Four Level Interchange
Four Level Interchange
Four Level Interchange
Location
34.0625N
Coordinates:
118.2486WCoordinates: 34.06
25N 118.2486W
Roads at US 101
junction: SR 110
Construction
Map
The Four Level Interchange (officially the Bill Keene Memorial Interchange) was the
first stack interchange in the world.[1] Completed in 1949 and fully opened in 1953 at the
northern edge of Downtown Los Angeles,California, United States, it connects U.S. Route
101 (Hollywood Freeway and Santa Ana Freeway) to State Route 110 (Harbor
Freeway and Arroyo Seco Parkway).
Contents
[hide]
1Description
2History
3References
4External links
Description[edit]
The highway is a stack interchange that connects U.S. Route 101 to State Route 110. All
movements are possible in this interchange between US 101, which crosses over SR 110, but
not necessarily with surrounding roads, likeSunset Boulevard, which crosses SR 110 just
northeast of the interchange. The interchange is located at Exit 3 of US 101 and Exit 24A of SR
110.
The four freeway segments ("paths" of travel) from the Four Level Interchange are:
US 101 south (Santa Ana Freeway) to I-5 south / I-10 east / SR 60 east
History[edit]
While the highway oriented eastwest at this intersection has consistently been numbered
US 101, the numerical designation of road oriented northsouth at this interchange has
changed over the years. Originally designatedU.S. Route 66 and U.S. Route 6 and later signed
as State Route 11, all of these designations were eventually removed from the intersection and
replaced with the current designation of Route 110.
In July 2006, the freeway interchange was officially named in honor of Bill Keene,
former KNX and KNXT traffic and weather reporter, although the new name is rarely used.
Keene referred to the interchange as "The Stacks" and the "4-H Interchange". During the
1960s, Dick Whittinghill on radio station KMPC sometimes called it the Four Letter Interchange.
[2]
The interchange was constructed as a stack interchange because surrounding buildings and
terrain made construction of a cloverleaf interchange impractical. The construction of the
interchange displaced over 4000 people from their homes and cost $5.5 million - making it the
most expensive half-mile of highway ever built at the time.[3] The mainline traffic of US 101 is at
the top of the interchange, above the ramps, a rarity in stack interchanges (although a similar
configuration would later be used on the M25 to the south of London, with the M23 passing
above the ramps).
Its distinctive architecture has long made it a symbol of Los Angeles' postWorld War
II development, and it appears on numerous postcards from the 1950s and 1960s.[4]