California State Route 56 is an approximately 9.84-mile State Highway located in the city of San Diego. California State Route 56 begins at Interstate 5 in the San Diego neighborhood of Carmel Valley and ends Interstate 15 in the neighborhood of Rancho Peñasquitos. The constructed portion of California State Route 56 has been complete since 2004 and is known as the Ted Williams Freeway. California State Route 56 has an unconstructed segment east of Interstate 15 to California State Route 67.
Part 1; the history of California State Route 56
What was to become California State Route 56 was added to the State Highway System by 1959 Legislative Chapter 1062 as Legislative Route Number 278 (LRN 278). LRN 278 as originally adopted was part of the Freeways & Expressways System. The original definition of LRN 278 was as follows:
"LRN 2 (US Route 101/Interstate 5) north of La Jolla to LRN 198 (California State Route 67)"
As part of the 1964 State Highway Renumbering the Legislative Route Numbers were dropped and reassigned with Sign Route numbers. LRN 278 was subsequently reassigned as California State Route 56. The planned California State Route 56 appears for the first time on the 1964 Division of Highways Map.
The May/June 1965 California Highways & Public Works announced the alignment adoption of the entire planned 17 miles of California State Route 56 between Interstate 5 and California State Route 67. The entire alignment of California State Route 56 was adopted by the California Highway Commision during their March/April Meetings.
The construction of California State Route 56 was contested by environmental challenges through much of the 1980s and early 1990s. The first segment of California State Route 56 to break ground was from Black Mountain Road to Interstate 15 on July 25, 1991 (Wikipedia citation #26 San Diego Evening Tribune). The Black Mountain Road-Interstate 15 segment of California State Route 56 would open during early 1993 (Wikipedia citations #27 and #28). The entirety of California State Route 56 would be named the Ted Williams Freeway by 1993 Assembly Concurrent Resolution Number 21, Chapter 74.
Following additional environmental challenges construction of California State Route 56 west of Black Mountain Road to Interstate 5 near Del Mar would break ground October 21, 1999 (Wikipedia citation #46 The San Diego Tribune). California State Route 56 would be built as a cooperative project between San Diego and Caltrans. San Diego constructed the portion of California State Route 56 west of Black Mountain Road to Carmel Mountain Road. Caltrans would construct the portion of California State Route 56 from Carmel Mountain Road towards Carmel Creek Road and Interstate 5. The gap in California State Route 56 between Interstate 5 and Interstate 15 was completed on July 19, 2004 (Wikipedia citation #66 San Diego Union-Tribune).
California State Route 56 can be seen completed from Interstate 5 east to Interstate 15 on the 2005 Caltrans Map.
Presently there is no plans to construct California State Route 56 east from Interstate 15 to California State Route 67. Caltrans identified no traversable routing for California State Route 56 east of Interstate 15 on a 2013 report. San Diego County Route S4 following Poway Road between Interstate 15 and California State Route 67 acts the functional connector route in the planned eastern corridor of California State Route 56.
Part 2; Roadwaywiz on California State Route 56
During 2021 Dan Murphy of Roadwaywiz featured a real-time drive along California State Route 56 eastbound from Interstate 5 to Interstate 15.
Not sure if you noticed, but one of those CA Highways images you posted shows what may have been adopted as the Highway 65 freeway alignment through Woodlake.
Yeah I’ll have to return to that nugget at some point. That’s one of the few references I’ve seen to any formal alignment adoption in the gap portion of CA 65.
The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926. Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California. The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant. However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes. The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield. In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range. ...
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