Santa Ana Canyon

Santa Ana Canyon (or the Santa Ana Narrows) is where the Santa Ana River passes between the Santa Ana Mountains and the Chino Hills at the border between Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties. It receives particularly strong Santa Ana winds, aptly named, in comparison to surrounding areas. The miles-long bike trail, as it is referred to by locals, runs through this canyon, paralleling SR 91 in certain areas, following the course of the Santa Ana River, and running alongside and Yorba Regional Park in Anaheim. It is the namesake of Santa Ana Canyon Road, a major thoroughfare that begins in the city of Orange near the northern terminus of SR 55 and ends at Gypsum Canyon Road, offering surface street relief to SR 91 between the exits Lakeview and Gypsum Canyon Road. Coincidentally though, La Palma Avenue also terminates at Gypsum Canyon Road as a through street (it actually ends at Camino de Bryant one block further, which leads into Brush Canyon and Bryant Ranch, the former being the easternmost residential development in Orange County, the latter being site of the Susanna Bixby Historical House and Museum, itself a dedication to the former ranch that sat atop the now tremendously expensive real estate). Therefore, during rush hour, those who attempt to bypass heavy traffic on SR 91 by using Santa Ana Canyon Road or La Palma Avenue all must re-enter SR 91 at Gypsum Canyon Road to travel any further Eastbound, which, in conjunction with the Eastbound traffic from the northern terminus of toll road SR 241, which is approximately the same place on SR 91, causes extreme congestion. The southern terminus of State Route 71 only a few miles further eastward contributes additional traffic, hence the widespread desire to widen the freeway (SR 91) or drill through the Santa Ana Mountains to bypass some of this bottlenecking. Notably, there is a truck weigh station just before the Weir Canyon/Yorba Linda Blvd. exit, which puts big rigs in a lane that quickly becomes the offramp for Weir Canyon/Yorba Linda Blvd. This means they must merge almost immediately at a low speed, causing slowing there, and, furthermore, the lane that they merge into to stay on the freeway actually ends just after the Weir Canyon/Yorba Linda Blvd. exit, as well. So, the 18-wheelers are actually merging over two lanes, worsening the traffic. Ironically, the previous exit (Imperial Hwy.) does NOT often CAUSE the traffic at that point along the SR 91 (although it can back up to there, which is several miles), even though is is perhaps identifiable as THE major side street in Southern California, except, possibly, Sepulveda. Especially, considering the construction at the intersection of Imperial Hwy. and Orangethorpe/Esperanza, which spills over into Imperial Hwy. and La Palma (only one block north of the 91), there is even during rush hour an often freely moving eastbound SR 91 through and past Imperial Hwy. In any case, the traffic into Corona and Riverside must go through SR 91 without going up to SR 60, and the resulting traffic typically comes to a standstill at or near the exit of Weir Canyon/Yorba Linda Blvd. for the aforementioned set of confluences.