Freeways don’t really belong in this assessment of L.A. street names, but the Arroyo Seco – Spanish for “dry stream” – deserves a mention. Long before pavement and automobiles, the “Arroyo Seco Road” was named by 1855 and possibly much earlier. Decades later, it was transformed into America’s first freeway, completed in 1940 at a cost of $6 million. (Its original speed limit, 45 mph, explains those startling 5 mph off-ramps!) It was designated State Route 110 in 1981. The Arroyo Seco Parkway is a segment of another notable road: Route 66.
Find it on the map:
