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Times Square,New York City, and ended in Jack London Square in Oakland.At the time,the federal government had nothing to do with the designation and construction of the route. The establishment of the Lincoln Highway _ Association and all its activities was primarily the doing of Henry Joy,President of the Packard Motor Car Company.Mr. Joy, and other automobile manufacturers of the day had a vested interest in the growth and improvement of roadways in the United States;better and more roads meant increased sales. In California,the designation of the Lincoln Highway was considered so important at the time that Tracy shifted its downtown to 11th Street along the marked route.From Tracy,the highway followed Byron Road,jogged south along what is now Mountain House Parkway,tuned east on Grant Line Road and eventually went through the Altamont Pass and on toward San Francisco Bay.Under the Federal Highway Act of 1921,many sections of the Lincoln Highway were absorbed into the federally-administered interstate system and were assigned numerical designations. Certain elements of the original 1915 route(the specific location of the Lincoln Highway varied for many years, and in California eventually shifted north,roughly conforming to the path of present-day Interstates 80 and 580) and its associated commercial developments and landscape features may be recorded as cultural resources. Some of these elements, such as rest areas,inns,taverns,early motor-hotels,markers,bridges, etc.,may potentially be significant per CRHR guidelines.The portion of Grant Line Road from Mountain House Parkway to the Alameda County line,which would be impacted by the College Park project,does not constitute a significant resource _ because of it's lack of historic integrity and the fact that portions of the Lincoln Highway that exist elsewhere in the region retain greater degrees of integrity and association.In general,all that remains of the historical setting for this section of the Lincoln Highway is the road grade itself,and the mature trees discussed below.Because the roadway has no doubt been repaved repeatedly,likely widened, and has no other buildings or structures associated with it in the project site, it is not considered eligible for CRHR listing. Mature Trees along Grant Line Road/Lincoln Highway Just to the south of the Berkeley Farms Dairy are rows of mature trees along either side of a portion of Grant Line Road.According to two issues of the Tracy Press(December 23, 1922 and January 4, 1923),the trees were — planted in February 1923. These trees are a remnant of an original 9-mile-long stretch of plantings along the designated Lincoln Highway(now Grant Line Road)from the Alameda County line to Paradise Cut,just east of Tracy(a distance of about 14 miles),to provide travelers with cooling shade during summer and generally enhance the appearance of the route. The tree lines in the project area(from Mountain House Parkway approximately two-thirds of the way to the Alameda County line)are largely intact and unbroken,have not been substantially affected by road construction or agricultural activities,and contribute to the visual context of the period of significance for this portion of the Lincoln Highway. Although these tree lines may be important to the visual context of this section of the highway, they are not considered historic resources under CEQA.No additional landforms,plantings,buildings or structures constructed in direct association with the Lincoln Highway during the 1910s or 1920s are present along this section of Grant Line Road,and no other features that,combined with the trees,could contribute to historic significance are present. — As indicated above,the mature trees on either side of Grant Line Road do not represent historic resources under CEQA. However,in early 1994 the West Side Pioneer Association of Tracy(Association)contacted Trimark _ Communities(Trimark) (the Specific Plan I and H developer)to express concern over the proposed removal of the trees to accommodate the widening of Grant Line Road under the MHMP. In response,Trimark presented a proposed street-tree and monumentation plan to the Association(Figure 4.6-2),and presented the following _ proposed mitigation measures(Trimark 2004): ► To facilitate the planned expansion of the Grant Line Road corridor,the trees will need to be removed, per the policies contained in the Mountain House Master Plan. EDAW College Park at Mountain House Specilic Plan III Draft EIR Cultural Resources 4.6-8 San Joaquin County