Arroyo Seco Parkway, 1940. From the Caltrans Transportation Library & History Center Collection.
The Pasadena Freeway (110), or “Arroyo Seco Parkway” as it was originally called, was the first freeway in the Western United States. The first segment was opened to traffic in 1938 and most of the rest of the freeway opened by the end of 1940. It is designated as a California State Scenic Highway, National Civil Engineering Landmark, National Scenic Byway and listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The first segment of the freeway opened on December 10, 1938. It stretched for just under a mile, between the northern-most point on Glenarm Street in Pasadena and Fair Oaks Avenue in South Pasadena. The next segment opened on July 20, 1940, stretching about 3.7 miles between Orange Grove Avenue in South Pasadena and Avenue 40 in Los Angeles. The third segment opened on December 30, 1940, stretching about 1.25 miles between Avenue 40 and the Figueroa Street Viaduct (at about Avenue 22, close to the present-day Interstate 5/110 interchange). The final segment that ran just over half a mile through South Pasadena, between Fair Oaks and Orange Grove Avenues, was completed on January 30, 1941.
Construction of the Arroyo Seco Parkway, 1938. Looking northeast. Demolition of old Avenue 43 Bridge in progress. Southwest Musueum on hill in background. From the Caltrans Transportation Library & History Center Collection.
Southernmost of the four Figueroa Street Tunnels under construction, connecting the Arroyo Seco Parkway to Downtown Los Angeles, 1935. From the Los Angeles Times Photo Collection at UCLA Library.
