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Santa Ana Freeway
Santa Ana Freeway highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Caltrans
Component highways	I-5 from Irvine to Boyle Heights, Los Angeles US 101 from Boyle Heights to Downtown Los Angeles
Major junctions
South end	I-5 / I-405 (El Toro Y) in Irvine
Major intersections	SR 133 in Irvine SR 261 Toll in Irvine SR 55 in Tustin SR 22 / SR 57 (Orange Crush) in Orange SR 91 in Buena Park I-605 in Downey I-710 in Vernon I-5 / I-10 / US 101 (East LA Int.) / SR 60 in Boyle Heights
North end	US 101 / SR 110 (4 Level Int.) in Downtown Los Angeles
Location
Country	United States
State	California
Counties	Orange, Los Angeles
Highway system
State highways in California Interstate US State Scenic History Pre‑1964 Unconstructed Deleted Freeways
Southern California freeways

The Santa Ana Freeway is one of the principal freeways in Southern California, connecting Los Angeles and its southeastern suburbs including the freeway's namesake, the city of Santa Ana. The freeway begins at its junction with the San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405, I-405), called the El Toro Y, in Irvine, signed as I-5. From there, it generally goes southeast to northwest to the East Los Angeles Interchange, where it takes the designation of U.S. Route 101 (US 101). It then proceeds 2.95 miles (4.75 km) northwest to the Four Level Interchange (also known as the Bill Keene Memorial Interchange) in downtown Los Angeles. Formerly, the entirety of the route was marked as US 101 until the 1964 highway renumbering, which truncated US 101 to the East Los Angeles Interchange and designated the rest of the freeway as I-5.

North of the East Los Angeles Interchange complex, I-5 follows the Golden State Freeway. South of the El Toro Y, I-5 takes on the San Diego Freeway name from I-405.

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 line (shrinking from 10 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.

The freeway is officially defined as Routes 101 and 5 from Route 110 (Four Level Interchange) to Route 405.

History

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. This route was marked as part of US 101 in 1928.

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. 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. (SR 6 was renumbered to SR 26 in 1937, when US 6 entered California; SR 10 was soon truncated to Anaheim Boulevard, as US 101 had moved from Route 2 to the shorter Route 174 in Santa Ana.)

A U.S. Route 101 Bypass was created by 1941, beginning at the intersection of Routes 166 (Indiana Street, soon moved to Downey Road) 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 Routes 166 and 171 to Buena Park.

A freeway connecting downtown Los Angeles with Orange County was planned by 1939, and was included in A Transit Program for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, published that year by the Metropolitan Transportation Engineering Board. 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.

The entire Santa Ana Freeway began construction in 1947 and completed in 1956. Originally it was signed as US 101 before the segment of 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.

Former Interstate 105

From 1964 to 1968, the I-105 designation was used on a stretch of road linking I-5/I-10, US 101, and SR 10 (former I-110) north of downtown Los Angeles, now known as the East Los Angeles Interchange. In 1968, this I-105 was decommissioned, and that portion of the Santa Ana Freeway was folded into US 101.

Exit list

Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers to an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see California postmile § Official postmile definitions). Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.

County	Location	Postmile	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Orange	Irvine	21.30	—	I-5 south (San Diego Freeway) – San Diego	Continuation beyond I-405
			94A	I-405 north (San Diego Freeway north) to SR 133 south – Long Beach	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; south end of Santa Ana Freeway; south end of I-5 overlap
See I-5 Exits 94A–134
Los Angeles	Los Angeles	16.88 S0.00	—	I-5 north (Golden State Freeway) / I-10 – Sacramento, San Bernardino, Santa Monica	North end of I-5 overlap; south end of US 101 overlap; no access from I-5 north to US 101 north, and vice versa
See US 101 Exits 1–3
Los Angeles	Los Angeles	1.57	3	SR 110 to I-110 south (Harbor Freeway) / Grand Avenue – Pasadena, San Pedro	North end of Santa Ana Freeway; north end of US 101 overlap
			—	US 101 north (Hollywood Freeway) – Ventura	Continuation beyond SR 110
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

1. ^ Indicates that the postmile represents the distance along US 101 rather than I-5.
2. Exit numbers follow US 101 rather than I-5.

See also

• California Roads portal

References

1. ^ "Mapping L.A.: Boyle Heights". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
2. 2013 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California (PDF). Caltrans. p. 63. Retrieved 2014-06-13.
3. Ben Blow, California Highways: A Descriptive Record of Road Development by the State and by Such Counties as Have Paved Highways, 1920 (Archive.org or Internet Archive), pp. 165, 194-195
4. California Highways and Public Works, United States Numbered Highways, January 1928
5. California State Assembly. "An act to amend sections 2, 3 and 5 and to add two sections to be numbered 6 and 7 to an act entitled 'An act to provide for the acquisition of rights of way for and the construction, maintenance..." Fiftieth Session of the Legislature. Statutes of California. State of California. Ch. 767 p. 2040.: "Los Angeles, Indiana and 3rd Streets, to the Huntington Beach-Whittier Road near Santa Fe Springs." "State Highway Route 60 via Manchester Avenue to State Highway Route 2 near Miraflores." "State Highway Route 2 near Orange County Hospital to Main Street, Santa Ana, via Santa Ana Boulevard."
6. California State Assembly. "An act to establish a Streets and Highways Code, thereby consolidating and revising the law relating to public ways and all appurtenances thereto, and to repeal certain acts and parts of acts specified herein". Fifty-first Session of the Legislature. Statutes of California. State of California. Ch. 29 p. 286.: "Route 166 is from Route 172, at the intersection of Indiana and Third Streets, in Los Angeles, to Route 171 near Santa Fe Springs." "Route 174 is from: (a) Route 60 via Manchester Avenue to Route 2 near Miraflores. (b) Route 2 near Orange County Hospital to Main Street, Santa Ana, via Santa Ana Boulevard."
7. Dennis, T.H. (August 1934). "State Routes Will Be Numbered and Marked with Distinctive Bear Signs". California Highways and Public Works. 11 (8): 20–21, 32. ISSN 0008-1159 – via Archive.org.
8. H.M. Gousha Company, Los Angeles and Vicinity, 1935
9. Richard F. Weingroff, U.S. 6: The Grand Army of the Republic Highway
10. H.M. Gousha Company, Los Angeles and Vicinity, 1939
11. H.M. Gousha Company, Los Angeles and Vicinity Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine, 1941: SR 10 overlaps US 101 Bypass to Anaheim
12. H.M. Gousha Company, Los Angeles and Vicinity Archived 2006-04-24 at the Wayback Machine, 1942: SR 10 has been truncated
13. Division of Highways, Los Angeles and Vicinity, 1944
14. Los Angeles Times, Super-Road Hearing Set, September 8, 1939, p. 20
15. Ann Forsyth, Reforming Suburbia: The Planned Communities of Irvine, Columbia, and The Woodlands, University of California Press, 2005, ISBN 0-520-24166-5, p. 61
16. California State Assembly. "An act to amend Sections 345, 466 and 612 of the Streets and Highways Code, relating to descriptions of certain State highways". Fifty-fourth Session of the Legislature. Statutes of California. State of California. Ch. 142 p. 1185.: "Route 166 is from Route 172, at the intersection of Downey Road to Route 174, near Norwalk."
17. "105 California". Interstate Guide. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
18. ^ California Department of Transportation. "State Truck Route List". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (XLS file) on September 5, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
19. California Department of Transportation (July 2007). "Log of Bridges on State Highways". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation.
20. Staff (2005–2006). "All Traffic Volumes on CSHS". California Department of Transportation.
21. "Interstate 5" (PDF). California Numbered Exit Uniform System. California Department of Transportation. August 17, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
22. "US 101" (PDF). California Numbered Exit Uniform System. California Department of Transportation. May 21, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2016.

External links

• Caltrans: Santa Ana Freeway highway conditions
• Caltrans Traffic Conditions Map
• California Highway Patrol Traffic Incidents

v t e Auxiliary routes of Interstate 5
California 5E 5W 105 105 205 305 405 505 605 805 905 Business Oregon 105 205 305 405 505 Washington 205 405 605 705 Business
Former Future Unbuilt Unsigned

• Interstate 5
• U.S. Route 101
• Named freeways in California
• Roads in Orange County, California
• Southern California freeways