Orange County

Featured Image – 12/4/2021

From the Archives – 1959

Looking southerly at US 101 (Now I-5) at Avery Parkway in 1959. Courtesy – Caltrans.

A lot has changed in southern Orange County since 1959. Gone are most of the orange groves and wide-open spaces. Today, this view is very different but a surprising amount of what is seen does remain. This photo, taken in 1959, shows the US 101 freeway and the original alignment to the right, known as Camino Capistrano. In the intervening years, the roadway has been widened at least four times. Instead of a four-lane freeway, it is now eight lanes plus two HOV lanes. Even today, the roadway is being widened yet again, this time to add an additional HOV lane in each direction. The State 73 freeway interchange is also missing from this view. It would be added in 1996.

Some of the concrete visible in this photo on both the freeway and old alignment still remain to this day. It is truly amazing to see what things looked like before they became one giant suburban mess.

Featured Image – 2/11/2020

1970’s proposal for the State 1 and State 55 Interchange (Pacific Coast Freeway and Newport Freeway). Courtesy – Caltrans

Back in the 1970’s, California was “all about the freeway” it seemed. Build them so that people could go anywhere using one. Anywhere, at times, meant an offshore causeway (Pacific Coast Freeway) or over high mountain ranges where even a two-lane roadway has problems (Angeles Crest Expressway), regardless of the costs or necessity. One of these plans, the Pacific Coast Freeway, never really came to fruition. Portions were indeed built, such as the interchange with I-5 near Dana Point and through the Oxnard Plain. The section that was proposed to go through Newport Beach would be the end of the plan. Local opposition was quite heavy, which cascaded to every city along the path also saying no to the project. The image above is an artists rendering of what would have been the State 1 and State 55 interchange near the present intersection of Newport Blvd (State 55) and Hospital Road.

Highway Resources Page

I’ve recently added a new section to the socalregion website. I noticed the site was lacking in resources for local roadways. In particular, information on how to contact various local agencies for road projects, logs, and maintenance. With this in mind, I’ve added a new page to help others get their roads fixed and find …

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Earthquakes and Movies

Lately, there has been quite a bit of press about the recent “San Andreas” movie. To me, this movie sets back the general public’s knowledge and understanding about how earthquakes create damage in Southern California. Some basic stereotypes exist in the movie, many of which are completely false. Starting with the magnitude of the earthquake …

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Image of the Week – 10/6/14

Arch Bridge over Gilbert St in the Fullerton area. Built around 1990.
Arch Bridge over Gilbert St in the Fullerton area. Built around 1990.

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