WILLIAM ALEXENDAR LEIDESDORFF JR. MEMORIAL HIGHWAY SIGN IN PLACE ON HWY 50

FOLSOM – The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) installed two William Alexander Leidesdorff Jr. Memorial Highway signs yesterday on EB Highway 50 at Bradshaw Road and on WB Highway 50 at Scott Road. This dedicated stretch of highway runs between Bradshaw Road and the El Dorado County Line.

William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. born in 1810 was a prominent civic leader and pioneer in the successful quest for California to become the 31st state. His global trade and commerce projects financed, developed and helped stabilize the Sacramento Valley. Leidesdorff captained the first and only steamship in California prior to the gold rush and his maiden steam voyage is immortalized in the California State Seal. Leidesdorff accomplished many historical firsts in California history before his untimely death in 1848.

Caltrans is a department within the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency that operates and maintains California's transportation system under the direction of Secretary Sunne Wright McPeak and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. For more information about the department, please visit its Web site at www.dot.ca.gov. Information about the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency is available on the Internet at www.bth.ca.gov.