Colorado Boulevard

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For the street of the same name in metropolitan Denver, see Colorado State Highway 2.
Colorado Boulevard
I-210 (Foothill Fwy) in Arcadia
East endShamrock Ave in Monrovia

Colorado Boulevard (or Colorado Street in

I-210
).

Route description

West end

Colorado Street crosses the Los Angeles River in Atwater Village at its western terminus

The west end of Colorado Boulevard is composed of two segments: a disconnected surface street segment of Colorado Boulevard, and the Colorado Street Freeway Extension. Colorado Boulevard begins at a

Los Angeles and continues east. The road passes on/off-ramps to the eastbound Colorado Street Freeway Extension, and Edenhurst Avenue, which provides access to the westbound freeway. The segment terminates at West San Fernando Road near the Los Angeles-Glendale
city limits, and picks up across the railroad corridor at San Fernando Road in the city of Glendale as Colorado Street.

The Colorado Street Freeway Extension begins at

Interstate 5
.

At the east border of Glendale, Colorado Street becomes Colorado Boulevard as it crosses

Glendale Freeway) into Los Angeles (specifically, the neighborhood of Eagle Rock). Another short freeway spur splits west of the intersection with Figueroa Street, heading northeast to the Ventura Freeway. This spur also carried SR 134 after the Ventura Freeway was built to the east but before it was built west of the split with the spur. After crossing Figueroa Street, Colorado Boulevard splits from Linda Vista Avenue and then passes over the Arroyo Seco on the Colorado Street Bridge
into Pasadena.

Through Pasadena

Colorado Street Bridge seen from the Arroyo Seco below

In Pasadena, Colorado Boulevard crosses the short

Former State Route 19
), all while formerly signed as California State Route 248.

Through Arcadia and Monrovia

Colorado Boulevard becomes Colorado Street as it crosses Michillinda Avenue from East Pasadena into Arcadia. Through Arcadia, the street parallels the

Santa Anita Racetrack
.

From the split, Colorado Boulevard (originally named Orange Street) becomes a primarily residential street, with some commercial zones near Santa Anita Avenue in Arcadia. The street passes under the

US 66 and had been named Foothill Boulevard
.)

The

210 Foothill Freeway
in 1970.

History

Colorado Boulevard in 1890, then named Colorado Street. Looking east to Marengo Avenue. Horse-drawn wagons displaying America flags, maybe a 4th of July parade.
1890 Horse-drawn streetcar on Colorado Street and Oakland in Pasadena

The most original portion of Colorado Boulevard ran from Orange Grove Boulevard to Broadway, now Arroyo Parkway. This portion of the street always contained many shops, banks, hotels, and major commercial industries. By the late 19th century, this part of Colorado had become so popular, it was becoming a traffic bottleneck, and as early as May 1900 there were public outcries to the City Council to widen the road. It wasn't until 1929 that the City undertook the major and unprecedented task of cutting back the buildings along Colorado 14 feet (4.3 m) on each side. This undertaking created a monumental amount of legal red tape as well as many engineering dilemmas which were handled with amazing results. At the same time many of the Victorian facings on the buildings were replaced with Spanish and Art Deco designs.

The Colorado Street Railway began operations in Pasadena on November 9, 1886, bringing mass transit to the street via the new horsecar service.[2] The line was electrified in 1894 and was eventually absorbed into the Pacific Electric system.[3] The Lamanda Park Line and other local services operated in the center of the roadway until January 19, 1941.

Colorado Street and Colorado Boulevard carried

U.S. Route 66
from Arroyo Parkway to Huntington Drive.

In 1954, the Colorado Freeway was opened between Holly Street in Pasadena and Eagle Vista Drive and Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock to help alleviate traffic congestion due to the narrow Colorado Street Bridge over the Arroyo Seco. The new freeway connected the two communities until 1971, when the entire freeway was closed and upgraded, as well as partially rerouted as the new Ventura Freeway. A short segment of the original Colorado Freeway remains as an on-ramp/off-ramp between Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock and the Figueroa Street off-ramp of the present Ventura Freeway.

In the

Monrovia. In 1965, this was to be deleted when I-210 was completed.[4]

The

Interstate 210 was completed through Pasadena. SR 248 was never signed as such, though it did appear on some maps in the 1970s and 1980s. The segment within the city of Pasadena was deleted from the state highway system in 1986. The rest was removed in 1992.[4] Along with the moving of SR 134 to the Ventura Freeway
, this resulted in Colorado Street and Colorado Boulevard becoming a local road.

Transit

Colorado Boulevard is served by several bus routes, operated by

Glendale Transit line 6 serves Colorado Street in Glendale.[6]

Metro has identified Colorado Boulevard as a potential

Measure M. The bus rapid transit project would need to include removable components to allow for the annual staging of the Rose Parade.[7] Some local residents fear increased traffic congestion due to the proposed bus rapid transit route, while others support increasing access to high-quality transit.[8]

In popular culture

The street is mentioned in the 1964

Jan & Dean single The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)
, with the protagonist described as the "terror of Colorado Boulevard."

In S05E13 of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon says to Leonard: "It’s not about you. It’s about a poor immigrant from Pakistan trying to make his way in America by working the graveyard shift at the Colorado Boulevard Chevron", When talking about the gas station across their road.

See also

References

  1. ^ Masters, Nathan (October 2, 2013). "CityDig: Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard in 1880". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  2. ^ "Our Neighbors". Los Angeles Times. November 10, 1886. p. 2. Retrieved February 15, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon
  3. ^ "Pasadena Local Lines". Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Faigin, Daniel P. (September 9, 2017). "Former State Route 248". California Highways. Daniel P. Faigin. Retrieved October 4, 2017.[self-published source]
  5. ^ a b Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (June 25, 2017). Bus and Rail System (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  6. ^ City of Glendale (January 24, 2012). Glendale Transit Map (Map). Scale not given. City of Glendale. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  7. ^ Scauzillo, Steve (March 23, 2017). "New busway from North Hollywood to Pasadena moves step closer to reality". San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  8. ^ "Eagle Rockers Have Proposed Bus Rapid Transit Worries, Too". Pasadena Now. June 22, 2019. Archived from the original on November 25, 2019. Retrieved December 5, 2019.

External links

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