met with many economic and environmental obstacles, making the task all but impossible for much of the route. Sears Point Toll Road As late as 1926, Golden Gate Ferries, owners of the Sears Point Toll Road Co., began plans to build the Sears Point Toll Road, with a contract awarded to Oakland-based Hutchinson Company in October 1927. The paved toll road was to be built on top of an ancient Native American trail along the San Pablo Bay shore between the Sacramento Highway and the Black Point cut-off (LRN 8) near Sears Point. It was expected to cost $775,000USD, with a toll not exceeding $0.35. Toll road officials explained the purpose of the road; to stimulate motor vehicle usage by reducing the commute times and expenses of motorists traveling from the East Bay and Sacramento areas by offering a more direct route toward Marin, Sonoma and the Redwood Highway. The road opened for traffic in 1928. On November 29, 1932, the California State Highway Commission received a recommendation to purchase the road and was able to invest $418,000USD by 1936. However, the U.S. Navy owned rights to the right-of-way of part of the route, and opposed the purchase. This resulted in congressional actions to establish a clear title deed for the route. House Representative Richard J. Welch was one of the earliest government officials to pressure the State of California to acquire the toll road in order to convert it into a toll-free highway. He argued that having only one toll road to travel in order to reach the Golden Gate Bridge would benefit commuters; he also cited the ten and seventh-tenths-mile difference in distance between the toll road and a route through Napa. A Navy Department deed permitting the State to purchase the road was granted by the Attorney General on October 26, 1938. The highway then became signed as State Route 48 until the 1964 renumbering. Highway upgrading in Vallejo By 1955, talks began about upgrading the highway. After a proposition to turn much of the route into a toll road failed, it was decided a four-lane freeway would be the best decision. However, opposition from residents in surrounding neighborhoods as well as a federal oil embargo only allowed widening of the approach between Fairgrounds Drive and I-80. In 1977, a levee broke and flooded a portion of the developed land, turning it into protected wetlands that is