Santa Ana Freeway
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Santa Ana Freeway
Maintained by Caltrans
South end:	I-5 / I-405 (El Toro Y)
Major junctions:	SR 22 / SR 57 (Orange Crush) I-605 in Norwalk I-5 / I-10 / SR 60 (East LA Int.)
North end:	US 101 / SR 110 (4 Level Int.)
System:	Southern California freeways
State highways in California (list - pre-1964) History - Unconstructed - Deleted - Freeway - Scenic

The Santa Ana Freeway is one of the principal freeways in Southern California, connecting Los Angeles, California and its southeastern suburbs. The freeway begins at the four level Bill Keene Memorial Interchange complex in downtown Los Angeles, signed as U.S. Route 101. From there, it proceeds one mile (1.6 km) east to the East Los Angeles Interchange where it takes the designation of Interstate 5. Its alignment then generally goes northwest to southeast towards its junction with the San Diego Freeway, Interstate 405 (I-405) (informally referred to as the El Toro Y), in Irvine.

North of the East Los Angeles Interchange complex, Interstate 5's name changes to the Golden State Freeway. South of its junction with the I-405, its name changes to the San Diego Freeway. (Interstate 405 ends at this junction.)

An abundance of landmarks, most importantly (Disneyland and Angel Stadium of Anaheim) along the Orange County portion of its route combines with a severe bottleneck beginning at the Los Angeles County border (shrinking from 12 to 6 lanes) to make it one of the most congested freeways in Southern California. The infamously busy intersection of the Santa Ana, Garden Grove, and Orange freeways in southwestern Orange is nicknamed the Orange Crush.

History

The Santa Ana Freeway is often congested, especially where it meets Interstate 605 (the San Gabriel River Freeway) in southeastern Los Angeles County.

The Santa Ana Freeway is a bypass of the original state highway from Los Angeles to Santa Ana, which passed through Whittier and mostly became SR 72 in the 1964 renumbering. Southeast of Santa Ana, this earlier highway, added to the state highway system in 1910 as Route 2, generally followed the present freeway from Tustin past East Irvine to El Toro.¹ This route was marked as part of US 101 in 1928.²

In 1933, the state legislature added a number of routes to the state highway system, including two that later formed parts of the Santa Ana Freeway. Route 166 began at the new Route 172 (now SR 60), at the corner of Indiana and Third Streets, and headed south on Indiana Street and east and southeast on Mines Avenue (Olympic Boulevard) and Anaheim-Telegraph Road (now Telegraph Road) to Route 171 (now SR 39) at the intersection with Los Nietos Road near Santa Fe Springs. Route 174 began at Route 60 (then signed Alternate U. S. 101 now SR 1) in what now is known as Westchester and followed Manchester Avenue and Firestone Boulevard (then under construction alongside the Southern Pacific Railroad's Santa Ana Branch) to Route 2 (then Los Angeles Street, now Anaheim Boulevard) in southern Anaheim. A second piece began further southeast on Route 2, where it turned east on Chapman Avenue, and followed the shorter Santa Ana Boulevard diagonally to Route 2 (Main Street) in northern Santa Ana.³⁴ In 1934, Route 166, except on Indiana Street, was marked as part of Sign Route 6 (which continued along Route 171 to Buena Park), and the entire length of Route 174 became Sign Route 10.⁵⁶ (SR 6 was renumbered to SR 26 in 1937, when US 6 entered California;⁷ SR 10 was soon truncated to Anaheim Boulevard, as US 101 had moved from Route 2 to the shorter Route 174 in Santa Ana.⁸)

A U.S. Route 101 Bypass was created by 1941, beginning at the intersection of Routes 166 (Indiana Street, soon moved to Downey Road^{citation needed}) and 2 (US 101 along Whittier Boulevard), and following Routes 166 and 174 to Route 2 (US 101) in Anaheim. The connection between Routes 166 and 174 was made via Route 168 (Rosemead Boulevard, then and now SR 19). This resulted in SR 10 being truncated further, to the intersection of Firestone and Rosemead Boulevards, though SR 26 continued to extend east on Route 166 to Buena Park.⁹¹⁰¹¹

A freeway connecting downtown Los Angeles with Orange County was planned by 1939,¹² and was included in A Transit Program for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, published that year by the Metropolitan Transportation Engineering Board.¹³ To allow for its construction by the state, the definition of Route 166 was modified in 1941, changing the southeast end to Route 174 near Norwalk; at the same time, the northernmost piece was changed from Indiana Street to Downey Road.¹⁴

The entire Santa Ana Freeway began construction in 1947 and completed in 1956. Originally it was signed as US 101 before the segment of the 101 between the East Los Angeles Interchange and the United States–Mexico border in San Ysidro, California was decommissioned in favor of Interstate 5. It was approved as a chargeable interstate in 1961. The Santa Ana Freeway and also portions of San Diego Freeway (before the freeway was built) south of El Toro Y went up changing the U.S. 101 signs to Interstate 5 in 1964, including full length of Golden State Freeway which was originally signed as US 99.

Legal definition

Routes 101 and 5 from Route 110 (Four Level Interchange) to Route 405.¹⁵

Control Cities

Northbound
Santa Ana - El Toro Y to Orange Crush Interchange
Los Angeles - Orange Crush Interchange to East Los Angeles Interchange
Civic Center - East Los Angeles Interchange to Alameda Street
Hollywood - Alameda Street to Four Level Interchange

Southbound
Santa Ana - Four Level Interchange to Orange Crush Interchange
San Diego - Orange Crush Interchange to El Toro Y

Exit list

Note: Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured in 1964, based on the alignment as it existed at that time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.

County	Location	Postmile 161718	#19	Destinations	Notes
Orange ORA 21.30-44.38	Irvine	21.30		I-5 south (San Diego Freeway) – San Diego	Continuation beyond I-405
		22.21	94B	Alton Parkway	Signed as exit 94 southbound
		22.80		Barranca Parkway	Southbound exit and northbound entrance (HOV only)
		23.12	95	SR 133 north (Eastern Toll Road) – Riverside, Santa Margarita	Signed as exit 96B southbound
		23.12	95	SR 133 south (Laguna Freeway) – Laguna Beach	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		R23.94	96	Sand Canyon Avenue	Signed as exit 96A southbound
		R24.99	97	Jeffrey Road
		R26.58	99	Culver Drive
		27.59	100	Jamboree Road (to SR 261)
	Tustin
		28.25	101A	Tustin Ranch Road
		R29.09	101B	Red Hill Avenue – Tustin
		29.62	102	Newport Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		30.26	103A	SR 55 north (Costa Mesa Freeway) – Riverside	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		30.26	103B	SR 55 south (Costa Mesa Freeway) – Newport Beach	Signed as exit 103 southbound
	Santa Ana	30.90- 31.09	103C	First Street, Fourth Street	Signed as exit 104A southbound
		31.76	104	Grand Avenue, Santa Ana Boulevard	Signed as exit 104B southbound
		32.46	105A	17th Street
		33.09	105B	Main Street, Broadway – Santa Ana	Former SR 51 north/SR 73 south
	Santa Ana, Orange	34.00	106	SR 22 west (Garden Grove Freeway) – Long Beach, Garden Grove	Signed as exit 107B southbound
		34.00	107A	SR 22 east (Garden Grove Freeway) – Orange	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		34.14	107A	La Veta Avenue, Bristol Street	Northbound exit is part of exit 106; serves Angel Stadium
		34.27	107A	SR 57 north (Orange Freeway) – Pomona	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Orange	34.94	107B	Chapman Avenue	Southbound exit is via exit 107C; former SR 51 south
		35.19	107C	State College Boulevard, The City Drive	Former SR 250
		35.59	109A	Orangewood Avenue	Northbound exit is via exit 107C
	Anaheim
		35.92		Gene Autry Way, Disney Way	HOV only
		36.26	109A	Katella Avenue	Signed as exit 109 northbound
		36.61	109B	Disney Way, Anaheim Boulevard	Northbound exit is via exit 109; former SR 72
		37.40	110A	Harbor Boulevard	Signed as exit 110 northbound
		37.64- 38.06	110B	Disneyland Drive, Ball Road	Northbound exit is via exit 110
		38.92	111	Lincoln Avenue	Former SR 214
		39.51	112	Euclid Street
		40.71- 40.93	113	Brookhurst Street, La Palma Avenue	Signed as exits 113A (Brookhurst Street, La Palma Avenue west) and 113B (La Palma Avenue east) northbound
	Anaheim, Fullerton	41.50	114	Magnolia Avenue	Signed as exit 114A southbound
		42.10	113C	SR 91 west (Artesia Freeway)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		42.10	114B	SR 91 east (Riverside Freeway) – Riverside	Northbound exit is via exit 114
	Buena Park	43.13	115	Auto Center Drive	Northbound exit only (Currently under cronstruction)
		43.43	116	SR 39 (Beach Boulevard)	(Currently under cronstruction)
		44.26	117	Knott Avenue, Artesia Boulevard	Former SR 91
Los Angeles LA 5 0.00-16.88 LA 101 S0.00-1.57	La Mirada	1.21	118	Valley View Avenue – La Mirada
	Santa Fe Springs
		1.68		Alondra Boulevard	No exit ramps
	Santa Fe Springs, Norwalk	2.41	119	Carmenita Road
		3.44	120A	Rosecrans Avenue – La Mirada	Signed as exit 120 southbound
	Norwalk	3.64	120B	Firestone Boulevard	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; former SR 42
		4.41	121	Norwalk Boulevard, San Antonio Drive – Norwalk	Former SR 35
		4.91- 5.12	122	Imperial Highway, Pioneer Boulevard
	Santa Fe Springs, Downey	6.38	123	Florence Avenue
		6.85	124	I-605 (San Gabriel River Freeway)
	Downey	8.31	125	SR 19 (Lakewood Boulevard, Rosemead Boulevard)
		8.95	126A	Paramount Boulevard – Downey
	Montebello, Commerce	9.70	126B	Slauson Avenue – Montebello	No northbound entrance
		10.88	128A	Bandini Boulevard, Garfield Avenue
	Commerce	11.55	128B	Washington Boulevard – Commerce
		12.80	129	Eastern Avenue, Atlantic Boulevard	Former SR 15
		12.92	130A	Atlantic Boulevard south, Triggs Street
		13.78	130C	I-710 north (Long Beach Freeway) – Pasadena	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		13.78	130B	I-710 south (Long Beach Freeway) – Long Beach	Northbound exit is via exit 130A
		13.89	130B	Eastern Avenue	Northbound exit only
		14.25	131A	Olympic Boulevard	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; former SR 26 / SR 245
		14.80	131B	Ditman Avenue	Southbound exit and entrance only
	Los Angeles	14.94	131	Indiana Street	Signed as exit 132 southbound; former SR 165
		15.1	132	Calzona Street	Northbound exit and entrance only
		16.05	133	Grande Vista Avenue	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		16.05	133	Euclid Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		16.47	134A	I-10 west (Santa Monica Freeway) – Santa Monica	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		16.47		SR 60 east (Pomona Freeway) – Pomona	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		16.59	134B	Soto Street	No exit number southbound
		5 16.88 101 S0.00		I-5 north (Golden State Freeway) – Sacramento	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; north end of I-5 overlap; south end of US 101
		S0.02	134C	Seventh Street	Signed as exit 1A southbound
		S0.62	1A	Fourth Street	Signed as exit 1B southbound; no northbound entrance
		S0.91	1B	First Street	Signed as exit 1C southbound; no southbound entrance
		S1.2	1C	Cesar Chavez Avenue	Northbound exit only
		S1.33 0.00	1D	I-10 east (San Bernardino Freeway) – San Bernardino	No southbound entrance; left exit southbound
		0.1	1E	Mission Road	No northbound exit
		0.39	2A	Vignes Street	Northbound exit and entrance only
		0.76	2B	Alameda Street – Union Station	No southbound exit
		0.87	2B	Los Angeles Street	No northbound exit
		1.01	2C	Spring Street	Northbound exit only
		1.08	2C	Broadway	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		1.32	3A	Grand Avenue, Temple Street	Northbound exit is part of exit 3
		1.57	3	SR 110 north (Pasadena Freeway) / I-110 south (Harbor Freeway) – Pasadena, San Pedro	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		1.57		US 101 north (Hollywood Freeway) – Ventura	Continuation beyond SR 110

References