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32-712: SR 123 is a four-lane boulevard with a median strip for its entire length. Its southern terminus is at the underpass of Interstate 580 in Oakland . Going north, it passes through the cities of Emeryville , Berkeley , Albany , and El Cerrito . It briefly turns on Cutting Boulevard before entering Richmond at its northern terminus under Interstate 80. SR 123/San Pablo Avenue does not directly intersect with I-580 in Oakland, so drivers are instructed to get onto I-580 east via 35th Street, or I-80 east/I-580 west via West MacArthur Boulevard. The I-580 west on-ramp use to end just before

64-591: A letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964 , based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers to an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary ( for a full list of prefixes, see California postmile § Official postmile definitions ). Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The numbers reset at county lines;

96-829: A mix of shops, restaurants and condominium developments. In the early part of the 20th century, a streetcar line ran on San Pablo between Richmond and Oakland. Part of the Oakland segment of these tracks up to Grayson Street in Berkeley were used during World War II for the Shipyard Railway of the Key System which transported workers from the Key System's hub in Emeryville to the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond. Except where prefixed with

128-698: A section of the M6 between Shap and Tebay, which allows a local road to run between them, and on the M62 where the highest section through the Pennines famously splits wide enough to contain a farm . The other major exception is the A38(M) Aston Expressway , which is a single carriageway of seven lanes, where the median lane moves to account for traffic flow (a system known as tidal flow or reversible lane ). With effect from January 2005 and based primarily on safety grounds,

160-491: A single set of double yellow lines which may in some cases permit turns across the line. This arrangement has been used to reduce costs, including narrower medians than are feasible with a planted strip, but research indicates that such narrow medians may have minimal safety benefit compared to no median at all. The medians of United States Interstate Highways break only for emergency service lanes, with no such restrictions on lower classification roads. On British motorways ,

192-480: A traffic-calming or landscaping element rather than a safety enhancement to restrict turns and separate opposite directions of high-volume traffic flow. In some areas such as California , highway medians are sometimes no more than a demarcated section of the paved roadway, indicated by a space between two sets of double yellow lines . Such a double-double yellow line or painted median is legally similar to an island median: vehicles are not permitted to cross it, unlike

224-660: Is adapted to other functions; for example, it may accommodate decorative landscaping , trees , a median barrier , or railway , rapid transit , light rail , or streetcar lines. There is no international English standard for the term. Median , median strip , and median divider island are common in North American and Antipodean English . Variants in North American English include regional terms such as neutral ground in New Orleans usage. In British English

256-574: Is at a premium, dense hedges of shrubs filter the headlights of oncoming traffic and provide a resilient barrier. In other areas, the median may be occupied by a right-of-way for a public transportation system such as a light rail or rapid transit line; for example, the Red and Blue Lines of the Chicago 'L' partially run in the medians of the Dan Ryan , Eisenhower , and Kennedy Expressways . In contrast to

288-458: Is located entirely within a wide median of Massachusetts Route 128 . This 502-bed facility was opened in 1993 as infill construction in the previously unused real estate that had been isolated by the divided highway in the early 1950s. An extreme example of a wide median can be found on Interstate 75 near Cincinnati , Ohio ; nearly the entire village of Arlington Heights , as well as the downtown district of Lockland , are both located between

320-753: Is 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 . San Pablo Avenue is one of the oldest existing roads in the East Bay. It originated in the Spanish colonial era as the Camino de la Contra Costa ("road of the opposite shore", i.e. opposite from the Presidio of San Francisco and

352-483: Is that decreasing the size of a median to 20 feet (6.1 m) from 30 feet (9.1 m) to add lanes to a highway may result in a less safe highway. Statistics regarding medians with barriers were not calculated in this study. Central reservations may also be used for reserved bus lanes , as in Istanbul's Metrobus , Los Angeles's J Line and Bogotá's TransMilenio . Center-lane running and island platforms installed in

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384-889: Is used to identify traffic lanes in a multi-lane roadway. North American usage calls the leftmost lanes located closest to the roadway centerline the "inner" lanes, while British usage calls these lanes the "outer" lanes. Thus, it is less confusing to call these central lanes the "passing", "fast", or "overtaking" lanes in international contexts, instead of using the ambiguous inner/outer distinction. Regional differences between right-hand traffic and left-hand traffic can cause further confusion. Some medians function secondarily as green areas and green belts to beautify roadways . Jurisdictions can: plant lawn grasses with regular mowing ; hydroseed or scatter wildflower seeds to germinate , bloom, and re-seed themselves annually; or create extensive landscape plantings of trees , shrubs , herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses . Where space

416-580: The Trans-Canada Highway near Ernfold , Saskatchewan , Canada , where eastbound and westbound lanes go as far as 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) apart from each other), but converge to a lane's width of separation in suburban areas and cities. In urban areas, concrete barriers (such as Jersey barriers ) and guard rails (or guide rails ) are used. In Dedham, Massachusetts , the Norfolk County Correctional Center (a state prison)

448-574: The I-80 split at the MacArthur Maze , but was rebuilt c.  1990s to force traffic onto I-80 east and to prevent the merging and weaving of those trying to get onto I-80 west. Signage on I-580 does not mention SR 123; access is via I-580 west exit 19A/San Pablo Avenue/MacArthur Boulevard or I-580 east exit 19B/West Street. Signage on I-80 does not mention SR 123 either on SR 123's official northern terminus at exit 15/Cutting Boulevard or at

480-853: The San Pablo Avenue intersection further north at I-80 exit 16B. San Pablo Avenue is sometimes used as an alternate route to the Eastshore Freeway (I-80/I-580) when that freeway becomes very congested. Major intersections along this route include 40th Street, Ashby Avenue ( SR 13 ), University Avenue (which leads to UC Berkeley ), Gilman Street, Marin Avenue, Central Avenue and Cutting Boulevard. Continuing on San Pablo Avenue past SR 123's southern terminus eventually leads to Downtown Oakland and Oakland City Hall where San Pablo Avenue ends. Continuing north on San Pablo Avenue after SR 123 turns west onto Cutting Boulevard in Richmond leads to

512-784: The UK's Highways Agency 's policy is that all new motorway schemes are to use high containment concrete step barriers in the median (central reservation). All existing motorways will introduce concrete barriers as part of ongoing upgrades and through replacement as and when the current systems have reached the end of their useful life. This change of policy applies only to barriers in the median of high speed roads and not to verge side barriers. Other routes will continue to use steel barriers. In North America , and some other countries with large sparsely populated areas, opposing lanes of traffic may be separated by several hundred meters of fields or forests outside of heavily populated areas (an extreme example being

544-522: The US Federal Highway Administration quantified the correlation between median width and the reduction of both head-on accidents and severe injuries. The study found that medians without barriers should be constructed more than 30 feet (9.1 m) wide in order to have any effect on safety, and that safety benefits of wider medians continue to increase to a width of 60 to 80 feet (18.3 to 24.4 m). A consequence of this finding

576-532: The carriageways may have to be built on different levels of the slope. An example of this is on the M5 motorway as it climbs up the side of the Gordano Valley south of Bristol . In Birmingham and many other cities, suburban dual carriageways may have trees or cycle lanes in the middle as a wide central reservation. Two examples on the UK road network where the carriageways are several hundred yards/metres apart, are on

608-497: The central reservation or central median is the preferred usage; it also occurs widely in formal documents in some non-British regions such as South Africa, where there are other informal regional words (for example middelmannetjie , which originally referred to the hump between wheel ruts on a dust road). Neutral section and central nature strip are coinages in Australian English . Additionally, different terminology

640-668: The cities of San Pablo , Pinole , Hercules , Rodeo , and Crockett . In Hercules, San Pablo Avenue meets the terminus of SR 4 near I-80, and, after a discontinuity bridged by Parker Avenue in Rodeo, the road approaches the Carquinez Bridge and arrives in Crockett as Pomona Street. An AC Transit Rapid Bus ( 72R -San Pablo Rapid) runs along San Pablo Avenue from Downtown Oakland to Contra Costa College in San Pablo. The express bus line

672-711: The foot of University Avenue and the end of the Berkeley Pier where an auto ferry transported motorists to the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco). U.S. 40 was moved to the new highway after it was built (1930s), and about 25 years later took its current designation of Interstate 80. San Pablo Avenue was Business U.S. 40 until 1964. During 2005–06, San Pablo Avenue was repaved and otherwise rehabilitated by Caltrans . Portions of San Pablo Avenue, particularly in Berkeley, Albany, and El Cerrito, are slowly transforming, with

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704-488: The median is never broken (except on the tidal flow of Aston Expressway ), but there are no such restrictions on other dual carriageways . The central reservation in the United Kingdom and other densely populated European countries (where it is known by their local names) is usually no wider than a single lane of traffic. In some cases, however, it is extended. For instance, if the road is running through hilly terrain,

736-434: The median of a major road, those in urban areas often take the form of central traffic islands that rise above the roadway. These are frequently found on urban arterial roads . In their simplest form, these are just raised concrete curbs, but can also be landscaped with grass or trees or decorated with bricks or stones. Such medians are also sometimes found on more minor or residential streets, where they serve primarily as

768-470: The medium reduce conflicts with stopped and parked cars as well as pedestrians near the curb, thus speeding service. In some cases, the median strip of the highway may contain a train line, usually around major urban centers. This is often done to share a right-of-way , because of the expense and difficulty of clearing a route through dense urban neighborhoods. A reserved right-of-way is contrasted with street running , in which rail cars and automobiles occupy

800-664: The same lanes of traffic. Train lines that run in the median of highways include: City planners also commonly use median strips to accommodate urban tram tracks along a central segregated track , and examples of this layout are found across Europe. Some of the earliest practices of incorporating central tramways into road designs were pioneered in Liverpool by John Alexander Brodie , and later emulated in Manchester, such as along Princess Parkway or Kingsway . Court of Sessions (California) The Court of Sessions system

832-658: The scattered ranches throughout this part of the East Bay. The name persisted into the American era, when it was still called the "Contra Costa Road". On July 15, 1852, the Court of Sessions of Contra Costa County ordered the construction of a more direct and somewhat improved road along the same general route between the Rancho San Pablo and Oakland, which consequently became known as "The San Pablo Road". This segment subsequently became today's "San Pablo Avenue". In 1927, this road

864-617: The settlement around the Mission in San Francisco) and was legally a "camino real" ("royal road", i.e., property of the Spanish crown) until Mexico won its independence in 1821. It ran from the Encinal ("Oakland") landings of the Rancho San Antonio northward (actually northwestward) along the bayshore, then eastward just inland of the Carquinez Strait . It was the principal thoroughfare for

896-522: The start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column. Median strip A median strip , central reservation , roadway median , or traffic median is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways such as divided highways , dual carriageways , freeways, and motorways . The term also applies to divided roadways other than highways, including some major streets in urban or suburban areas. The reserved area may simply be paved , but commonly it

928-699: The two directions of I-75. Some freeways in North America include "inverted" medians, which separate roadways running in the opposite direction from the standard for the country they are located in. Roads are so designed for a number of reasons, including to save space, for the creation of continuous flow intersections , or for diverging diamond interchanges . Inverted medians are also used in rare cases on local streets that historically had unusual traffic patterns, such as Bainbridge Street between 3rd Street and 5th Street in Philadelphia . An August 1993 study by

960-584: Was designated as part of the Lincoln Highway , the nation's first transcontinental road, upon the opening of the new highway bridge across the Carquinez Strait. Prior to the construction of the Eastshore Highway, San Pablo Avenue was the main north–south route through the northern East Bay, carrying the designation U.S. Route 40 north of University Avenue in Berkeley (US 40 proceeded down to

992-467: Was introduced in each county of California shortly after the attainment of statehood in 1850. The Court of Sessions was largely a provisional device for governing California counties prior to the first election of boards of supervisors. Thus its powers extended beyond the purely judicial, and included executive and legislative functions. It was presided over by an elected County Judge and two appointed associated judges. The Court of Sessions in each county

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1024-549: Was put in place after a Metropolitan Transportation Commission study determined that it would be more cost-effective than a previous proposal to install light rail along the route. The Bay Area Rapid Transit system runs its Richmond leg parallel to the route up to the El Cerrito del Norte station . The Alvarado Adobe is located by the San Pablo City Hall on the corner of San Pablo Avenue and Church Lane. SR 123

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