History of California's state highway system

The first state road was authorized on March 26, 1895, by the California State Legislature when it enacted a law which created the post of "Lake Tahoe Wagon Road Commissioner" to maintain the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road (the 1852 Johnson's Cut-off of the California Trail), now US 50 from Smith Flat — 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Placerville — to the Nevada state line.

[3] Funding was only enough for minimal improvements, including a stone bridge over the South Fork American River in 1901.

[4] Also in 1895, on March 27, the legislature created the three-person Bureau of Highways to coordinate efforts by the counties to build good roads.

[8] Several more state highways were legislated in the next decade, and the legislature passed a law creating the Department of Engineering on March 11, 1907.

This new department, in addition to non-highway duties, was to maintain all state highways, including the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road.

[10] To this end, the department created the three-member California Highway Commission on August 8, 1911, to take full charge of the construction and maintenance of this system.

[12] Construction began in mid-1912,[13] with groundbreaking on Contract One — now part of SR 82 in San Mateo County — occurring on August 7.

[14] Noteworthy portions of the system built by the commission included the Ridge Route in southern California and the Yolo Causeway west from Sacramento.

[15] Because the first bond issue did not provide enough funding, the "State Highways Act of 1915" was approved by the legislature on May 20, 1915, and the voters in November 1916, taking effect on December 31.

Another privately financed toll highway project, the South Bay Expressway, began operation in San Diego County in 2007.

Several of these other HOT lanes across various state highway are also either currently under construction or in the planning stages that will open in the near future.