Author: Casey Cooper (casey@gbcnet.com)

Highway 56 at a Glance Location: San Diego and Poway, CA California Legislative Routing (State Highway Code sec. 356): 356. Route 56 is from Route 5 north of La Jolla to Route 67. Facts: The routing dates back to 1958. It forms part of the outer ring of San Diego's highway system. Was deleted form the Regional Transportation Plan in 1972, but added again. Typifies the old method of highway construction in California by having parts built without having the whole road confirmed and approved. Demonstrates the paradigm shift in highway construction by having a costly, but fairly successful environmental mitigation project.

Background

Highway 56 is a freeway located in the northern end of the City of San Diego. The whole route is planned to be the northern leg of outer loop of the San Diego freeway system. Plans call for it to connect I-5 with SR 67 east of Poway, via I-15 and act as a key link in North San Diego County between the inland and coastal cities. Currently, the highway extends, as a freeway from I-5 to I-15, with a four mile gap in the center. It is the completion of this gap that is a source of great controversy. The portion between I-15 and SR-67 is currently unsigned and portions remain to be constructed. It is named for the former Ted Williams, the famous baseball player who played for the San Diego Padres and Boston Red Sox. A little bit of trivia about Mr. Williams is that he was also the last to bat .400.

Highway 56 will ultimately have two different sections.The first section  is four lane freeway between I-5 and I-15. It starts at I-5 in Carmel Valley, near Del Mar, and ends at I-15 in the Rancho Peñasquitos area of San Diego. The freeway extends through the North City Future Urbanizing Area (NCFUA), a giant tract of land that remained comparatively undeveloped until recently. The second is a conventional highway and/or expressway east of I-15 and and  SR-67. The first portion has been mostly built already, though it remains unsigned through Poway. While information about this is unclear, it appears that Caltrans built the current Ted Williams Pkwy and subsequently relinquished it to the local agencies. The City of Poway has caused several projects to be scaled back, including SR-125. Consequently, the future of both SR-125 and even of 56 are uncertain, being anyone's guess what form, if any, they will take.

The interchange with I-5 consists of two massive bridges which will ultimately connect to the "dual freeway" along I-5. The dual freeway is actually a part of a separate project involving improvements for the I-5/I-805 interchange. It will be an autonomous freeway with three lanes on each side of I-5 that will service truck traffic as well as traffic from Highway 56 and Carmel Mountain Rd, a key arterial that will also connect which Rancho Peñasquitos. Caltrans placed signs on I-5 and I-805 marking the junction with Highway 56 in February, 1998. This phase of the I-5/I-805 improvement was completed with the opening of the new ramps to Highway 56.

Highway 56 Table of Contents

For simplicity, I have divided this page into several areas and I'm working on creating a list of related links. History of Highway 56 Current Highway 56 The Gap in the Freeway North City Future Urbanizing Area Photo Album (Coming Soon)

Related Pages

• Caltrans District 11 SR-56 Fact Sheets
  • SR-56 East
  • SR-56 Carmel Valley
• Caltrans Home Page
• San Diego Highways: The East-West Connectors by Andy Field.
• California Highways Home Page by Daniel Faigin
• California Highway Routes by David Stanek

[ Top of Page ]

Roads and Highways Page | Historic Highways | I-238 Page | Related Links | Casey's Page

http://www.gbcnet.com/roads/hwy_56