| The Palo Alto History Project |
| The Oregon Expressway |
| The Oregon Expressway: Residentialists Unite In postwar America, the car was king. Having lived through tire rationing, rubber drives and gas restrictions, “The Greatest Generation” had won the war and was ready to hit the road. Reemerging from wartime production plant conversion, the Motor City started working overtime, pushing out the automobiles that would soon become the beloved classics of a golden age of driving. And as Americans set out for the suburbs in the 1950s and began touring Eisenhower’s new Interstate Highway System in their ’57 Chevys and Ford Thunderbirds, governments (with more than a little prodding from the oil industry and GM) began to view highway construction as nearly their raison d’etre. But while building highways to cover America’s vast distances was certainly a necessity, governments were soon tempted to ram interstate highways through the maze of downtown streets in virtually every American city. City dwellers in tight-knit neighborhoods soon were dwarfed by towering super skyways and divided by six lane highways barring them from their local grocer or library. And of course, highway building led to an endless cycle of further automobile dependence. As the new roads were built, more drivers took to their cars --- purchasing cheaper homes farther from their jobs, making more shopping excursions to far-away malls and partaking in the new “drive-in culture.” As new roads led to new drivers, new drivers led to new traffic. To which city planners often reacted by --- you guessed it --- building more roads. Soon the metropolitan areas of evermore sprawling cities like LA, New York and San Francisco had been crisscrossed with endless highways and freeways running in all directions. It was these sorts of concessions to the dominance of the automobile that would lead to the late 20th Century downfall of the American city. It was in this context that Palo Alto fought its own car culture battle in 1961 and ‘62. While the freeway proposed by County planners on the site of old Oregon Avenue was just a mile and a half long --- in a small city, this 4 lane mega-road was symbolic of Palo Alto’s first steps towards bowing down to the dominance of the automobile. There was certainly a logical basis for the political establishment’s desire to widen Oregon Avenue. As one of the crosstown streets that led from the newly upgraded Bayshore Freeway (formerly "Bloody" Bayshore Highway) to El Camino Real --- and perhaps more importantly --- to the Stanford Industrial Park, the small two-lane residential street was constantly jammed with activity. Studies done in the early ‘60s showed that traffic bottlenecked in at least 3 places on a daily basis --- and in March 1961, public support for a replacement freeway sat comfortably above 70%. But Santa Clara County’s original plan for what would replace Oregon Avenue struck many as a gargantuan horizontal swath that would effectively split the city in two. Additionally, the original plan called for the removal of some 107 homes in order to complete the $2.5 million widening project. The new freeway would psychologically separate north and south Palo Alto with four bustling lanes divided by an austere chain fence and interrupted by just two cross streets --- one at Middlefield and one at Louis Road. A new movement of so-called residentialist opposition began to critique the plan in the local media and resistance soon reached such a fever pitch that the city council was moved to reject the county plan outright (the county board was not pleased, later publically reminding the P.A. council of its “responsibility not only to a few citizens of Palo Alto, but to all the citizens of the county.”) But the council’s proposed replacement would prove far more appealing. It included a landscaped center median strip, six cross streets rather than two, 11 access roads, the removal of the divisive chain link fence, as well as a landscaped south side buffer and landscaped north side service road. Promises were also made to keep the speed limit under 30 miles per hour (although today the speed limit stands at 35). Such improvements even prompted one supporter to say that an “ugly-ducking freeway has changed into a swan of a parkway.” Still, even the modified version required the destruction of more than 90 homes and residentialist opposition remained fierce. So, as is typical for controversial matters in California then and now, Palo Alto’s City Council stuck it on the June ballot, letting the voters decide. The campaign was heated. A quick sampling of 1962 op-ed pieces in the Palo Alto Times shows just how bitter it was. For instance, Patricia Ford of David Avenue expressed the common sentiment that the expressway was just the beginning of the development: “One can only ask whether four or five years from now, when they see their once lovely foothills covered with industry and auto-exhaust haze, can it possibly be that once in a while what is good for Stanford is not necessarily good for Palo Alto.” Glenn Wayne of Middlefield Road lobbied against the “slums which are going to develop on both sides of that road” while other incensed residents railed against the forces they saw behind the construction. Councilman Bert Woodward Jr., for instance, told the Palo Alto Times that “this whole affair was generated by Stanford University, the Stanford Industrial Park and the Downtown merchants. These people still control Palo Alto and I think it’s unfortunate.” Miriam Patchen of Sierra Court wrote in just “to say ‘I told you so’ before the rape of Palo Alto.” While the strongest words came from expressway opponents, there was ample support in favor of the expressway as well. Some employed rather anti-establishment tactics despite the fact that most supporters were clearly very much part of the city’s downtown establishment. On November 3, 1961, pro- expressway loyalists staged a public demonstration on Oregon Avenue to show how badly an expressway was needed. Cars were delayed over two hours when “The Traffic Action Committee and Residents of Oregon Avenue Improvement” parked more than 20 cars along the busiest stretch of the road with roof placards with slogans such as “This busy, narrow street is dangerous. Improve Oregon.” The day before the vote the pro-Oregon forces were additionally aided by the endorsement of Mayor David Haight who issued a 5 ½ page statement correcting “a variety of flagrant distortions of fact” and issuing a last-minute “no trucks on Oregon” pledge. On election day the always fiery Councilman Robert Debs shot back that it was “highly improper” for a councilman to make such a statement at the “last moment with no chance of refutation.” Perhaps it made the difference. The June 5th, 1962 voting was extremely tight. While the anti-Oregon vote took a 100 vote lead early based on large anti-expressway majorities in South Palo Alto, late evening votes coming in from the Walter Hays area put the expressway over the top. In the end, the road was approved by a razor-thin margin of 9,432 votes in favor to 9,030 opposed. Over the following year, houses were either moved or bulldozed, Oregon Avenue was torn up and the new expressway was constructed. Still, not all was lost for the residentialists. Despite defeat at the polls, the Oregon Expressway battle turned out to be the initial rallying point for what would eventually become a full scale Palo Alto political movement. Buoyed by their united opposition, the residentialists would soon elect council members and take up other fights --- eventually bringing down establishment mega-projects such as the Professorville hospital and downtown Superblock project. As Myron Chenard said of the residentialists shortly after the Oregon vote: “[We] are not folding up…there are going to be other fights and --- I predict --- other results.” Today a drive down the Oregon Expressway conjures up a mixed legacy. While Palo Alto certainly paid its respects to the dominance of the automobile, its citizens were also early in recognizing the excesses of America’s car culture. Unlike many bigger cities in America, local citizens acted in time to save the city from the monolith freeway that might have been. And if Palo Altans must live with four lane roads crossing their city, well, they could do a lot worse. -Matt Bowling |
| Sources: Palo Alto Historical Association, Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Times |
| This old PA Times photo shows the Bayshore Freeway (101) at Oregon Avenue before the expressway was built. (PA Times) |
| A 1961 protest by the Establishment forces backed up cars for 2 hours. (PA Times) |
| Palo Alto: Then & Now |
| circa 1964 |
| 2008 |
| The official opening of the Oregon Expressway in May of 1964. (PA Times) |
| The Oregon Expressway from roughly the same spot more than 40 years apart. The road remains as green as ever with a landscaped tree buffer to the left (north side) and landscaped bushes to the right (south side). In the modern photo a small sign directs drivers to the "Midtown Shopping Center" down Middlefield Road. |
| A Times cartoonist depicts the fight over Oregon Avenue and the council's various plans to alter it. (PA Times) |
| The Oregon Avenue overpass at Alma street was constructed in 1959 prior to the expressway controversy. (PA Times) |
| The many cross streets help prevent the expressway from feeling too divisive. |
| One of the Oregon Expressway carriage roads. The hedges act as a buffer for the noise of the expressway. |
| Looking west on Oregon Expressway from West Bayshore Road. |
| The underpass where Oregon Expressway becomes Page Mill Road. This is where flood waters reached a dangerously high level in the 1998 El Nino Flood nearly trapping a motorist. |
| Heavier trucks are still not allowed on the expressway. |
| A view of one of the Oregon Expressway carriage roads. |
| Center landscaping makes Oregon seem more like a parkway than a highway. |