California State Route 118

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State Route 118

Map of southern California with SR 118 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Caltrans
Length47.605 mi[1] (76.613 km)
Major junctions
West end SR 126 in Ventura
Major intersections
East end I-210 near San Fernando
Location
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
CountiesVentura, Los Angeles
Highway system
← SR 116→ SR 119

State Route 118 (SR 118) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs west to east through Ventura and Los Angeles counties. It travels from State Route 126 at the eastern edge of Ventura immediately northwest of Saticoy, then through Saticoy, in Ventura County east to Interstate 210 near Lake View Terrace in Los Angeles. SR 118 crosses the Santa Susana Pass and the northern rim of the San Fernando Valley along its route.

Route description

SR 118 east of Simi Valley as seen by westbound traffic
Signage referencing the Ronald Reagan Freeway on SR 118 eastbound near Simi Valley.
SR 118 southbound just before the interchange with SR 23 in Moorpark

SR 118 has two distinguishable sections, which connect at the intersection with State Route 23. The western section of SR 118 goes through the more rural areas of Ventura County. SR 118 begins at an intersection with SR 126 in Ventura as Wells Road and heads southeast, crossing the Santa Clara River as Los Angeles Avenue and intersecting SR 232 in unincorporated Ventura County. The highway continues southeast before intersecting Santa Clara Avenue, where Los Angeles Avenue turns east and passes north of Camarillo. In the community of Somis, SR 118 intersects SR 34. The road continues into Moorpark, where it intersects SR 23 and runs concurrently with that road. After about 1.25 miles, SR 118 and SR 23 come to a freeway interchange, where SR 118 continues north, and SR 23 continues south.[2]

The eastern section is an urban freeway that starts in the cities of Moorpark and Simi Valley, and ends in Los Angeles. The SR 118 freeway initially travels north, but quickly turns east, passing near Moorpark College, before entering the Simi Valley city limits. SR 118 continues through Simi Valley before entering Corriganville Regional Park and crossing into Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles city limits.[2] The freeway has an HOV lane between here and Interstate 5. In Los Angeles, SR 118 passes through Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park before passing through Chatsworth and interchanging with SR 27. SR 118 subsequently goes through Porter Ranch and Granada Hills before intersecting with I-405 and I-5. Following this, SR 118 goes through Pacoima before terminating at an interchange with the Foothill Freeway.[3]

SR 118 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System,[4] and is part of the National Highway System,[5] a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration.[6] SR 118 is eligible to be included in the State Scenic Highway System,[7] but it is not officially designated as a scenic highway by the California Department of Transportation.[8] The freeway portion of Route 118 between Moorpark and Lake View Terrace was originally named the Simi Valley-San Fernando Valley Freeway before it was designated as the Ronald Reagan Freeway in 1994.[9] It was renamed in honor of Ronald Reagan, the 33rd Governor of California and the 40th President of the United States, due to the location of his presidential library in Simi Valley.[10]

History

An old SR 118 shield on the relinquished segment on Foothill Boulevard, east of I-210 in Sunland. Note that California presently uses green shields, while this one dates to the 1950s or 1960s. This sign has since been removed.

SR 118 used to extend past I-210 on Foothill Boulevard through Sunland-Tujunga, La Crescenta and La Cañada, then across the Arroyo Seco into Pasadena, where SR 118 ran on Lincoln Avenue and Fair Oaks Avenue, ending at Colorado Boulevard (US 66 Alternate). The original routing across the Arroyo Seco ran along La Cañada Verdugo Road (now Oak Grove Drive), which crossed the arroyo along the crest of Devil's Gate Dam. In 1957, the first segment of the Foothill Freeway was completed between Montana and Cañada Streets in Pasadena and Foothill Blvd and Michigan Avenue in La Cañada. SR 118 ran along this short freeway until 1974, when the current Foothill Freeway alignment over the Arroyo Seco was completed further to the south. SR 118 was then truncated to its current terminus with I-210 near San Fernando.

Before the freeway was built, the route went through Simi Valley on Los Angeles Avenue and Kuehner Drive, then crossed into the San Fernando Valley on Santa Susana Pass Road. The eastern segment used Devonshire Street through the San Fernando Valley, then cut through San Fernando along Brand and Maclay Streets before joining Foothill Boulevard in Sylmar. During the 1932 Summer Olympics, it hosted part of the road cycling event.[11] The SR 118 freeway began construction in 1968 and the last section of freeway opened in 1979. The segment of freeway between Balboa Boulevard and Tampa Avenue was one of the last freeway segments to be built in the Los Angeles area. As a result of the Northridge earthquake in January 1994, a section of the highway between I-405 and I-210 was closed for over one month while damage to an overpass was repaired. The Porter Ranch Drive interchange is relatively new; before it was constructed, that interchange connected to a closed Winnetka Avenue and a Park and Ride lot.

Route 118 from Route 23 to Route 210 was named the Simi Valley-San Fernando Valley Freeway by Assembly Concurrent Resolution 145, Chapter 185 in 1970.[10] In December 1994, the portion of Route 118 constructed to freeway standards was renamed the Ronald Reagan freeway.[10] The original proposal for this name was introduced by Willie Brown on August 30, 1994 and amended August 31, 1994, as State Assembly Concurrent Resolution 156, however this version of the bill died on the desk in November 1994.[12] The name was reintroduced by State Senators Lockyer, Maddy, and Wright as State Senate Resolution 7, amended and enrolled December 5, 1994.[13] Since it was neither a concurrent resolution nor a joint resolution, it was not filed with the Secretary of State. The rationale for choosing this name for State Route 118 is that the western end of the highway, at the time the bill was passed, is very close to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

There is an additional unconstructed segment of SR 118, defined in 1959 in the California Streets and Highways Code, extending from its current terminus with I-210 to a planned SR 249, located within the Angeles National Forest. This appears to have been roughly planned to run primarily along Big Tujunga Canyon between Foothill Boulevard and Los Angeles County Route N3, Angeles Forest Highway, which is the current traversable routing for unconstructed SR 249.[14]

Major intersections

Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers to an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see California postmile § Official postmile definitions).[1] Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.

CountyLocationPostmile
[1][15][16]		Exit
[17]		DestinationsNotes
Ventura
VEN 0.52-R32.60		Ventura0.52Wells RoadContinuation beyond SR 126
SR 126 (Santa Paula Freeway) – Ventura, Santa Paula, Santa ClaritaInterchange; western terminus; SR 126 exit 5
R1.02Telephone Road, Aster Street
​2.20
 SR 232 (Vineyard Avenue) to US 101 – Oxnard
​4.16Santa Clara AvenueConnects to Rice Avenue / SR 1
Somis10.92
 SR 34 west (Somis Road)
​17.49Grimes Canyon Road
MoorparkR17.49
 SR 23 north (Moorpark Avenue) – Fillmore		Western end of SR 23 concurrency; SR 23 north follows Moorpark Avenue north; SR 118 west follows Los Angeles Avenue west
T18.2118A
 SR 23 south (Moorpark Freeway)		Interchange; eastern end of SR 23 concurrency; SR 23 north/SR 118 west follows SR 23 exit 20A and SR 118 exit 18B; SR 118 east follows SR 23 north exit 20B
 Western end of Ronald Reagan Freeway
T18.44Arroyo Simi Overhead
T19.1319APrinceton Avenue
T19.9819BCollins Drive
Simi ValleyR23.0222Madera RoadSigned as exits 22A (south) and 22B (north) westbound
R23.8223First Street – Simi Valley
R24.8124Erringer Road
R25.8125Sycamore Drive
R27.3027Tapo Canyon Road
R28.8228Stearns Street
R29.5629Yosemite Avenue
R30.5230Kuehner Drive
R32.4332Rocky Peak Road
Ventura–Los Angeles
county line		Simi Valley–Los Angeles lineR32.60
R0.00		Santa Susana Pass
Los Angeles
LA R0.00-R14.08		Los AngelesR1.8034
 SR 27 south (Topanga Canyon Boulevard)
R2.6835De Soto Avenue
R3.8636Porter Ranch Drive
R4.6437Tampa Avenue
R5.8038Reseda Boulevard
R7.8040ABalboa BoulevardSigned as exit 40 eastbound
R8.3440BHayvenhurst AvenueWestbound exit and eastbound entrance
R9.0441Woodley AvenueEastbound exit and westbound entrance
R9.8142A I-405 (San Diego Freeway) – Santa Monica, SacramentoSigned as exit 42B westbound; no access from SR 118 west to I-405 north; former SR 7; I-405 north exit 71A, south exit 71
R10.0742BSepulveda BoulevardSigned as exit 42A westbound
R11.4544A I-5 (Golden State Freeway) – Los Angeles, SacramentoNo access from SR 118 east to I-5 north; I-5 north exit 156A, south exit 156B
R11.5744B

 Laurel Canyon Boulevard to I-5 north – Sacramento		Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
R12.3944CSan Fernando Road – San FernandoSigned as exit 44B westbound; former US 6 / US 99
R13.1845Glenoaks Boulevard
R14.0846 I-210 (Foothill Freeway) – Sacramento, PasadenaEastbound exit and westbound entrance; signed as exits 46A (west) and 46B (east); eastern terminus; I-210 east exit 6A, west exit 6B
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

  1. ^ a b c California Department of Transportation. "State Truck Route List". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (XLS file) on June 30, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Ventura County Street Atlas (Map). Thomas Brothers. 1998.
  3. ^ Los Angeles County Street Atlas (Map). Thomas Brothers. 2008.
  4. ^ "Article 2 of Chapter 2 of Division 1". California Streets and Highways Code. Sacramento: California Office of Legislative Counsel. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  5. ^ Federal Highway Administration (March 25, 2015). National Highway System: Los Angeles, CA (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
    Federal Highway Administration (March 25, 2015). National Highway System: Oxnard, CA (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  6. ^ Natzke, Stefan; Neathery, Mike & Adderly, Kevin (June 20, 2012). "What is the National Highway System?". National Highway System. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  7. ^ "Article 2.5 of Chapter 2 of Division 1". California Streets & Highways Code. Sacramento: California Office of Legislative Counsel. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  8. ^ California Department of Transportation (August 2019). "Officially Designated State Scenic Highways and Historic Parkways" (XLSX). Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  9. ^ Bevil, Alexander D. (April 2007). "Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park Cultural Resources Inventory Historic Overview" (PDF). State Park & Recreation Commission. p. 21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-27. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
  10. ^ a b c California Department of Transportation; California State Transportation Agency (January 2021). 2020 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California (PDF). Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. pp. 74, 330, 342. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 10, 2022.
  11. ^ 1932 Summer Olympics official report. Archived July 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine p. 87.
  12. ^ "Assembly Concurrent Resolution 156; Ronald Reagan Freeway". Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  13. ^ "Senate Resolution No. 7; Relative to the Ronald Reagan Freeway" (PDF). California Office of Legislative Counsel. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  14. ^ "California Streets and Highways Code § 418(b)". California Office of Legislative Counsel. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  15. ^ California Department of Transportation (July 2007). "Log of Bridges on State Highways". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation.
  16. ^ California Department of Transportation, All Traffic Volumes on CSHS Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, 2006
  17. ^ California Department of Transportation, California Numbered Exit Uniform System, SR-118, accessed January 2008

External links

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