State Route 91 (SR 91) is a major east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves several regions of the Greater Los Angeles urban area. A freeway throughout its entire length, it officially runs from Vermont Avenue in Gardena, just west of the junction with the Harbor Freeway (Interstate 110, I-110), east to Riverside at the junction with the Pomona (SR 60 west of SR 91) and Moreno Valley (SR 60 and I-215 east of SR 91) freeways. SR 91 is also known colloquially as "the 91" to Southern California residents.
Though signs along Artesia Boulevard from Vermont Avenue west to Pacific Coast Highway (SR 1) in Hermosa Beach continue to mark it as part of SR 91, control of this segment of the highway was relinquished to local jurisdictions in 2003 and are thus no longer officially part of the state highway system.
SR 91 inherited its route number from the mostly decommissioned U.S. Route 91 (US 91), which passed through the Inland Empire in a northeasterly direction on its way to Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and points beyond. Those segments of US 91 are now parallel to, or have been replaced altogether by, I-15.
Route description Route 91 is defined in section 391, subdivision (a), of the California Streets and Highways Code, and that the highway is "Vermont Avenue at the eastern city limits of Gardena to Route 215 in Riverside via Santa Ana Canyon". Control of the former western segment of Route 91 to Hermosa Beach was relinquished by the state to local jurisdictions, and subdivision (b) mandates that it is no longer eligible to be re-adopted as a state highway.
From the Harbor Freeway (I-110) to its interchange with the Long Beach Freeway (I-710) in northern Long Beach, SR 91 is named the Gardena Freeway. Between the Long Beach Freeway and its interchange with the Santa Ana Freeway (I-5) in Buena Park, it is named the Artesia Freeway. From the Santa Ana Freeway to its eastern terminus at the interchange of the Pomona, Moreno Valley, and Escondido Freeways, it is named the Riverside Freeway. In addition, southern Californians usually refer to the entire route as "the 91".
Control cities on the route vary by location. When traveling westbound between SR 60/I-215 and the Orange County line, the listed control city is "Beach Cities". With SR 241 heading towards Irvine, Laguna Beach, and the rest of south Orange County, the control city becomes Los Angeles between the Orange–Riverside county line and I-5. I-5 directs travelers to Los Angeles, so between I-5 and Pioneer Boulevard, the control city is Artesia. Between Pioneer Boulevard and SR 1, the control city becomes Beach Cities again; besides Carmenita Road in Cerritos, the control city is in Long Beach. Heading eastbound, the control city for the entire route is Riverside. The Beach Cities control city may have to do with SR 91's former western terminus in Hermosa Beach.
SR 91 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration. SR 91 is part of the State Scenic Highway System from SR 55 to the east city limit of Anaheim, in the western part of the Santa Ana Canyon, and is eligible for the system through the canyon to Interstate 15.
Gardena Freeway The Gardena Freeway is a freeway in southern Los Angeles County. It is the westernmost freeway portion of State Route 91. It begins just west of the Harbor Freeway, at the intersection with Vermont Avenue in the eastern edge of the city of Gardena, proceeding eastward approximately until it intersects the Long Beach Freeway. Thereafter, SR 91 is known as the Artesia Freeway.
Until 1991, the Gardena Freeway was known as the Redondo Beach Freeway. The name change reflected the successful efforts of the cities of Torrance and Redondo Beach to block the extension of the freeway westward to its intended terminus at the cancelled Pacific Coast Freeway in Redondo Beach. In 1997, the California government dedicated the portion of SR 91 between Alameda Street and Central Avenue to former assemblyman Willard H. Murray Jr.
Artesia Freeway The Artesia Freeway is a freeway in southeastern Los Angeles County and northwestern Orange County. It runs east–west from its western terminus at the Long Beach Freeway in northern Long Beach to its eastern terminus at the Santa Ana Freeway in Buena Park. (SR 91 continues west of the Long Beach Freeway as the Gardena Freeway, and east of the Santa Ana Freeway as the Riverside Freeway.) The "Artesia Freeway" name originally was assigned to the entire length of SR 91 west of the Santa Ana Freeway in the early 1970s since it was, in a sense, the freeway realignment of SR 91 from the paralleling Artesia Boulevard.
During the 1984 Summer Olympics, a stretch of the highway was home to the cycling men's road team time trial event.
As the only freeway to link Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties, SR 91 is one of the most heavily congested routes in Southern California.
Riverside Freeway
Between the Santa Ana Freeway, Interstate 5 (I-5), in Buena Park and the 91 Freeway's eastern terminus at a junction with Interstate 215 and State Route 60 in Riverside, the 91 Freeway's assigned name is the Riverside Freeway. Past the I-215/SR 60/SR 91 junction, the Riverside Freeway continues as I-215.
The freeway through the Santa Ana Canyon is paralleled by the 91/Perris Valley Line of Metrolink. Named after SR 91, the line also connects Los Angeles to Orange and Riverside counties.
A weigh station for both directions is located between the Imperial Highway and Yorba Linda Boulevard/Weir Canyon Road exits.
In 2003, Caltrans permanently closed off the Coal Canyon Road westbound and eastbound exits and entrances for environmental purposes; however, there are still traces of unmaintained road where the former exit lay, showing evidence that the ramps still exist, available to use as runaway ramps or for emergency stops.
In 2015, Caltrans permanently closed off the Grand Boulevard eastbound exit and westbound entrance to accommodate the widening of the freeway. If the ramps had stayed open, more businesses and houses would have been demolished. The ramps were scrapped with the widening and there is no emergency exit.
The Riverside Freeway first opened in 1963 signed as U.S. Route 91 and U.S. Route 395, and the last section was built in 1975.
91 Express Lanes The 91 Express Lanes are high-occupancy toll lanes (HOT lanes) contained entirely within the median of the Riverside Freeway in Orange and Riverside counties. The 91 Express Lanes run from the junction of SR 91 with the SR 55 Freeway (Costa Mesa Freeway) in Anaheim to its junction with I-15 in Corona. Before the extension in 2017, they ended at the Riverside County line. With the extension of the toll lanes, the HOV lane between I-15 and Green River Road was converted into a HOT lane. The primary purpose of the toll lanes is to provide a faster output for drivers due to the congestion the highway experiences during peak hours, and to promote carpooling. The toll lanes opened in 1995 and when they opened, it was the country's first fully-automated toll collection system to feature value pricing.
The 91 Express Lanes consist of two primary lanes in each direction, separated from the main lanes of the Riverside Freeway with white, , plastic lane markers (as opposed to concrete barriers or a similar solid barrier, or even just double white lines separating many other California HOT lanes). Entry and exit points for the 91 Express Lanes are only located at their west and east ends, and at the Orange–Riverside county line where the toll road originally terminated before 2017.
, the toll rates differ between the counties. In the Riverside County segment, drivers are tolled using a congestion pricing system based on the real-time levels of traffic. The Orange County segment instead uses a preset variable pricing system based on the time of day, with the highest toll rate set at $9.65 being charged at 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm eastbound on Fridays. Carpools with three or more people and motorcycles are charged 50 percent of the posted toll when traveling eastbound from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm on weekdays, and travel toll-free at all other times, if they use the designated carpool lane at the toll collection points. All tolls are collected using an open road tolling system, and therefore there are no toll booths to receive cash. Each vehicle is required to carry a FasTrak transponder. The 91 Express Lanes' system predates the introduction of the FasTrak Flex version, with a switch set to indicate the number of the vehicle's occupants, so that either the standard FasTrak tag without the switch may be used. However, carpools with three or more people and motorcycles must still apply for a "special Access account" to receive the carpool discounts. Drivers without any FasTrak tag will be assessed a toll violation regardless of whether they qualify for the carpool discounts.
History Original US 91: Barstow to Nevada
The Arrowhead Trail, an auto trail connecting Salt Lake City with Los Angeles, initially took a longer route via present US 95 and former US 66 between Las Vegas and Needles, as the more direct Old Spanish Trail was in very poor condition. The "Silver Lake cutoff", which would save about , p. 11 was proposed by 1920, and completed in 1925 as an oiled road by San Bernardino County. The Bureau of Public Roads and the state of Nevada both urged its inclusion in the state highway system, the former as part of the federal aid highway connecting Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, and the state legislature did that in 1925, with it becoming an extension of Route 31. (Across the state line, State Route 6 continued through Las Vegas to Arizona.) The initial plan for the U.S. Highway system simply stated that Route No. 91 would run from Las Vegas "to an intersection with Route No. 60" (which became US 66 in 1926), but in 1926 the cutoff was chosen, ending at US 66 at Daggett, just east of Barstow. (The roadway south from Las Vegas later became part of US 95.) The route was added to the federal-aid secondary system in 1926, which helped pay for a mid-1930s widening and paving, including some realignments (parts of the old road are now known as Arrowhead Trail). The new routing generally followed the present I-15, except through Baker (where it used Baker Boulevard) and into Barstow (where it followed former SR 58 to First Avenue, ending at Main Street, which carried US 66).
SR 18: former extension of US 91 through Santa Ana Canyon to Long Beach