An absolutely ghastly part of the 134 and 210 freeways in California (if it’s rush hour) will be renamed for former president Barack Obama; the California legislature ruled on Tuesday. This comes after the announcement in June that part of Rodeo Road (in Baldwin Village, not Beverly Hills) will be renamed for 44.

The stretch of heavily traveled freeway lies between Glendale and Pasadena, cutting through Eagle Rock, where Occidental College sits. Obama attended Occidental for part of his undergraduate education. He transferred to Columbia University, ultimately obtaining his degree there. 

The measure was introduced on December 20, 2016. Ironically and oddly sensible for California, state senator Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) asked that the cost of signage for the Obama Highway be paid for with private donations.

Californians of the region are not unfamiliar with private donations on behalf of the previous president, considering how much time he spent in Los Angeles fundraising among Hollywood elite. Funding for that project should be secured for Caltrans lickety split. They could probably even raise the money to rename Los Angeles something like Obamarama, or at least the Staples Center the Obamadome.

The most famous presidential freeway currently in Southern California is the Ronald Reagan, or state 118. For San Fernando Valley residents, it is the freeway one chooses to get in and out of Pasadena when the exact part of the 134/210 to be renamed President Barack H. Obama Highway is a parking lot.