Skip to main content

California State Route 133

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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Former US Route 50 and the Pioneer Route Lincoln Highway on Johnson's Pass Road

Johnson's Pass Road is one of the oldest highway corridors in California.  Johnson's Pass was part of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road as it was completed during 1856 over the Sierra Nevada.  The pass would later be incorporated into the Pioneer Branch of the Lincoln Highway in 1913 and US Route 50 in 1926.  Johnson's Pass Road would be bypassed by a new alignment of US Route 50 over Echo Summit in 1938.  A replacement of the Meyers Grade east of Johnson's Pass would be opened to traffic in 1947.   Johnson's Pass Road remains accessible to traffic and is still signed by the Lincoln Highway Association.  Pictured as the blog cover is the view from the top of Johnson's Pass Road overlooking modern US Route 50 and Lake Tahoe.   Part 1; the history of Johnson's Pass Much of the history of what become the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road is discussed in the  September 1950 California Highways & Public Works  during its Centennial Edition.  The or...

Former US Route 50 and the South Lincoln Highway from Folsom east to Placerville

The corridor of Folsom of Sacramento County east to Placerville of El Dorado County has been a long established corridor of overland travel dating back to the California Gold Rush.  The Folsom-Placerville corridor was once part of the path of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road which became the first California State Highway and later the South Lincoln Highway.  In time the South Lincoln Highway's surface alignment was inherited by US Route 50.  The Folsom-Placerville corridor also includes the communities of; Clarksville, Shingle Springs and El Dorado. Part 1; the history of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road, South Lincoln Highway and US Route 50 through Folsom-Placerville Folsom is located on the American River/Lake Natoma of eastern Sacramento County.  That lands now occupied by the City of Folsom were part of Rancho Rio de los Americanos prior to the finding of gold at Sutter's Mill during 1848.  During the California Gold Rush the lands of Rancho Rio de los Americanos were p...

Old NC 10 - The Central Highway: Old Fort to Black Mountain through the Royal Gorge

A unique way of tracing the remnants of the Central Highway is through the mountainous terrain of Eastern Buncombe and Western McDowell Counties.  From the east on US 70, you reach the base of Blue Ridge Mountains at the town of Old Fort.  Old Fort is a tiny rail town that the old Central Highway and now US 70 goes through.  The Central Highway can be followed via a right onto Mill Creek Road from US 70.  Follow the highway as it takes you closer to the mountains.  When Mill Creek Road bears right to head towards Andrews Geyser stay straight until the road ends at a gate.  The nearby Piney Grove Church can be used for parking.  At this point, the old Central Highway began a 3.5 mile climb of the mountain to Swannanoa Gap.  NC 10 and later US 70 travelers followed this road for over 30 years until a new and modern four lane US 70 was built to the south.  This same four lane road would eventually become Interstate 40.    The Centra...