California State Route 2

SR 2 is known as the Angeles Crest Scenic Byway from SR 2's east junction with I-210 in La Cañada-Flintridge to the Los Angeles-San Bernardino county line. The Big Pines Highway is routed along SR 2 from County Route N4 (the northwest continuation of the designation) in Big Pines to the Los Angeles-San Bernardino county line.^[3]

SR 2 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System^[4] and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System.^[5] However, only the portion of SR 2 from a point north of the I-210 interchange to the San Bernardino county line is actually designated as a scenic highway by Caltrans.^[6]

SR-1 to the southeast junction with US-101

Route 2 currently begins at the point where Santa Monica Boulevard crosses the city limits of Santa Monica at Centinela Avenue. From Centinela Avenue, Route 2 heads northeast on Santa Monica Blvd., where it heads northeast through the wealthy areas of West Los Angeles, Westwood, Century City, and Beverly Hills before entering the decidedly urban West Hollywood. Santa Monica Boulevard, being a major street, is for most of its length at least four lanes wide.^[7]

At the west end of its run, Santa Monica Boulevard starts off Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. From there until Sepulveda Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard is a densely urban commercial street. Most of the Westside car dealerships are located on Santa Monica Boulevard. After Sepulveda, Santa Monica Boulevard passes by Century City and its shopping center, and intersects with Wilshire in Beverly Hills. After intersecting with Wilshire in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica Boulevard continues northeast towards West Hollywood, spanning Beverly Boulevard and Melrose Avenue. At Holloway Drive, in the middle of West Hollywood, Santa Monica, now north of Melrose Avenue turns to run east. In West Hollywood, between Fairfax Avenue and Doheny Drive along Santa Monica Boulevard, bronze name plaques are embedded in the sidewalks as part of the West Hollywood Memorial Walk. One of the most famous spots for male prostitution and transgender prostitution is Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood area, the area along Santa Monica Boulevard east of La Brea Avenue. SR 2 continues east through Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard to the Hollywood Freeway.

Santa Monica Boulevard merges on its eastern end with Sunset Boulevard in the Sunset Junction neighborhood of Silver Lake. Metro Local line 4, Metro Rapid line 704 and Santa Monica Transit line 1 operate on Santa Monica Boulevard. The Metro Red Line serves an underground station on Santa Monica Boulevard at its intersection with Vermont Avenue.

The south roadway of Santa Monica Boulevard, often called Little Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills, runs parallel to the State-highway (north) roadway of Santa Monica Boulevard from the city's west limit to Rexford Drive. After Rexford Drive, Little Santa Monica turns east, becoming Burton Way. Burton Way merges into San Vicente Boulevard at its intersection with La Cienega Boulevard. It is noted that the south roadway of Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills is a city street while the north roadway of Santa Monica Boulevard is a California state highway, each roadway handling bi-directional traffic.

Route 2 then merges onto U.S. Route 101 (the Hollywood Freeway) and heads southeast leaving US 101 at the Alvarado Street exit.

Southeast junction with US-101 to I-210

From US 101, Route 2 heads northeast on Alvarado Street through the culturally vivid community of Echo Park. The route then turns north onto Glendale Boulevard, which is frequently congested, especially after games and events at Dodger Stadium. The route then branches northeast onto the Glendale Freeway, a peculiar north–south route with an east–west demarcation. The Glendale Freeway runs near the communities of Glassell Park and Eagle Rock. After its interchange with SR 134, the route follows a mountain ridge through a valley as it flanks the east side of Glendale. The freeway ends at Foothill Boulevard in La Cañada Flintridge; just before reaching Foothill Boulevard, SR 2 turns off the Glendale Freeway onto the eastbound Foothill Freeway (Interstate 210) for a short while until reaching the Angeles Crest Highway exit. The Glendale Freeway is originally proposed to continue though Echo Park all the way to U.S. Route 101,^[8] but since the plans are now scrapped, the freeway is relatively isolated from the rest of the freeway system. The freeway is also very wide at 5 lanes per direction. With the forementioned and the fact that the freeway is relatively short means that it is never congested, even at rush hour.

I-210 to Route 138

Main article: Angeles Crest Highway

The route turns north onto the Angeles Crest Highway, cutting through an obscure mountainous portion of Pasadena. This route winds generally east-northeast through the canyons of the San Gabriel Mountains for over 80 miles (130 km), before descending through Big Pines and Wrightwood to the edge of the Victor Valley approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Hesperia and ending at SR 138. Starting in La Cañada-Flintridge at an altitude of 1,300' (394m) the highway climbs to a high point of 7,903' (2,395m) at Dawson Saddle. The eastern portions of the Angeles Crest Highway are notoriously dangerous, with many switchbacks and blind curves, and are often closed during occasions of heavy winter snowfall. The highway is generally closed between Islip Saddle and Vincent Gap from mid-December to mid-May due to snow and rockfall.

History

Designation

In 1964, Route 2 was defined as a single route from Santa Monica to Wrightwood with no discontinuities. The segment of former US 66 on Santa Monica Boulevard west of the Hollywood Freeway and Lincoln Boulevard was added to Route 2 at this time, since US 66 was truncated to Pasadena. Route 2 became discontinuous at Routes 101 and 210 in 1965 and 1990, respectively.^[9]

Before the segment of the Glendale Freeway was built between Glendale Boulevard and just west of the Los Angeles River, Route 2 began at the Hollywood Freeway on Santa Monica Boulevard, continued east to Myra Avenue, then north on Myra Avenue, east on Fountain Avenue, northeast on Hyperion Avenue, southeast on Rowena Avenue, southeast on Glendale Boulevard, and northeast on Fletcher Drive to just west of the Los Angeles River. From west of the Los Angeles River, Route 2 continued on the Glendale Freeway to its temporary connection with Fletcher Drive at Avenue 38 and then followed the routing described in the previous paragraph to Route 138 northeast of Wrightwood.

Beverly Hills Freeway

Originally, it was to have been the Beverly Hills Freeway from Route 405 to Route 101 just east of Vermont Avenue, flowing onto the Glendale Freeway. In fact, the proposed freeway on Route 2 west of Route 101 was the original routing of the "Santa Monica Freeway" (a name which subsequently went to the distantly parallel Route 10). However, for a variety of political reasons, the department never reached agreement with Beverly Hills to build the segment through that city. At one time, the department considered building a cut-and-cover tunnel under Beverly Hills, but even this proved a non-starter, and the freeway plan west of Route 101 was quietly cancelled in 1975. Currently, the Glendale Freeway begins as a stub at Glendale Boulevard. A freeway-wide bridge was built over Glendale Boulevard in hopes that the freeway would be built further west. Today, the bridge serves as the westbound lanes of Route 2, connecting the southwestbound freeway lanes to southbound Glendale Boulevard. A more modest freeway/expressway extension to Route 101 has been discussed.^[10]

Planners originally intended for it to connect to the Hollywood Freeway near the Vermont Avenue interchange, but community opposition killed the project by the 1960s; as a result, during games at nearby Dodger Stadium, there is often significant congestion in the areas around the freeway's terminus. The Glendale Freeway offers stunning vistas of the eastern San Fernando Valley, the Verdugo Mountains, the Crescenta Valley, and the San Gabriel Mountains.^[11]

In the 1960s, the city of Beverly Hills had begun a transition from a quasi-exurban retreat for the entertainment industry to its current status as one of the world's premier shopping and culinary destinations. Building a freeway along Santa Monica Boulevard, the northwestern border of the city's emergent "Golden Triangle" shopping district, did not fit into city fathers' vision for Beverly Hills' development. Moreover, it was feared that a freeway would exacerbate the already evident divisions between the fabulously wealthy residents of the hilly areas north of Santa Monica Boulevard and the merely affluent ones to the south. A proposed cut-and-cover tunnel for the freeway failed to generate sufficient political support, and by the mid-1970s the project was essentially dead.

California State Senator (later Congressman) Anthony Beilenson was one of the leading opponents of the project.

Caltrans' decision not to build the freeway was both harmful and beneficial to the areas along its proposed route. The massive Century City high-rise commercial development just west of the Beverly Hills city limits was built with freeway access in mind. For many Century City workers who live in Los Angeles' eastern suburbs, the quickest way home takes them through the residential district of Cheviot Hills, which has caused consternation among its well-heeled residents. For Beverly Hills, the decision helped preserve much of its emergent downtown, but at the cost of creating gridlock on Wilshire Boulevard and I-10.

Further construction

The first segment of freeway was built in the 1950s and ran from just west of the Los Angeles River to Avenue 38 in the Atwater district of Los Angeles. This portion was at one time named the Allesandro Freeway, because it runs next to Allesandro Street. The last segment of freeway, from Route 134 to Route 210, was built between 1972 and 1975.^[12]

Starting in July, 1964, Route 2 began in Santa Monica at its junction with Routes 1 and 10. After heading a few blocks northwest on Lincoln Boulevard, the route turned northeast on Santa Monica Boulevard, just several blocks from the Pacific Ocean. The route continued on Santa Monica Boulevard to Centinela Avenue.^[13]

For its entire length, until the tracks were removed, Santa Monica Boulevard followed the tracks of the Pacific Electric Railway. In the portion from Holloway Drive in West Hollywood to Sepulveda Boulevard in West Los Angeles, the tracks were in a separate right-of-way, with two roadways, one on each side of the tracks. For the rest of the route, the tracks ran in the traffic lanes.^[14]

Except for a short portion at its eastern end, Santa Monica Boulevard was adopted as a state highway in 1933. From 1934 to 1936, it was signed as State Route 2. Then it became U.S. Route 66. When U.S. Route 66 was truncated to Pasadena in 1964, Santa Monica Boulevard once again became State Route 2 as far east as the Hollywood Freeway. Today, the State Route 2 portion of Santa Monica Boulevard is defined from the Santa Monica/Los Angeles city limits to US 101.^[1]

From 1936 to 1964, U.S. Route 66 ran along Lincoln Boulevard from its junction with Alternate U. S. 101 (now California Route 1) and California Route 26 (now replaced by Interstate 10) to Santa Monica Boulevard and along Santa Monica Boulevard from Lincoln Boulevard to the Hollywood Freeway. US 66 turned southeast on the Hollywood Freeway with US 101. At that time, Route 2 began on Alvarado Street at the Hollywood Freeway. As is today, Route 2 traversed Alvarado Street and Glendale Boulevard to the Glendale Freeway. Route 2 continued on the Glendale Freeway to a temporary connection with Fletcher Drive at Avenue 38 in the Atwater district of Los Angeles. From the temporary connection, the route ran northeast on Fletcher Drive, and north on Verdugo Road to its south intersection with Cañada Boulevard in Glendale. From the south intersection, Route 2 headed north on Cañada Boulevard to its north intersection with Verdugo Road, north on Verdugo Road, and east on Verdugo Boulevard, before reaching Foothill Boulevard in La Cañada-Flintridge. Route 2 continued approximately one mile southeast on Foothill Boulevard with California Route 118 to Angeles Crest Highway. From Foothill Boulevard, Route 2 continued north on Angeles Crest Highway, where it continues to this day.^[1]

Today, the California Transportation Commission is relinquishing the street-running parts of Route 2 to local cities which it runs through. In 1996, state law was changed to permit the relinquishment of Route 2 in Santa Monica and West Hollywood. When the relinquishment in Santa Monica went through in 1998, the portion from Route 1 to Centinela Avenue was deleted. The law was changed again in 2001 to allow Route 2 from Route 405 to Moreno Drive to be relinquished to the City of Los Angeles. In 2003 California Senate Bill 315 was chaptered, acknowledging the relinquishments within Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and from Route 405 to Moreno Drive in Los Angeles, and permitting the relinquishment of Route 2 in Beverly Hills. Whether Route 2 west of Route 101 will stay as a paper route after relinquishment is yet to be determined.^[15]

Since the 1950s, proposals have been made to extend the Glendale Freeway to the Antelope Valley Freeway via a tunnel under the San Gabriels, relieving some of the latter freeway's notorious congestion. The difficulty of designing and building such a route (designated SR 249) and the cost of insuring it against earthquakes and terrorism would undoubtedly make perpetually cash-strapped Caltrans unable to undertake such an ambitious project.^[16]

The section of freeway between the Ventura Freeway (134) and the Foothill Freeway (210) was largely completed in 1975, but not fully finished until 1979. During this time, the closed freeway was used as a location for several films, including Coffy, Corvette Summer, The Gumball Rally, Death Race 2000, Hardcore, and several American television series including "Adam-12", "Emergency!" and "CHiPs". The transition overpass from the eastbound Ventura Freeway to the northbound Glendale Freeway was prominently featured in the notorious disaster film Earthquake when a livestock truck and two cars crash over the side of the overpass (a shot completed in miniature special effects). Because the freeway lacks traffic and is not very busy (having numerous alternatives), the section between the Ventura Freeway (134) and the Foothill Freeway (210) is still utilized as a filming location.

Major intersections

Note: Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured in 1964, based on the alignment as it existed at that time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.

County	Location	Postmile ^[2]^[17]^[18]	Exit ^[19]^[20]	Destinations	Notes
Los Angeles LA L0.00-82.27	Santa Monica	L0.00		SR 1 south (Lincoln Boulevard) – LAX Airport	Continuation beyond I-10
		L0.00		I-10 east (Santa Monica Freeway) / SR 1 north (Pacific Coast Highway) – Los Angeles, Oxnard	Interchange
		2.31		Centinela Avenue	West end of state maintenance
	Los Angeles	2.31		Centinela Avenue	West end of state maintenance
		3.65		I-405 (San Diego Freeway)	Interchange; former SR 7
		3.68	East end of state maintenance
		3.80		Sepulveda Boulevard
		5.91	West end of state maintenance
	Beverly Hills	5.91	West end of state maintenance
		6.20		Wilshire Boulevard
		7.74	East end of state maintenance
	West Hollywood	7.74	East end of state maintenance
		8.69		La Cienega Boulevard
		9.57		Fairfax Avenue
		10.62	West end of state maintenance
	Los Angeles	10.62	West end of state maintenance
		10.90		SR 170 (Highland Avenue)
		12.74 5.55^{[N 1]}		US 101 north (Hollywood Freeway) / Santa Monica Boulevard – Sacramento	Interchange; west end of US 101 overlap; Santa Monica Boulevard was former US 66 east
		West end of freeway on US 101
		4.85^{[N 1]}	6B	Melrose Avenue, Normandie Avenue
		4.40^{[N 1]}	6A	Vermont Avenue
		3.76^{[N 1]}	5B	Silver Lake Boulevard
		3.34^{[N 1]}	5A	Rampart Boulevard, Benton Way
		East end of freeway on US 101
		2.86^{[N 1]} 12.75		US 101 south (Hollywood Freeway) / Alvarado Street – Los Angeles	Interchange; east end of US 101 overlap
		13.19		Sunset Boulevard	Former US 66
		13.59		Glendale Boulevard south
		West end of freeway
		14.21	12	Glendale Boulevard north	No eastbound entrance; no exit number eastbound
		14.95	13A	Riverside Drive	Signed as exit 13 eastbound
		15.14	13A	I-5 (Golden State Freeway) – Santa Ana, Los Angeles, Sacramento	Signed as exit 13 eastbound
		15.52	13B	Fletcher Drive	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		16.01	14	San Fernando Road
		R17.00	15A	Verdugo Road	Signed as exit 15 eastbound
		R17.29	15B	York Boulevard	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		R18.52	16	Colorado Boulevard, Broadway	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		R18.81	17B	SR 134 (Ventura Freeway) – Pasadena, Ventura	Signed as exits 17A (east) and 17B (west) eastbound
	Glendale	R19.05	17C	Holly Drive	Signed as exit 17A westbound
		R20.05	18	Mountain Street
		R23.00	21A	Verdugo Boulevard – Montrose	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		R23.16 R18.87^{[N 2]}	21B	I-210 west (Foothill Freeway) – San Fernando, Sacramento	West end of I-210 overlap; no exit number westbound
		R23.44	21C	Foothill Boulevard	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
	La Cañada Flintridge	East end of freeway on I-210
	La Cañada Flintridge	R19.88^{[N 2]} 24.41		I-210 east (Foothill Freeway) / Angeles Crest Highway – Pasadena	Interchange; east end of I-210 overlap
		33.80		CR N3 (Angeles Forest Highway) – Palmdale
	Islip Saddle	64.09		SR 39 south	Closed
	Big Pines	79.88		CR N4 (Big Pines Highway) to SR 138 / Table Mountain Road – Jackson Lake, Palmdale
San Bernardino SBD 0.00-6.36	Mountain Top Junction	6.36		SR 138 – San Bernardino, Palmdale
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus • Closed/Former • Incomplete access • Unopened

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Indicates that the postmile represents the distance along US 101 rather than SR 2.
^ ^a ^b Indicates that the postmile represents the distance along I-210 rather than SR 2.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "California Highways: State Route 2". Cahighways.org. http://www.cahighways.org/001-008.html#002. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
^ ^a ^b California Department of Transportation, State Truck Route List (XLS file), accessed December 2007
^ (PDF) 2007 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California. Caltrans. p. 116. http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tsip/hseb/products/Named_Freeways.pdf. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
^ "CA Codes (shc:250-257)". Leginfo.ca.gov. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=shc&group=00001-01000&file=250-257. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
^ "CA Codes (shc:260-284)". Leginfo.ca.gov. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=shc&group=00001-01000&file=260-284. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
^ California Department of Transportation, Officially Designated Scenic Highways, accessed 2009-09-14
^ "Santa Monica Blvd. Tranition map". Lacity.org. 2005-04-12. http://www.lacity.org/bpw/santamonica/. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
^ "Los Angeles-Orange County Maps 1963". http://www.cahighways.org/maps/1963routes.jpg. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
^ "Los Angeles-Orange County Maps 1963". http://www.cahighways.org/maps/1963routes.jpg. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
^ LAtimes Blog-Beverly Hills Frwy
^ "SVC Los Angeles-Orange County Highways". Scvresources.com. http://www.scvresources.com/highways/la_tidbits.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
^ "2007 Named Freeways, Highways, and Other Appurtenances In California" (PDF). Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency. May 2008. http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tsip/hseb/products/Named_Freeways.pdf. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
^ "Marina Del Ray, California". 2007-05-10. http://www.argonautnewspaper.com/articles/2007/05/10/news_-_features/marina_del_rey/mdr2.txt. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
^ "Motorways Plan Revealed: System of Roads Designed to Cure Traffic Ills". Los Angeles Times. 1938-06-15. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2008/06/june-15-1938.html. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
^ "California @ AARoads.com – State Route 2". AARoads.com. http://www.aaroads.com/california/ca-002.html. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
^ "PDF-2003 Los Angele-Orange County Plan" (PDF). http://www.cahighways.org/maps/2003scstatus.pdf. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
^ California Department of Transportation, Log of Bridges on State Highways, July 2007
^ California Department of Transportation, All Traffic Volumes on CSHS, 1997, 2005, and 2006
^ California Department of Transportation, California Numbered Exit Uniform System, State Route 2 Freeway Interchanges, Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
^ California Department of Transportation, California Numbered Exit Uniform System, U.S. Route 101 Freeway Interchanges, Retrieved on 2009-04-17.

External links

Freeways in Greater Los Angeles

Radial	Hollywood (US 101/SR 170) Golden State (I-5) Antelope Valley (SR 14) Glendale (SR 2) Pasadena/Arroyo Seco Pkwy (SR 110) San Bernardino (I-10) Pomona (SR 60) Santa Ana (I-5/US 101) Laguna (SR 133) Corona del Mar (SR 73) Long Beach (I-710) Seaside (SR 47) Terminal Island (SR 103) Harbor (I-110/SR 110) Marina (SR 90) Santa Monica (I-10)

Circumferential	Ventura (US 101/SR 134) Foothill (I-210) San Gabriel River (I-605) Orange (SR 57) Costa Mesa (SR 55) Artesia (SR 91) Garden Grove (SR 22) Century (I-105) Gardena (SR 91) San Diego (I-405) Moorpark (SR 23) Ojai (SR 33) Ronald Reagan (SR 118) Santa Paula (SR 126)

Inland Empire	Chino Valley (SR 71) Foothill (SR 210) Moreno Valley (SR 60) Riverside (SR 91) San Bernardino (I-10/I-215) I-10 I-15 I-215 SR 259 SR 330

Toll	Eastern (SR 133/SR 241/SR 261) Foothill (SR 241) San Joaquin Hills (SR 73) 91 Express