California State Route 92

State Route 92 (SR 92) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, serving as a major east-west corridor in the San Francisco Bay Area. From its west end at State Route 1 in Half Moon Bay near the coast, it heads east across the San Francisco Peninsula and the San Mateo–Hayward Bridge to downtown Hayward in the East Bay at its junction with State Route 238 and State Route 185. It has interchanges with three freeways: Interstate 280 (the Junipero Serra Freeway), U.S. Route 101 (the Bayshore Freeway) in or near San Mateo, and Interstate 880 (the Nimitz Freeway) in Hayward. It also connects indirectly to Interstates 238 and 580 by way of Hayward's Foothill Boulevard, which carries Route 238 and flows directly into Route 92.

Route description


Between Half Moon Bay and Interstate 280, Route 92 winds through the Coast Range as a narrow, mainly undivided two and three lane highway with a switchback turn. The east-bound uphill portion was upgraded with a long passing lane. Between Interstate 280 and Interstate 880 it is entirely a divided multilane highway, including the toll San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, the longest span across the San Francisco Bay; west of that bridge, Route 92 is carried on twin girder bridges across Seal Slough, which forms the border between the cities of San Mateo and Foster City. East of Interstate 880 the route becomes a divided surface street in Hayward, locally known as Jackson Street.

State Route 92 traverses through significant habitat areas including wetland, California oak woodland, chaparral and grassland. In one serpentine soil location near Crystal Springs Reservoir, it passes near one of the only known colonies of the endangered wildflower Pentachaeta bellidiflora and near one of the limited number of colonies of the endangered Eriophyllum latilobum.

SR 92 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, and a small portion near SR 1 as well as the entire portion east of I-280 are 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. SR 92 is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System, but it is not officially designated as a scenic highway by the California Department of Transportation.

History
The alignment was designated as Legislative Route Number 105 by Caltrans in 1933.

The San Mateo section also was referred to as the 19th Avenue Freeway which was the street name where the freeway now exists. Parts of the street remain. This section is also known as the J. Arthur Younger Freeway; J. Arthur Younger was a United States representative who served during the 1950s and 60s. On August 29, 1963, the 19th Avenue segment was completed and by 1964, the present name had been adopted; planning began for the segments in Alameda County, east of the San Mateo–Hayward Bridge, and the remainder in San Mateo County, west of Interstate 280.

Updates
An upgrade of the intersection with Main Street in Half Moon Bay, near the western terminus, was scheduled to be completed by fall 2008.

The old cloverleaf interchange with Interstate 880 was converted into a three-level combination interchange with direct ramp replacements for two of the tight "cloverleaf" ramps, and a new wider and taller overpass to carry Route 92 over Interstate 880. The project took four years and was completed in October 2011.

A similar cloverleaf interchange at SR 82 (El Camino Real) was rebuilt in 2018 into a partial cloverleaf interchange. Two of the loop off-ramps from SR 92 were eliminated: from westbound SR 92 to northbound El Camino Real, and from eastbound SR 92 to southbound El Camino Real. The remaining off-ramps were widened and signalized to allow left and right turns onto El Camino Real.

Planning for improvements to the interchange with the Bayshore Freeway (U.S. 101) began in 2018; construction is scheduled to begin in 2024. In addition, a separated bikeway will be built on Fashion Island Boulevard, which largely follows the former alignment of 19th Avenue, connecting the cities of Foster City and San Mateo. This project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026.