VENTURA FREEWAY

The 'Ventura Freeway' is a freeway in southern California running from Ventura to Pasadena. It is the principal east-west route through Ventura County and in the southern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. From Ventura to its intersection with the Hollywood Freeway in the southeastern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles (the Hollywood Split), it is signed as U.S. Route 101 which was built in the early 1960s. East of the Hollywood Freeway intersection, it is signed as State Route 134 which was built by 1971.
Prior to the construction of a new alignment in 1971, the portion east of the Hollywood Freeway was known as the 'Colorado Freeway' in reference to nearby Colorado Boulevard, a historic thoroughfare in Pasadena and northeastern Los Angeles.

Contents

The route

In popular culture

Legal definition

Control cities

Communities served

Major intersections

References

The route

The freeway begins southeast of La Conchita --which alternates between a freeway, an expressway, and an ordinary divided highway previous to this point--East of this point, U.S. 101 is known as the Ventura Freeway. It travels eastward through the citrus orchards and strawberry fields of the Oxnard Plain before ascending a short, steep pass into the Conejo Valley. Continuing eastward through the northern Santa Monica Mountains, it crosses the Ventura/Los Angeles county line before entering the San Fernando Valley. The freeway continues eastward along the valley's southern rim, crossing the 405 and 5 freeways and the Los Angeles River. After passing through the Glendale civic center south of the Verdugo Mountains, it continues along the southern slope of the San Rafael Hills between Glendale and Eagle Rock before entering Pasadena near the Arroyo Seco and terminating at the Foothill Freeway.
The Ventura Freeway suffers from severe congestion. Its intersection with the San Diego Freeway, in Sherman Oaks, is consistently rated as one of the five most congested interchanges in the nation. Where it meets the Hollywood Freeway at the Hollywood Split junction is also notably congested. During events at the Rose Bowl, the freeway's eastern portions often resemble a parking lot.
The east-west geographical alignment of the Ventura Freeway and the north-south designation of U.S. 101 on freeway signs can be confusing to visitors; the same freeway entrance can often be signed as "101 North" and "101 West"; this is most common in the San Fernando Valley.

In popular culture

''Ventura Highway'' is the title of a 1972 hit by America. The freeway "runnin' through the yard" in Tom Petty's 1989 hit, "Free Fallin'," is most likely the Ventura Freeway.

Legal definition

The Ventura Freeway is Routes 101 and 134 from Route 5 to Santa Barbara County Line.^[1] This does not include the portion of Route 134 between Route 5 and Route 210 even though local usage extends the name over this portion of freeway.

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 54, Chapter 85 in 2003 also designated Route 101 in Ventura County as the "Screaming Eagles Highway".^[2] This honors the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army, which formed on July 23 1918 and subsequently has been involved in every major war that the United States has participated in since then. [1]

Control cities

'Eastbound'

★ Los Angeles - easterly until the Hollywood Split

★ Burbank and Pasadena - between the Hollywood Split and I-210
'Westbound'

★ Ventura - from Pasadena to CA-126

★ San Francisco - from CA-126 to the Ventura/Santa Barbara county line
NOTE: Santa Barbara is also used as a control city in downtown Ventura

Communities served

Communities along the Ventura Freeway include:

★ Ventura

★ Oxnard

★ Camarillo

★ Thousand Oaks

★ Westlake Village

★ Agoura Hills

★ Calabasas

★ Woodland Hills

★ Tarzana

★ Encino

★ Sherman Oaks

★ Studio City

★ Toluca Lake

★ Burbank

★ Glendale

★ Pasadena

Major intersections

Freeways intersecting the Ventura Freeway include:

County	Location	Road(s)[3]
'Ventura Freeway' continues along US 101.
Ventura	Ventura	24x20px CA-33 Ojai Freeway
	Ventura	24x20px CA-126 Santa Paula Freeway
Ventura	Thousand Oaks	25x20px CA-118
Los Angeles	Moorpark	25x20px CA-23 Moorpark Freeway
Los Angeles	Woodland Hills	25x20px CA-27 Topanga Canyon Road
Los Angeles	Sherman Oaks	25x20px I-405 San Diego Freeway
Los Angeles	Hollywood	25x20px / 25x20px CA-170/CA-134 Hollywood Freeway/Hollywood Split
Los Angeles	Burbank	25x20px I-5 Golden State Freeway
Los Angeles	Glendale	25x20px CA-2 Glendale Freeway
Los Angeles	Pasadena	25x20px CA-710Del Mar Boulevard
Ventura Freeway continues along 25x20px I-210 Foothill Freeway

References

1. 2006 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California, , , , Caltrans, ,
2. Ib. at 76
3. January 1, 2006 California Log of Bridges on State Highways