Four Level Interchange
Four Level Interchange | |
---|---|
Bill Keene Memorial Interchange | |
Location | |
Los Angeles, California | |
Coordinates | 34°3′45″N 118°14′54.96″W / 34.06250°N 118.2486000°W |
Roads at junction |
|
Construction | |
Type | Four-level stack interchange |
Constructed | 1949 |
Opened | 1953 |
Maintained by | California Department of Transportation |
The Four Level Interchange (officially the Bill Keene Memorial Interchange) is the first
Description
The highway is a
The four freeway segments ("paths" of travel) from the Four Level Interchange are:
US 101 north (Hollywood Freeway) – Ventura
US 101 south (Santa Ana Freeway) to I-5 south / I-10 east / SR 60 east
SR 110 north (Arroyo Seco Parkway) – Pasadena
San Pedro
History
While the highway oriented east–west at this intersection has consistently been numbered US 101, the numerical designation of road oriented north–south at this interchange has changed over the years. Originally designated
The four-level reinforced concrete structure was designed by a team of engineers and built by the James I. Barnes Construction Company. Although it was finished in 1949, it was not put into full use until the freeways it served were completed and opened on 22 September 1953. [2][3]
In July 2006, the freeway interchange was officially named in honor of
The interchange was constructed as a stack interchange because surrounding buildings and terrain made construction of a cloverleaf interchange impractical. The construction of the interchange displaced over 4,000 people from their homes and cost $5.5 million ($50.7 million in 2023) - making it the most expensive half-mile of highway ever built at the time.[5]
The mainline traffic of US 101 is at the top of the interchange, above the ramps, a rarity in stack interchanges. Other examples of similar configurations would later be constructed, including on the M25 interchange with M23 passing above the ramps (south of London), the junction of I-695 and I-70 in Baltimore, and the Interstate 805–Interstate 8 interchange in San Diego.
Its distinctive architecture has long made it a symbol of Los Angeles' post–World War II development, and it appears on numerous postcards from the 1950s and 1960s.[6]
See also
- California Roads portal
- Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Memorial Interchange, the counterpart at the southern edge of Downtown Los Angeles
- List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in California
References
- ^ Four Level interchange-Los Angeles-Orange County Frwys[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Four-Level Interchange". LA Conservancy. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
- ^ "On This Day In Automotive History Motoring". 365 Days Of Motoring.
- ^ Floodgap-Arroyo Seco Parkway
- ^ "The famous "four-level" opens in Los Angeles". History.com. History. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
- ^ "California: District 11: 1954 Four Level Interchange". ca.gov.
External links
- "L.A.'s Famous Four-Level Freeway Interchange, 'The Stack,' Turns 58". kcet.org. 22 September 2011.
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. CA-266, "Four Level Interchange, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA", 2 photos, 1 photo caption page