California HigfflJ.)aysand Public Works. This contract waswith the Vinnell Company, Inc. andVinnell Constructors of Alhambraunder a joint venture. The contractallotment was $3,395,800. The con­tractor was represented by JackYount, Vice President for VinnellConstructors, and G. M. McAfee,project manager.

For genera] description and back­ground information regarding theHarbor Freeway since its inception,about 20 years ago, reference can bemade to the comprehensive story byW. L. Fahey, then District Engineerin District VU, who retired from stateservice a year ago, that was publishedin May-June, 1954, issue of Califor­nia Highways and Public Works.Since Mr. Fahey's story was publishedtwo very important unitS of construc­tion were put under COQtract on theHarbor Freeway.

Between Santa Barbara and Gage Avenues

Bids were opened March 17, 1955,for the section of the Harbor Free~

way between Santa Barbara Avenueand Gage Avenue with J. E. Had­dock, Ltd., of Pasadena, submittingthe low bid of $4,484,517.10. Clearing

and grubbing operations began onApril 11, 1955.

This 2.5-mile section of freewayand the I.76-rnile section fonowing itare on a new alignment roughly mid­way between, and parallel to, theheavily traveled thoroughfares ofBroadway and of Figueroa Street,which is existing State Highway Route165. The major cross streets are Slau­son, 54th and Veroon. The typicalsection provides for eight lanes ofconcrete pavement with 16-foot as­phalt paved mec\jan for emergencyparking. The same type of surfacingis also to be used on the shoulders,speed change lanes and ramps. Provi- .sian is being made for special busloac\jng ramps at Slauson Avenue andSanta Barbara Avenue. Frontage streetsare being construCted on each side ofthe freeway except at the SlausonAvenue intersection area.

Bridge, on Protect

Bridges on this project consist oftwo undercrossings, the Slauson Ave­nue Overhead, eight overcrossings andfive pedestrian undercrossings. In ad­dition there is a pumping plant at 54thStreet and numerous retaining wallsthroughout the job. The contractOr

elected (0 use drilled piling to supportthe bridge foundations.

The pumping plant at 54th Streetwill have three pumps each capableof pumping 5,000 gallons per minuteunder a 37-foot head. There will alsobe a small auxilliary cleanup pump_

This seerion of the freeway is ona fill from the beginning at Gage Av­enue until it passes over the SlausonAvenue Overhead, then it ducks be­low 54th Street and remains in a cutbelow ground surface until rising topass over Santa Barbara Avenue tojoin the previously completed portionof the Harbor Freeway. Considerablerearrangement of public utilities wasrequired in the cut section, particu­larly at Vernon Avenue where LosAngeles Transit Lines tracks were in­volved.

Storm Dra in FCicilitles

Extensive storm drain facilities arerequired to maintain the existing flowpattern of storm waters westerlyacross the freeway to Figueroa Street.An 8.75-foot x 4.5-foot reinforcedconcrete siphon at 47th Place and asimilar 1U-foot x 4.5-foot siphon at45th Street are being built, as well as36-inch steel pipe Storm drains in the

Cone/rue/ion Oil Harbor Freeway looking norlll from 79th Slr991

and Public Works 21

bridge decks of several of the citystreet overcrossings. Top of cut wallsare being constructed throughout thebelow ground surface section co pre­vent overflow of surface run-off wa­ter into the freeway. These wallsserve to channel overflow surface wa­ter across the bridges at the streetovercrossings. In the fill section or theabove ground surface secrion of thefreeway 60-inch to 72-inch paved in­vert corrugated metal pipe are usedto carry the storm water under thefreeway. Surcharges were constructedand left in place for 45 days at thepipe Iocarions to mitigate damagefrom later subsidence.

This job was 65 percent completedon September 1st and is approximatelyone month ahead of schedule. Con­crete paving operations are scheduledco begin in December of this year andwill be finished in three months. Thisshould permit opening this freewaysection to public mffic in April, 1957.with all work being compleeed aboutJune 1, 1957.

George vViggers is general superin­tendent for J. E. Haddock and RayCollins is resident engineer, with PatN. Scott as principal assistant. HomerScott represents the State Bridge De­partment.

Southerly Section

The section of the Harbor Freewayfrom Santa Barbara to ~ge A venueis followed by another section extend­ing southerly to 92d Street. The con­tractor on crus section is Guy F. At­kinson Company. The job is 1.76

miles long and the amount of the con­tract allotment is $4,947,000. Workwas commenced August 1, 1955, andwas 65 percent completed on Septem­ber 1, 1956. rt is expected that rhissection will be opened to traffic inApril, 1957, and all work will be com­pleted in July, 1957.

The freeway is an eight-lane con­crete roadway with a 16-foot medianand is constructed entirely on an em­bankment a.pproximately 20 feet high.There are seven bridges provided forcross-saeec undercrossings. The struc­tures at Florence Avenue and at Man­chester Avenue are welded steelgirder bridges 107 feet IOl)g. At thefive other locations, the bridges arerigid frame structures of tbe rein­forced concrete box girder type vary­ing from 64 feet to 86 feet in length.All bridges have concrete decks andall afe carried on Raymond concretepiles. Tn addition there are seven con­crete pedestrian undercrossings 8 feeex 8.5 feet varying from 163 feet to

249 feet long and two concrete pedes­trian undercrossings in the Manches­ter area to sen'e the bus loading zones.

Twenty-five local city cross streetsare brought into the frontage roads.which pflrallel the freeway the \vholelength of the job except in the M~ln­

chester Boulevard area. These fronc­age roads are curbed, surfaced withpi:lnt-mixed surfacing, have a widthof 32 feet, and uecome an imegraJparr of the city sereer system the oneon the east being designated GrandAyc:nue and the one on the v,,'est beingcalled Flower Street.

Full CloverleClf

At Ivlanchester Avenue therefull cloverleaf interchange. At .and i7th Streets chere are on andramps, the former serving FiorIA'/enue. From 88th Place to 'Sueet, temporary on and off rawill be constructed to connect'the froncage roads, to serve as t

porary terminal ramps until thesoutherly secrion of the free\,\'aopened to traffic. All ramps arefaced with plant-mixed ~;urfaeing.

At rwo locations storm water dtage is carried under ehe freeway9-feet x 6-feet reinforced concboxes. At 84th Street a to-foot xfoot reinforced concrete boxbuilt under the freewav. The end~

now closed off by brick bulkhbut the structllre will later forpart of a county flood control I=ect. At another focation a 66-inchrugated metal pipe acts as a stochamber to carry sc.orm waters acthe freeway. There ::Ife, of course.usual large number of catch basinsstorm drains.

The formation of the freewayb:lOkmenr which constituted 1,050cubic yards of imported borrowpresented an ever-changing probThe material has come from avedifferent sources, many of these bexcavations for large buildings invicinity, The sports arena site locin Exposition Parle has supplied al190,000 cubic yards. This is of uual interest since the conrracrorthe Los Angeles Coliseum Comsian $23,500 for the privilege of

LEFT-Harbor Freeway looking no,Ih from Flow.., St,eet. RIGHT-Tni. i. a view of Ha/ho, Fr&Qway looking na,th from SonIa 8arbara Avenue.

22 California Highw

Cons/rue/ion on Harbor Freewoy looking soul~ I,om 491h Slreel

cavaring and acqUlIlng this material.It had been previously estimated bythis commission that the excavation ofthe sports arena would cost themabout $200,000. Each borrow pit hasfurnished a different class of dirt, theonly common feature of which hasbeen the satisfaction of the "R" valueof 15.

Compac1ion

This oonuniformity would haye re­quired great skill in obtaining satis­faccory compaction by the old sheeps­foot and air-parr roller methods.Howenr, on this job a comparativelynew piece uf equipment "vas used.This self-propelled roller with its four69-inch wheels having tires formed bystaggered rows of steel pads, presentsan unusual <Ippear<lnce that makes onevery skeptical as to its usefulness.However, traveling ar five miles perhour in six passes it attains a 90 per­cent relative compaction. The weightof the roller is 16 tons and the com­pressions are 580 pounds per inch offace on both front and fear wheels.The speed of the roller enables it tocover large areas before the moisturecontent has diminished. The front~'hee]s are 23 inches wide and the rearwheels are 31 X inches wide. The en­gine is diesel and rhe horsepower 1lO.

Placing rhe bridge backfill has beenan interesting operation since themanufacturers' agents demonstratednew and unusual equipment on thisjob. The vibrating rollers have beenespecially effective in securing 95 per­cent relative compaction in granularmaterial. The model used was a self­propelled roller 28 inches wide and22 inches in diameter which can beoperated 312 inches from a '\vall. ftweighs about 800 pounds but, due tothe internal eccenuic construccion, itdelivers a centrifugaJ force blow of1~ tons at the rate of 60 blows persecond. This model roller has 11 roller54 inches wide and 30 inches in di­ameter and weighs 3,200 pounds. Thisroller is rowed by a cractor and canroll 512 inches from a wall. It deliversa 5~ ron centrifugal blow at the rateof 75 blows per second. The efficiencyof these roUers is due ro their abilitvto produce a wide, deep pond of mo\;­ing particles instead of the narrowpyramid produced by a staric roller.

and Public Works

New Type Pneumatic Roller

A new type of pneumatic roller forcompacting imponed subbase materialand cement treated subgrade was alsoused. The roller, with balJast, weighs13 tons, it is self-propelled by a pow­erful diesel engine aod it is the onlytype of pneumatic tired roller onwhich all drive wheels oscillate. Therearc five froor wheels and four rear,or driye, wheels. This roller has pro­duced splendid results.

The description of these rollers andtheir operation is described in detailabo\'e because they sho\v a distinctadvance in earth\vork compaction, anoperation that has rapidly become oneof the most prominent and importanttopics of high,vay building discussion.

Another exceptional feature of thisproject is the forming for concretework on the over-crossing bridgesand the pedestriarl undercrossings.The forms were designed by the con­tractor's San Francisco office and werefabricated on the iob by Palmer Paul­son, the contractor's bridge superin­tendent. These forllls were \·erv sllb­stancially made and so designed thatthev could be reused for duplicatestructures without being dismantled.The forms were dragged into place onroUers by a crane. Deck forms for

one-half of a vehicular bridge weremoved into place for the other halfin 1Yz hours. Pedestrian undercrossingdeck forms were moved ahead ;lndset to grade in about an hour. In thelatter operation the deck steel wasplaced at the same rime as the wallsteel and the deck forms then rolledunder it. The methods of bridge con­struction and the appearance of thestructures are of the highest quality.

Monoy Soved

Since paving operations on the]. E.Haddock contract and the Guy F. At­kinson contract win commence atabout the same time, jt was foundpo~sib1e to eliminate the constructionof the temporary ramps on the Had­dock contract. This not only saves theState manv thousands of dollars, butof even more importance, it obviatesthe necessity for several complicatedchang'es in temporary traffic routingw-hich would have been necessary un­der the original plan. A mild rivalryhas developed between the two ad­joining contractors, e~ch uying tofinish his project first. ft will be inter­esting to see the result.

John Skells is the project man;lgerfor Guy F. Atkinson. The contrac­tor's bridge superintendem is Pllmer

, .• Conjinueo 0" ,o"'g£ 42

23

The section between Heather Glenand Magra (six miles east of Colfax)and the section between Floriston andthe Nevada state line are budgeted andshould be under construction this fall.

The romes on the three sections,iVIagra to Blue Canyon Road; Hamp­shire Rocks to Soda Springs; and eastend of Donner Lake to floriston, haveall been adopted and declared free­ways by the California HighwayCommission. At preseO( they are invarious stages of planning and de­sign, and it is hoped that these sectionscan be consrructed and opened fortraffic prior to the 1960 Winter Olym­pic games to be held at Squaw Valley.The two remaining sections, BlueCanyon Road to Hampshire Rocksand Soda Springs to e3st end of Don­ner Lake, have been studied and w.illbe presented to the High·......-ay Com­mission for adoption within the nextfew months. \Vitn the route adoptionof these two sections and the excep­tion through Sacramemo and the YoloCauseway, the entire route of U. S.40 io Califomia will have been adoptedand declared a freeway.

Looking easterly-Hal/hom Road U"dercrossing under co,../rlld;on

Con.jderCilble Pr"9ress Made

The speed with which this seriesof plans along the not-yct-modernizedsections of U. S. 40 are translated intoactual construction to provide a con­tinuous stretch of divided highwayextending from San Fr:lncisco to theNevada state line depends upon theavailability of funds.

Considerable progress has been madein bringing U. S. 40 up co modernstandards. Financing of this enormousundertai<ing has not been easy. Prog­ress was accelerated when the Cali­fornia State Legislature increased thehighway user taxes in 1953. Undoubt­edly many of the projects now underway, or budgeted on this route, wouldhave had to wait several years if theadditional revenues provided by 1953legislation had noc been available.

With the additional federal financ­ing provided by Congress on inter­state highways, the reality of U. S. 40becoming a full freeway throughoutCalifornia will be grearly accelerated.Continuous improvement of this routeis onc of the outstanding examples ofthe benefits of long range planning forthe development of through routes

42

which are so important to a vaSt andgrowing state such as California andour mechanized nation that has comeco depend so heavily on motor vehi­cle transportation.

HARBOR FREEWAYContinued from poge 23 .•.

Paulson. The Scate Division of High­ways is represented on the job by RayA. Collins, resident engineer, and hisprincipal assistant, Mitchell L. Gould.Homer Scott represents the BridgeDepartment, with Pete Hixson as hisprincipal assistant.

On August 14th the CaliforniaHiglw,;ay Commission announced theaddition of $47,245,000 to the statehighway right of W3Y acquisition pro­gram and S16,300,000 to the construc­tion program for the 1956-57 FiscalYear. In the construction program al­location, the commission set aside$6,000,000 to provide construction toextend the Harbor Freeway 2.8 milessoutherly from 92d Street to 124thStreet. This will provide for grading,paving. and the necessary structures

to build an eight-lane full freeway,complete in every detail.

The plans for this southerly exten­sion of the Harbor Freewav have beencompleted. The necessarY rights ofway have substantially all been se­cured so that advertising the contractis anticipaced very sooo. A.ctual con­struction on this important link of [heHarbor Freeway should be in prog­ress before the end of 1956. The con­srruction schedule will provide forcompletion during midyear 1958.

Taking into account the two con­struction contracts now in progressand the recencly financed 2.S-mileunit, there remains of the 22.4 milescotal only a nine-mile link of the Har­bor Freeway to be done. Designs andpreparation of plans for the remaininglink of the Harbor Freeway ate wellalong toward completion and the rightof way acquisition program for thisfuture construction is well advanced.Completion of the remaining link ofthe Harbor Freewav awaits allocationof construction fun'ds by the Califor­nia Hiahway' Commission when fu­ture b:dget; are under consideration.

California Highways