Everything about California State Route 55 totally explained
Major cities
Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs |
|
State Route 55 (SR 55), known locally as
The 55, is an 18 mile (30 km) long north-south highway in the
U.S. state of
California. It is known as the
Costa Mesa Freeway (formerly the
Newport Freeway). SR 55 runs between
Newport Beach in the south and
State Route 91 at
Anaheim in the north.
This route is part of the
California Freeway and Expressway System.
Route description
Starting at Finley Avenue on Newport Boulevard in Newport Beach, 0.3 mile south of
State Route 1, Route 55/Newport Boulevard is a 4-lane expressway for approximately three-quarters of a mile to its intersection with 17th Street in
Costa Mesa. It then follows a traditional street routing through a retail and commercial section of Costa Mesa until its intersection with 19th Street. Following the 19th Street intersection, Route 55 becomes an eight-lane below-grade freeway that bisects the northbound and southbound lanes of Newport Boulevard until the Mesa Drive undercrossing. North of Fair Drive, Route 55 is an at-grade or above-grade freeway, with the exception of a one mile stretch between the 1st Street/4th Street exit and the 17th Street exit in
Santa Ana which is below-grade.
The segment on Newport Boulevard includes a limited-access interchange at
State Route 1. The southbound side of the Costa Mesa Freeway doesn't have a direct link to northbound
Interstate 5, the
Santa Ana Freeway. Route 55 is known to be crowded due to it being the primary free link from job centers in Irvine, Santa Ana and Costa Mesa to
State Route 91, which leads to commuter communities of the Inland Empire and other places northeast of Orange County.
SR 55 was the first freeway in Orange County to receive carpool lanes, opened in 1985. The stretch of the 55 between Fair Dr. and 19th Street in Costa Mesa was opened in 1990; plans to extend the 55 freeway south from 19th Street to
State Route 1 were never realized, but in April of 2007, the
Orange County Transportation Authority approved funds to study the feasibility of extending the southern freeway portion of Route 55 in Costa Mesa south to 17th Street via tunnels or flyover ramps.
History
Route 55 was originally built in
1931 and was originally numbered as Route 43. It was built from the southern terminus of
Route 1 (the
Pacific Coast Highway) and continued northbound on the same route it follows today, through the cities of
Newport Beach,
Tustin,
Costa Mesa, and
Anaheim, and then went eastward through
Riverside on what is known today as
Route 91 to link with
Interstate 215. In
1959 the freeway was renumbered as Route 55, and its route was shortened from Route 1 to the also-renumbered Route 91.
Today, Route 55 is a heavily-travelled corridor linking southern
Orange County with Route 91, the main corridor between the
Inland Empire and the
Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, as well as
Interstate 5, the main north-south corridor for California. A
HOV lane has been built along the entire route, with its own off- and on-ramps. However, congestion is still very prevalent throughout the day, as is the norm with many Orange County freeways; Route 55 experiences a peak daily traffic volume of 262,000 vehicles and 17,292 trucks.
The entire freeway section of Route 55, approximately 16 miles, is called the Costa Mesa Freeway. It was formerly called the Newport Freeway, with the name being changed by the legislature in 1976.
Caltrans didn't begin changing signs to reflect the name change until the early 1990s.
Other names
Route 55 from Route 91 to Costa Mesa is known as the Costa Mesa Freeway, as named by Assembly Concurrent Resolution 177, Chapter 86 in 1976.
Major intersections and 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 don't necessarily reflect current mileage.
The entire route is in
Orange County.
| Location |
Postmile
|
# |
Destinations |
Notes |
| Newport Beach |
0.00 |
|
Newport Boulevard |
Continuation beyond SR 1 |
| 0.27 |
1 |
|
No exit number northbound |
| Costa Mesa | South end of freeway |
| 2 |
2 |
Newport Boulevard |
Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
| R2.77 |
3 |
Victoria Street, 22nd Street |
|
| R3.78 |
4 |
Del Mar Avenue, Fair Drive |
|
| R4.73 |
5A |
|
Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
| R4.73 |
5A |
via toll road |
|
| R5.34 |
5B |
Baker Street |
|
| R5.99 |
6A |
|
Southbound exit and northbound entrance |
| R5.99 |
6B |
|
Signed as exit 6 northbound |
| Santa Ana |
R6.99 |
7 |
MacArthur Boulevard, Main Street |
|
| R7.85 |
8 |
Dyer Road |
Signed as exits 8A (east) and 8B (west) southbound |
| R9.44 |
9 |
Edinger Avenue |
|
| Tustin |
R9.96 |
10A |
McFadden Avenue – Tustin |
Signed as exit 10 southbound |
| 10.45 |
10B |
|
Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
| 10.45 |
11A |
|
|
| 10.98 |
11B |
4th Street, Irvine Boulevard |
|
| 11.79 |
12 |
17th Street – Tustin, Santa Ana |
Signed as exits 12A (east) and 12B (west) southbound |
| 12.97 |
13 |
|
|
| 13.70 |
14 |
Chapman Avenue – Orange |
Signed as exits 14A (east) and 14B (west) northbound |
| Orange |
15.24 |
15 |
Katella Avenue (CR S18 south) |
|
| 16.98 |
17 |
Lincoln Avenue, Nohl Ranch Road |
|
| Anaheim |
R17.88 |
18 |
|
Northbound exit and southbound entrance; signed as exits 18A (west) and 18B (east) |
| R17.88 |
|
91 Express Lanes |
Northbound left exit and southbound left entrance |
Further Information
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