Skip to main content

California State Route 4; Stockton Cross Town Freeway

This past month I drove the California State Route 4 Cross Town Freeway located in Stockton from I-5 east to CA 99.


The CA 4 Cross Town Freeway is officially known as the "Ort J. Loftus Freeway" and connects I-5 east to CA 99 through downtown Stockton.  The Cross Town Freeway as currently configured replaced the original alignment of CA 4 by 1994 through downtown Stockton.  The original alignment of CA 4 in downtown Stockton had been on the former US 50/US 99W corridor on Charter Way.  CA 4 connected to US 99 via Mariposa Road (former US 99E) east of Charter Way.

CAhighways.org on CA 4

The Cross Town Freeway first appeared on State Highway Maps as a proposed freeway in 1965. 

1965 State Highway Map City Insert

Originally the Cross Town Freeway was intended to connect to with the surface route of CA 4 near the San Joaquin River. Today the Cross Town Freeway only extends west of I-5 to Navy Drive.  This was part of the early segment of the Cross Town Way which was completed between Fresno Avenue and Center Street by 1975.

1975 State Highway Map City Insert

The Cross Town Freeway is shown as nearly complete between I-5 east to CA 99 by the 1990 State Highway Map City Insert.

1990 State Highway Map City Insert

Interestingly the route of CA 4 through Stockton was submitted as a proposed Interstate in 1945 according to CAhighways.org.  The irony is that recent (somewhat) studies for a possible I-7/I-9 corridor tend to favor routing an Interstate over the Cross Town Freeway rather than CA 99 north of Stockton.  This likely has much to do with the standards of the Cross Town Freeway being at or are far closer to Interstate standards than CA 99 north of Stockton.

My approach to the Cross Town Freeway east was from I-5 south.


Eastbound traffic is given an a ramp to the Cross Town Freeway westbound which is simply signed as connecting to Navy Drive.


CA 4 east on the Cross Town Freeway enters downtown Stockton.  CA 4 east actually multiplexes I-5 north to reach the Cross Town Freeway.


CA 4 eastbound traffic can enter downtown Stockton on El Dorado Street while merging onto the Cross Town Freeway.


East of El Dorado Street CA 99 is signed as 2.5 miles away on the Cross Town Freeway.  Exit 66 is signed as access to Stanislaus Street.


Wilson Way is accessed from CA 4 east on the Cross Town Freeway at Exit 67.


Exit 68A accesses Filbert Street whereas Exit 68B accesses CA 99 north.  CA 4 east exits the Cross Town Freeway onto CA 99 south before splitting away at Farmington Road.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Trimmer Springs Road (Fresno County)

Trimmer Springs Road is an approximately forty-mile rural highway located in Fresno County.  The corridor begins near in California State Route 180 in Centerville and extends to Blackrock Road at the Kings River in the Sierra Nevada range near the Pacific Gas & Electric Company town of Balch Camp. The roadway is named after the former Trimmer Springs Resort and was originally constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.  Trimmer Springs Road was heavily modified and elongated after construction of Pine Flat Dam broke ground in 1947.   Part 1; the history of Trimmer Springs Road Much of the original alignment of Trimmer Springs Road was constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.   The  Kings River Lumber Company  had been established in 1888 in the form of a 30,000-acre purchase of forest lands in Converse Basin.  This purchase lied immediately west of Grant Grove and came to be known as "Millwood."  The co...

When was Ventura Avenue east of downtown Fresno renamed to Kings Canyon Road? (California State Route 180)

California State Route 180 was one of the original Sign State Routes designated in August 1934.  The highway east of Fresno originally utilized what was Ventura Avenue and Dunlap Road to reach what was then General Grant National Park.  By late year 1939 the highway was extended through the Kings River Canyon to Cedar Grove.   In 1940 General Grant National Park would be expanded and rebranded as Kings Canyon National Park.  The Kings Canyon Road designation first appeared in publications circa 1941 when the California State Route 180 bypass of Dunlap was completed.  Kings Canyon Road ultimately would replace the designation of Dunlap Road from Dunlap to Centerville and Ventura Avenue west to 1st Street in Fresno.   The Kings Canyon Road would remain largely intact until March 2023 when the Fresno Council designated Cesar Chavez Boulevard.  Cesar Chavez Boulevard was designated over a ten-mile corridor over what was Kings Canyon Road, remaini...

Interstate 99 at 30

When it comes to the entirety of the Interstate Highway System, Interstate 99, when fully completed, is nothing more than 161 miles of a roughly 48,000-mile system (0.3% of total length).  Yet, to more than just a handful of people, the number '99' rubs them the wrong way. Interstate 99 follows the path of two US Highway Routes - US 220 from the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bedford north to Interstate 80 and then to US 15/Interstate 180 in Williamsport.  It then follows US 15 from Williamsport north to Interstate 86 in Corning, New York. Interstate 99 runs with US 220 through much of Central Pennsylvania. (Doug Kerr) US 220 from Cumberland, Maryland to Interstate 80 and US 15 north of Williamsport were designated part of the Appalachian Highway System in 1965.  Construction to upgrade both corridors progressed steadily but slowly.  In 1991, the two corridors were included as a National High Priority Corridor.  The route from Cumberland to Corning consisted of High P...