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MacArthur Maze for kids

The Giant Spaghetti Road. The true story of MacArthur Maze, near Oakland, CA, told for kids.

Watercolor illustration for The Giant Spaghetti Road
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Read along

Whoa, look up and all around! You are driving through a giant tangle of roads called the Maze! It sits right at the end of the Bay Bridge. Cars come off the bridge, and then they have to pick where to go. Some go to Berkeley.

Some go toward Oakland and San Jose. The Maze splits the traffic onto three big freeways, like a road with three shiny slides! It looks like a plate of spaghetti, with roads instead of noodles, all twisting and swooshing over each other. Whoosh! Next to it is the Port of Oakland, where giant ships bring in boxes from far away.

Here is your game. Count how many roads you can see going over or under each other. Can you find five?

Quiz the back seat

The Maze has a fancy grown-up name. What is it?

Show the answer

The East Bay Distribution Structure. Yes! That is its real name. Most people just call it the Maze, because it is so twisty!

3 fun facts

  • The Maze splits traffic from the Bay Bridge onto three freeways.
  • It sits next to the Port of Oakland.
  • Its real name is the East Bay Distribution Structure.

For grown-ups

Every Tumbly story is checked claim by claim against the sources below before it's published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.

Sources

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Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).

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