Description
1930s era Department of Transportation cast metal sign which might have been used in a foundry or hung outside an department or field office. It's an unusual sign that caught my attention. This backstory is all I have. It's solid & heavy & built for life. Condition: There are a few scratches, stains, & dirt here & there. Dimensions: 3/8" Width 3 1/4" Height 28 1/8" Length CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CALTRANS) COMPANY HISTORY TIMELINE 1895 The California Department of Transportation, known as Caltrans, began in 1895 as the Bureau of Highways. Governor James H. Budd appointed R. C. Irvine of Sacramento, Marston Mansow of San Francisco, & J. L. Maude of Riverside as Commissioners of the new agency. They were charged with surveying 8,000 miles of California roads & creating a map of proposed roads for the state's highway system. The task was accomplished in a fringe-topped buckboard buggy pulled by horses. 1897 But Caltrans as an organization has roots that go much further back. The state's road-building unit goes all the way back to the the California "Department of Highways" that was formed in 1897. This Highways group would operate within the state's Department of Public Works for decades, eventually becoming the California "Division of Highways." (The historian Matthew Roth provides rich detail of this Caltrans history here.) in the decades following WWII, the California Division of Highways became a workhorse that incorporated freeways into its portfolio & began a massive building program that profoundly influenced the history of urban development in the California's major cities. The first recommendation from the three-commissioner Bureau was to build a highway spanning the state from Yreka, California, & Ashland, Oregon, at the north, to San Diego, California/Tijuana, Mexico at the south.2 in 1897, the Bureau of Highways became the California Department of Highways. Proposed roads required separate legislative approval & funding until 1902, when a constitutional amendment was adopted allowing the legislature to create a single highway system funded & administered as a whole. 1902 The first recommendation from the three-commissioner Bureau was to build a highway spanning the state from Yreka, California, & Ashland, Oregon, at the north, to San Diego, California/Tijuana, Mexico at the south.2 in 1897, the Bureau of Highways became the California Department of Highways. Proposed roads required separate legislative approval & funding until 1902, when a constitutional amendment was adopted allowing the legislature to create a single highway system funded & administered as a whole. 1909 in 1907, the Department of Engineering replaced the Bureau of Highways & became the new agency in charge of building & maintaining the state's roads. The agency's role was financially reinforced by the voter-approved Road Bond Act of 1909 that provided $18 million for state highway system construction. Two years later, the state legislature created the
