Автомагистраль 133: История и современное состояние в Калифорнии

Highway in California

As it continues through the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, SR 133 follows a four lane alignment on the west side of the canyon, moved from the old two lane road in the center of the canyon in late 2006. Laguna Canyon Road splits to the northwest where the canyon ends in Irvine. North of the park, the highway becomes the Laguna Freeway after crossing an at grade intersection with Laguna Canyon Road, followed by an interchange at exit 8, I 405, the San Diego Freeway. SR 133 then continues as a freeway and serves Barranca Parkway and the I 5, the Santa Ana Freeway. After crossing I 5, SR 133 becomes part of the Eastern Transportation Corridor along the northwest side of Orange County Great Park (built on the site of the decommissioned Marine Corps Air Station El Toro), crossing an interchange with Irvine Boulevard at exit 12 before ending at SR 241. SR 133 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System north of SR 73, 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.

As part of its construction of concrete roads, started by a 1913 bond issue, Orange County paved the county road through Laguna Canyon, connecting State Highway Route 2 (the forerunner of US 101 and I 5) at Irvine with Laguna Beach, by 1917. The road was added to the state highway system in 1933 as Route 185, an unsigned designation. The entire route was added to the new California Freeway and Expressway System in 1959; the planned upgrade had already been named the Laguna Freeway by the California Highway Commission on November 26, 1957. The highway received a sign route number—State Route 133—in the 1964 renumbering. The opening of the first—and only—piece of the Laguna Freeway was celebrated in Laguna Beach on October 1, 1952, connecting the north end of Laguna Canyon with a planned extension of the Santa Ana Freeway at a trumpet interchange and bypassing the old route on Sand Canyon Avenue. There were initially no other interchanges along the route. The state decided not to build the remainder of the freeway in late 1975, and in 1996 the portion south of SR 73 was removed from the Freeway and Expressway System. Widening of the part north of SR 73 to a four lane expressway was completed in late 2006, moving the road out of the canyon bottom and allowing better access to areas in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. A new SR 231 was added to the state highway system in 1988, connecting I 5 northwest of Irvine with SR 91, and in 1991 the south end was shifted southeast to the north end of SR 133, with the old route becoming SR 261. To prevent the route from changing numbers as it crossed I 5, the southern portion was renumbered SR 133 in 1996, with the remainder becoming an extended SR 241.

The tolled portion of SR 133 (from I 5 in the south to SR 241 in the north) employs a barrier toll system, where drivers are charged flat rate tolls based on what particular toll booths they pass through. Since May 13, 2014, the road has been using an all electronic, open road tolling system. And on October 2, 2019, the license plate tolling program, under the brand name "ExpressAccount", was discontinued. Drivers may still pay using the FasTrak electronic toll collection system or via a one time payment online. Drivers must pay within 5 days after their trip on the toll road or they will be assessed a toll violation. Tolls are collected at the northbound exit and southbound entrance of Irvine Boulevard and at the Orange Grove Toll Plaza, which spans the on and off ramps to Northbound SR 241 (traffic to and from Southbound SR 241 instead, pay at the Tomato Springs Toll Plaza located on SR 241 immediately south of the SR 241 interchange). as of July 2022, the standard two axle car toll for both the northbound offramp and southbound onramp of Irvine Boulevard is a flat rate of $2.12. The Orange Grove Toll Plaza instead uses a congestion pricing scheme based on the time of day for FasTrak users, while non FasTrak drivers must pay the $3.50 maximum toll regardless of the day and time.