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California State Route 133

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California State Route 133 is a 13.635 mile State Highway contained within Orange County.  California State Route 133 begins at California State Route 1 in Laguna Beach and follows Laguna Canyon Road north to Interstate 405.  From Interstate 405 north to Interstate 5 the alignment of California State Route 133 becomes a limited access facility known as the Laguna Freeway.  North of Interstate 5 the alignment of California State Route 133 is carried by the Eastern Toll Road to California State Route 241.  Featured as the blog cover is Laguna Canyon Road (then Legislative Route Number 185, now California State Route 133) as it was depicted in the September/October 1952 California Highways & Public Works. 


Part 1; the history of California State Route 133

What became California State Route 133 ("CA 133") entered the State Highway System in 1933 as Legislative Route Number 185 ("LRN 185").  LRN 185 was defined as part of 1933 Legislative Chapter 767 as:

"LRN 60 near Laguna Beach to LRN 2 (US Route 101) near Irvine"

LRN 185 is announced as a new nine mile State Highway in the April 1933 California Highways & Public Works.  

LRN 185 appears for the first time on the 1934 Division of Highways Map following Laguna Canyon Road.  




In the August 1934 California Highways and Public Works Guide the Sign State Routes were announced.  LRN 185 was not assigned one of the initial Sign State Routes.  

The entirety of LRN 185 on Laguna Canyon Road can be seen on the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Orange County.  


The widening of LRN 185 and Laguna Canyon Road is featured in the September/October 1952 California Highways & Public Works.  The widening of Laguna Canyon Road to expressway standards (what was termed then as a freeway) is described as being 95% complete and having had minimal impact on the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts.  Several aspects of the Laguna Beach Festival of the Arts are also featured in the article.  









The January/February 1957 California Highways & Public Works announced a construction of the Santa Ana Freeway (US Route 101) between LRN 185/Laguna Canyon Road and Browning Avenue had been awarded during 1956.  


The May/June 1957 California Highways & Public Works announced construction of US Route 101/Santa Ana Freeway between LRN 185/Laguna Canyon Road and El Toro Road was anticipated to be completed by 1958.  

The March/April 1958 California Highways & Public Works announced the California Highway Commission assigned the name of "Laguna Freeway" to the planned freeway corridor of LRN 185.  The article stub notes the Laguna Freeway corridor would extend from Irvine south to the outskirts of Laguna Beach.  The routing of the Laguna Freeway had been adopted by the California Highway Commision during November 1954. 

The July/August 1958 California Highways & Public Works announced the completion of the El Toro Road-Laguna Canyon Road segment of US Route 101/Santa Ana Freeway.  The relocation of US Route 101 onto the Santa Ana Freeway in Irvine included relocating the northern two miles of LRN 185 off of Laguna Canyon Road.  The northern two miles of LRN 185 are described as being expressway standards which could be expanded easily to a divided four lane freeway.


The March/April 1961 California Highways & Public Works describes the Laguna Freeway as being in the process of preliminary design phases.  LRN 185 is described as being shortened to 8.4 miles due to the new connecting interchange with the Santa Ana Freeway.  

LRN 185 was reassigned as CA 133 during the 1964 State Highway Renumbering.  CA 133 had an initial route definition of "Route 1 near Laguna Beach to Route 5 near Irvine" which appears on the 1964 Division of Highways Map.  


The November/December 1965 California Highways & Public Works cites construction of Interstate 405 extending to CA 133 was budgeted during 1965.  

The November/December 1966 California Highways & Public Works notes the expansion of CA 133 to four lanes from Interstate 5 south tying into the planned Interstate 405 interchange and Laguna Canyon Road was budgeted for the 1967-68 Fiscal Year.

The completed CA 133/Interstate 405 interchange and four lane alignment of CA 133 between Interstate 5 south to Interstate 405 appears on the 1969 Division of Highways Map.  CA 133 between Interstate 5 south to Interstate 405 was upgraded to freeway standards (the Laguna Freeway) by 1970 according to cahighways.org.  

1988 Legislative Chapter 1364 defined the second CA 231 as a new State Highway with a definition of "Route 5 near the border of the Cities of Tustin and Irvine to Route 91."  Planned CA 231 appears on the 1990 Caltrans Map with no direct implied connection to CA 133.  

1991 Legislative Chapter 775 rerouted planned CA 231 to align with the existing northern terminus of CA 133.  Much of what was the planned southern segment of CA 231 was transferred to CA 261.  The map below sourced by cahighways.org from the 2003 Caltrans Map depicts the difference in the planned alignment of CA 231 under the new 1991 definition.   

1996 Legislative Chapter 1154 transferred planned CA 231 from Interstate 5 to CA 241 as a northward extension of CA 133.  The remainder of planned CA 231 to CA 91 was transferred to CA 241.  CA 133 north from Interstate 5 to CA 241 was completed by October 1998 as part of the Eastern Transportation Corridor.  Tolling on CA 133 north of Interstate 5 to CA 241 is managed by the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency ("F/ETCA") of Orange County.  CA 133 was expanded to four-lane expressway capacity north of CA 73 on Laguna Canyon Road by 2006.  


Part 2; Roadwaywiz on California State Route 133

During October 2020 Dan Murphy of the Roadwaywiz Youtube Channel and Gribblenation featured real-time drives on the Laguna Freeway and Eastern Toll Road corridor of CA 133.  Below CA 133 can be observed from Interstate 405 northbound to CA 241.

Below CA 133 can be observed from CA 241 southbound via the Eastern Toll Road and Laguna Freeway to Interstate 405.  

During May 2020 CA 133 was featured as part of the Roadwaywiz Los Angeles Webinar.  CA 133 along with the other Orange County Toll Roads are discussed by panelists Dan Murphy, Scott Onson and Steve Alps at 50:54-1:09:50.

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