Автомагистраль SR 37 в Калифорнии: История и современное состояние

Highway in California
SR 37 becomes a four lane freeway on Mare Island, approaching northern Vallejo. After it crosses over the Napa River Bridge, it continues as a freeway, overlapping the old highway alignment and passing north of the old road known as Marine World Parkway (due to its proximity to the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, previously known as Marine World). SR 37 travels in a northeasterly direction along the White Slough before turning east as it crosses over State Route 29 and heads to its eastern terminus at I 80 as the James Capoot Memorial Highway (honoring a Vallejo police officer who was killed in the line of duty). In the early 1990s, the stretch between Fairgrounds Drive, which serves as the entrance to Discovery Kingdom, and Mini Drive was upgraded to a freeway. In 2004 and 2005, following over fifty years of complications, the remaining non freeway section in Vallejo was upgraded as well. SR 37 is also known as Randy Bolt Memorial Highway from SR 29 to Skaggs Road (honoring a California Department of Justice agent who was killed in the line of duty in an accident along SR 37), and Sears Point Toll Road, which was originally a toll road that ran from SR 121 to Vallejo. SR 37 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, but is not part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration. SR 37 is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System, but it is not officially designated as a scenic highway by the California Department of Transportation.

The stretch of road east of Sears Point was once part of the historical El Camino Real. As a result of the State Highways Acts of the early 20th century, the Black Point Cut off was built over it and opened to traffic in 1917. This highway followed the current alignment east of Sears Point, before diverting northeast along present day Route 121. It was first designated Legislative Route 8 (LRN 8), later being signed as State Route 37. Prior to being under State control, the section between Sears Point and Vallejo was known as the Sears Point Toll Road, a toll road managed by Golden Gate Ferry that was built over an ancient Native American trail. When it was purchased by the State in 1938, tolls were removed; near Nicasio and ending at I 80 near Lake Chabot. The whole of SR 37 has been proposed to be built to freeway standards since the early 1950s. However, the proposal was met with many economic and environmental obstacles, making the task all but impossible for much of the route.

As late as 1926, Golden Gate Ferries, owners of the Sears Point Toll Road Co., began plans to build the Sears Point Toll Road, The paved toll road was to be built on top of an ancient Native American trail and was able to invest $418,000USD by 1936. However, the U. S. Navy owned rights to the right of way of part of the route, and opposed the purchase. This resulted in congressional actions to establish a clear title deed for the route. House Representative Richard J. Welch was one of the earliest government officials to pressure the State of California to acquire the toll road in order to convert it into a toll free highway. He argued that having only one toll road to travel in order to reach the Golden Gate Bridge would benefit commuters; he also cited the ten and seventh tenths mile difference in distance between the toll road and a route through Napa. A Navy Department deed permitting the State to purchase the road was granted by the Attorney General on October 26, 1938. The highway then became signed as State Route 48 until the 1964 renumbering. In 1993, local resident Jim Poulos campaigned to have a barrier erected after the death of his 18 year old son, Frankie, on "Blood Alley". At this time, the situation with this stretch only worsened as the death toll between 1990 and 1996 rose to thirty one. At first, Caltrans thought the barrier would make matters worse since it would be difficult for emergency vehicles to attend to accidents; environmental issues were also cited. Caltrans was waiting for the ability to create a causeway to span the area instead. Poulos continued his campaign despite opposition, and was granted the barrier in 1995. The barrier was not built without controversy, as it also eliminated the passing lanes. However, since the barriers were built, there were no longer any crossover accidents as of 2005.

To protect White Slough while still allowing the widening of SR 37, the White Slough Protection and Development Act was passed in 1990. It allowed up to 13 acres of wetlands to be filled but required at least four times as much wetland restoration elsewhere in the Bay Area.

The highway is increasingly subject to flooding as the 21 mile (34 km) route is near sea level. The road was closed for a total of 28 days during the winter of 2016 17. Marin County declared a state of emergency, and public works crews worked 24 hours a day pumping water and repairing the levee. It was expected to be closed for at least a week, however the highway fully reopened on the morning of Wednesday, February 20, 2019.

In 2017, it was estimated that it would cost $4 billion to fix all the flooding, traffic, and other issues along the corridor, and based on transportation funding levels it would take until 2088 to come up with that amount of money. It has been opposed by a number of commuters, particular Solano county residents who commute west to jobs in Sonoma or Marin counties. In May 2023, the California Transportation Commission unanimously approved a plan to toll both directions, as well as widen the highway from a two lane road to one with carpool lanes by converting the existing shoulders.

Train's 2012 album California 37 is named after State Route 37, with the album cover prominently featuring the route's highway shield. AFI released a song titled "Rabbits Are Roadkill on Rt. 37" on its 2006 album Decemberunderground.