Route Description
This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System. Caltrans has only designated it as a scenic highway between the eastern end of the Caldecott Tunnel and I-680, however. SR 24 is designated as both the Grove Shafter Freeway (named after streets the route travels along - Grove Street was later renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Way) and the William Byron Rumford Freeway from the Caldecott Tunnel to the I-580 interchange segment of the MacArthur Maze, continuing henceforth as I-980 to the terminus with I-880.
SR 24 begins at the four-level interchange with Interstate 580 and Interstate 980 in Oakland; this interchange is located on top of Grove Shafter Park. SR 24 initially heads north before turning east near the Berkeley city limits. Route 24 rises from near sea level in downtown Oakland past its interchange with State Route 13, which is a freeway south of SR 24 (completed August 1999) and a surface street north of SR 24. After this, SR 24 crosses the Contra Costa County county line through the triple-bore Caldecott Tunnel and offers some attractive views of the hilly terrain through which it passes. Some protection of the views comes from the highway's designation as a California Scenic Highway. Due to the traffic jams, commuters get extended views of the scenery.
On the other side of the tunnel, SR 24 travels through unincorporated Contra Costa County before entering Orinda. SR 24 crosses the Mokelumne Aqueduct soon after entering the city of Lafayette. SR 24 terminates at the intersection with Interstate 680 just inside the city limits of Walnut Creek.
The Pittsburg/Bay Point Line of the Bay Area Rapid Transit runs in the freeway's center median, excepting the vicinity of the Caldecott Tunnel and the approach to the interchange with Interstate 680.
Read more about this topic: California State Route 24
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