California State Route 22

Infobox road
state=CA
type=SR
route=22
alternate_name=7th Street, Garden Grove Freeway
section=322
maint=

---

length_mi=14.725
length_round=3
length_ref=
length_notes=SR 22's length is broken into pieces and therefore does not reflect the overlaps that would be required to make the route continuous.
direction_a=West
terminus_a=Jct|state=CA|SR|1 in Long Beach
junction=Jct|state=CA|I|405|I|605 in Seal Beach
Jct|state=CA|I|5|SR|57 in Santa Ana
direction_b=East
terminus_b=Jct|state=CA|SR|55 in Orange
previous_type=SR
previous_route=20
next_type=SR
next_route=23
commons=category

State Route 22 in the U.S. state of California is an east-west highway in southern Los Angeles County and northern Orange County. It runs between Long Beach and Orange by way of Garden Grove. The westernmost part of it is a surface street, Long Beach's 7th Street. From Long Beach to its eastern terminus in Orange, it is known as the Garden Grove Freeway. It is one of the two principal east-west routes in Orange County (the other being the Riverside Freeway approximately eight miles (13 km) to the north).

This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System [http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=shc&group=00001-01000&file=250-257 CA Codes (shc:250-257)] ] .

Route description

The 22 begins at the intersection of 7th Street and Pacific Coast Highway (State Route 1) in Long Beach. Then, 7th Street widens from an expressway into a freeway just before crossing the San Gabriel River (and with it, the Los Angeles/Orange County line). It then merges with the San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405) at the Interstate 605 interchange and runs concurrently with it for approximately three miles before the two routes diverge in northeastern Seal Beach. Thereafter, the Garden Grove Freeway travels mostly within the city of Garden Grove or along its border with neighboring Westminster. Just inside the Orange city limits, the freeway enters the infamously congested Orange Crush interchange with the Santa Ana and Orange Freeways (Interstate 5 and State Route 57, respectively). It continues along the border of Orange and Santa Ana for three miles (5 km) until terminating at the Costa Mesa Freeway (State Route 55).

Route 22 from Route 405 to Route 55 is known as the Garden Grove Freeway, as named by the State Highway Commission on October 22 1957. [cite book | url=http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tsip/hseb/products/Named_Freeways.pdf | title=2007 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California | publisher=Caltrans | pages=70 | accessdate=2007-03-27]

History

SR 22 was originally designated in 1934, when the state highway system was first numbered. Before the freeway was built, it was routed along Garden Grove Boulevard, which was known as Ocean Avenue at that time. [http://www.cahighways.org/017-024.html#022 California Highways] ]

Opened in the 1967, the Garden Grove Freeway had the distinction of being one of the few freeways in Southern California to never have been widened from its original alignment. This resulted in its suffering from severe rush hour congestion, particularly as Santa Ana's population surged to over 300,000 during the 1990s.

Future

In late 2004, in response to California's budgetary deficit, OCTA began a widening project to add one mixed-flow and one high occupancy vehicle lane to the route in each direction, as well as to update onramps and offramps to contemporary standards, all funded by Measure M, the half-cent tax of Orange County, CA. This first phase of the project, scheduled to conclude in late 2006, opened May 2007. A later phase to add HOV lane interchanges at the I-605 junction and at the split with I-405 is in the planning stages, but funding has not yet been procured to start this phase. [ [http://www.octa.net/sr22(11).aspx Orange County Transportation map-Garden Grove Frwy construction 2006] ]

Major intersections and exit list

:"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."

References

External links

* [http://www.westcoastroads.com/california/ca-022.html California @ WestCoastRoads.com - State Route 22]
* [http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/sr22 Caltrans: Route 22 highway conditions]