Happy 100th Birthday, El Camino Real!

One-hundred years ago today, Aug. 7, 2012, ground was broken in San Bruno to begin construction of what would eventually become one of the most widely used roads in northern California - El Camino Real.

At 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, Peninsula officials will gather on that spot in San Bruno to commemorate El Camino Real's centennial anniversary.

Slated to appear are State Assemblyman Jerry Hill, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, San Mateo County Supervisor Adrienne Tissier, San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane, and others.

The festivities will include a historic car procession, featuring members of The Mid Peninsula Old Time Auto Club, stretching along El Camino from San Bruno to Washington Park in Burlingame. 

El Camino Real - now State Highway 82 - was the very first contract of a statewide construction project authorized by California voters who passed an $18-million bond measure in 1909. Groundbreaking on the “Royal Road” made possible the building boom that created the Peninsula and Silicon Valley.

Today, El Camino Real stretches through 19 cities in the Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

In conjunction with the anniversary, Assemblyman Jerry Hill on Tuesday morning will also introduce a resolution (HR 36) "celebrating a highway that today provides an indispensable artery in the life of the Bay Area," said Hill's communications director, Aurelio Rojas.

The celebration will begin in front of San Bruno's City Hall at 567 El Camino Real in San Bruno.