The California Highway Commission was established in 1895 and continued until 1978 as the primary California government agency responsible for state highway planning. It exercised jurisdiction over the California state highway system, especially highway routes, while the Department of Highways, established in 1896, constructed and maintained state highways. The latter agency evolved into the Department of Engineering (1907), the Department of Public Works (1921), and then the modern California Department of Transportation (1973). The commission's first noticeable efforts centered on the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road (eventually to become U.S. Route 50) over the Sierra Nevada. A series of municipal bond issues beginning in 1910 allowed the Highway Commission to grade and pave as much of the new state highway system as quickly as possible. A 1933 statute read in part: In 1978, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) replaced and assumed the responsibilities of four independent bodies: The California Highway Commission, the State Transportation Board, the State Aeronautics Board, and the California Toll Bridge Authority.