Marina Freeway

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Marina Freeway

Signed as

Major cities/towns:	Culver City Marina Del Rey
Direction:	East-West

Southern California freeways

The Marina Freeway is a short freeway in southwestern Los Angeles, California and the nearby suburbs. It is the westernmost part of California State Highway 90, and links Marina Del Rey to the rest of Greater Los Angeles. The freeway runs from Slauson Avenue in southern Culver City to Culver Boulevard in Marina Del Rey, although it begins as an expressway further west at Lincoln Boulevard.

1 History
2 Control Cities
3 Legal definition
4 Communities served
5 Major intersections
6 References

[edit] History

Originally planned as the Slauson Freeway, Route 90 Freeway was slated to extend across southern Los Angeles County and northern Orange County, ending at the Riverside Freeway in eastern Anaheim. However, by the 1960s, community opposition had reduced it to what is effectively a minor spur of the San Diego Freeway (derisively dubbed the "Slauson Cutoff" by comedian Johnny Carson). It was renamed the Richard M. Nixon Freeway for a brief period in the early 1970s, but after Nixon's resignation in the wake of the Watergate scandal, its name was changed to the current appellation.

From the I-405 Freeway west to Centinela Avenue, the freeway is 8 lanes wide, before it quickly narrows to 4 lanes, ends at Culver, and continues as an expressway. There has been talk of extending the Marina Expressway slightly west of Lincoln Boulevard (Route 1) to Admiralty Way (approximately 1/4 mile) to accommodate ongoing expansion of the Marina Del Rey area. Strong opposition to this makes actualization of this plan uncertain.

In 2005, construction on the western end of the Marina Freeway began, to extend the freeway terminus from Culver Boulevard to approximately 1/2 mile west of Culver Boulevard by building a full interchange at Culver. The freeway extension will be complete in early 2007. The freeway extension also allows Route 90 drivers to avoid a traffic signal at Alla Road (just west of Culver Blvd.). After the end of the freeway, a pair of frontage roads operating as an expressway continues as Route 90 up to Route 1 (Lincoln Blvd.). Signalized intersections occur at Mindanao Way and Lincoln Blvd., which is the end of the expressway in Marina del Rey. The reason for the extension is to relieve traffic congestion on surface streets.