It goes by many names on the California coast. PCH, Pacific Coast Highway and Coast Highway are the names or acronyms you will normally hear when talking about Pacific Coast Highway.

Also known as State Route 1, PCH begins in Southern California at Interstate 5 near Dana Point at Capistrano Beach. 

As the Pacific Coast Highway, it travels north into Dana Point, where, for one mile (1.6 km), northbound traffic continues along the original PCH alignment and southbound traffic is diverted onto parallel Del Prado. After the two roads merge into PCH, Highway 1 heads north along the coast through Laguna Beach and Crystal Cove State Park. 

  Highway 1 starts at Interstate 5 (I-5) in Orange County before traveling along the weste rn edge of Los Angeles County, passing through Santa Monica and Malibu. The highway continues north, at times running concurrently with U.S. Highway 101 (U.S. 101), and is a scenic alternative in several locations. Highway 1 runs through Ventura County, San Luis Obispo County, Monterey County, Santa Cruz County, and then enters the San Francisco Bay Area at San Mateo County and finally traverses the city of San Francisco itself.

 Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and continuing on through Marin County, the highway provides access to Point Reyes National Seashore and Bodega Bay in Sonoma County, before reaching its northern terminus at U.S. 101 in Leggett in Mendocino County. Highway 1 has several portions designated as either Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), the Cabrillo Highway,[2] the Shoreline Highway, or the Coast Highway and is part of Pacific Coastal Highway. In Southern California, the California Legislature has designated the segment between I-5 in Dana Point and U.S. 101 near Oxnard as Pacific Coast Highway (commonly referred to as "PCH"). Between U.S. 101 at the Las Cruces junction (8 miles south of Buellton) and U.S. 101 in Pismo Beach and between U.S. 101 in San Luis Obispo and U.S. 101 in San Francisco, the legislature has designated State Highway 1 as the Cabrillo Highway; and between Manzanita Junction near Marin City and US 101 in Leggett, the legislature has designated State Route 1 Shoreline Highway. The entire route is also designated as a Blue Star Memorial Highway to recognize those in the United States armed forces. The highway has been assigned several other names by the state and municipal governments.[3] This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System[4] and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System.[5] However, only a few stretches between San Francisco and Los Angeles have officially been designated as a scenic highway.[6] The Big Sur section is an official National Scenic Byway.[7] At its southernmost end, Highway 1 terminates in Orange County, at I-5 in Capistrano Beach, south of San Juan Capistrano. As the Pacific Coast Highway, it travels north into Dana Point, where, for one mile (1.6 km), northbound traffic continues along the original PCH alignment and southbound traffic is diverted onto parallel Del Prado. After the two roads merge into PCH, Highway 1 heads north along the coast through Laguna Beach and Crystal Cove State Park. Highway 1 then enters Newport Beach, where its name changes to simply Coast Highway. It passes through several affluent neighborhoods, including Newport Coast and Corona Del Mar, and spans the entrance to the Upper Newport Bay. Upon entering Huntington Beach, Highway 1 regains the Pacific Coast Highway designation. It passes Huntington State Beach and Bolsa Chica State Beach and passes through the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. It continues along the coast into Seal Beach, the final city in Orange County. PCH enters Los Angeles County and the city of Long Beach and continues northwesterly to meet Lakewood Boulevard State Highway 19 (and Los Coyotes Diagonal at the Long Beach Traffic Circle) more than two miles (3 km) from the coast. From the traffic circle, it continues inland west through Long Beach (where it intersects with Long Beach Boulevard and the Blue Line station), including approximately one mile adjacent to the southern boundary of Signal Hill. Although bypassing the immediate coastline of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, State Highway 1 retains the PCH name as it continues west through the Los Angeles districts of Wilmington and Harbor City (where it intersects the PCH Harbor Freeway Station at I-110) and the cities of Lomita and Torrance. It then turns north through Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach. Upon entering Manhattan Beach, it becomes Sepulveda Boulevard and continues through El Segundo and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), passing under two runways. Metro Local line 232 operates on most of this portion of Highway 1.

 

 leaving LAX, State Highway 1 turns northwest, becoming Lincoln Boulevard and passing through the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Westchester, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, and Venice. It then enters the city of Santa Monica, where Highway 1 turns southwest, merging onto the final segment of the Santa Monica Freeway. Santa Monica Big Blue Bus line 3 and Rapid line 3 operates on most of this portion of Highway 1. Passing through the McClure Tunnel, Highway 1 emerges along the beachfront in Santa Monica and continues along the coast; it is known locally also as Palisades Beach Road and formerly as Roosevelt Highway. Upon leaving Santa Monica, it once again regains the name PCH as it follows the coast, curving west through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, passing the Getty Villa before reaching Malibu. PCH is the main thoroughfare through Malibu (served by Metro Express line 534), spanning the entire 21 miles (34 km) of the city, providing access to Pepperdine University and Zuma Beach.

PCH passes Mugu Rock at

Leaving Malibu, Highway 1 crosses into Ventura County and continues along the coast through Point Mugu State Park to just beyond the park's western boundary. Approaching the Oxnard Plain, it passes through a notch in the mountain that forms Point Mugu. The cut left a very large rock formation at the tip of the point that is called the Mugu Rock. At that point, the PCH leaves the coast and heads north and then northwest along the northeastern boundary of Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu for several miles and continues to Wooley Road in Oxnard. From the South Oxnard railroad grade crossing north of Statham Boulevard to Wooley Road, State Highway 1 is known locally as 'Oxnard Boulevard'. At Wooley Road, the direction of State Highway 1 changes from northwest to north; however, the Oxnard Boulevard name continues to Vineyard Avenue, State Highway 232. From Vineyard Avenue, Highway 1 continues north as PCH and joins US 101 in Oxnard approximately five miles inland from the coast. It is noted that about a seven-mile (11 km) stretch of the PCH between Calleguas Creek near the south boundary of the 'NBVC Point Mugu' and the South Oxnard railroad grade crossing north of Statham Boulevard was built to freeway standards.[citation needed] However, today only part of that stretch, from Calleguas Creek to Pleasant Valley Road in Oxnard, a distance of over five miles (8 km), is operating as a freeway. The remaining distance from Pleasant Valley Road to the railroad grade crossing is operating as an expressway (including three signalized intersections).

After traveling through Ventura, State Highway 1 separates from US 101 to travel along the beach from Emma Wood State Beach to the Mobil Pier Undercrossing, where it rejoins US 101 about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the Santa Barbara County line near La Conchita. State Route 1 then merges with US 101 (although signage is nonexistent) for 54 miles (87 km), passing through Santa Barbara. Highway 1, now named Cabrillo Highway, splits again from US 101 north of the Gaviota Tunnel, and heads through the coastal cities of Lompoc, Guadalupe, and Grover Beach before joining US 101 for the third time at Pismo Beach.

State Highway 1 splits from US 101 at San Luis Obispo and resumes as Cabrillo Highway continuing north as a freeway through Morro Bay. where it crosses Morro Creek at the site of a prehistoric Chumash settlement dating to the Millingstone Horizon.[8] Thence State Highway 1 proceeds north to Cayucos until it again becomes a winding, two lane road with occasional passing lanes. It follows along the coast through San Simeon, past the elephant seal colony at Piedras Blancas Light, and to the cliffs of Big Sur. Then several miles north, the highway crosses the scenic Bixby Creek Bridge, a reinforced concrete arch with a 320-foot (98 m) span that passes over the Bixby Creek gorge, and the Rocky Creek Bridge. The highway between San Simeon and Carmel was built between 1919 and 1937. This section of Highway 1 (from San Luis Obispo to Carmel) is an official part of the National Scenic Byways Program.[7]

From there, State Highway 1 passes through Carmel before becoming a freeway in Monterey. The freeway portion of Highway 1 from Highway 68 (west) to Munras Avenue opened in 1960. The segment from Munras Avenue in Monterey to the northern border of Sand City and Seaside opened in 1968, and bypasses the original highway alignment of Munras Avenue and Fremont Street in Monterey, and Fremont Boulevard through Seaside. North of Seaside, the freeway was built over the original Highway 1 alignment through Fort Ord in 1973. North of Fort Ord, Highway 1 veers to the left of the original alignment and bypasses Marina to the west. This segment including the interchange with Route 156 and the short, 2-lane Castroville Bypass opened in 1976. Originally Highway 1 followed the Highway 156 alignment to the Highway 183 intersection in Castroville, then turned northwest, following the present-day Highway 183 through Castroville before rejoining its existing alignment at the northern terminus of the Castroville Bypass.

At the interchange with State Highway 156 near Castroville, Highway 1 continues north as a 2-lane rural road to Moss Landing. Despite heavy traffic on this segment, it was not upgraded to a freeway because doing so would require cutting through the Elkhorn Slough Wildlife Refuge east of Moss Landing. While the existing alignment avoids Elkhorn Slough, expanding the existing roadway is virtually impossible as it passes on a narrow right-of-way between the town of Moss Landing and the coastline to the west and the Moss Landing Power Station to the east.

 

Once the highway crosses Salinas Road, near the Monterey County Santa Cruz County line, it makes a swift transition from a narrow two-lane highway to a four-lane freeway that continues to the Highway 17 interchange at Santa Cruz (the Highway 1/17 interchange is locally known as The Fishhook due to its tight loop ramps that resemble a fishhook when viewed from above). Upon reaching downtown Santa Cruz, it continues as Mission Street and Coast Road before regaining the Cabrillo Highway name. Highway 1 then continues north as a winding, two lane road following the west coast of the San Francisco Peninsula, passing through Half Moon Bay. Before the completion of the present highway in 1937, a narrow, winding, steep road known as Pedro Mountain Road connected Montara with Pacifica. That highway was completed in 1914 and provided competition to the Ocean Shore Railroad, which operated between San Francisco and Tunitas Creek from 1907 to 1920.

Before reaching Pacifica, the highway travels through a treacherous stretch where it is dubbed Devil's Slide. Here the road is in constant danger of sliding into the Pacific Ocean. This stretch of road is periodically closed, most recently from April 2, 2006 to August 3, 2006. Previous closures include about five months in 1995 and about three months in 1983.[9] To avoid these problems, a tunnel is being constructed to bypass the slide area, opening in 2011 according to Caltrans. Highway 1 turns into a multi-lane freeway in Pacifica before joining Interstate 280 in Daly City. Highway 1 used to run along the coast between Pacifica and Daly City but this segment was damaged and rendered unusable after a 5.3 magnitude earthquake on March 22, 1957. A small stub remains near Thornton Beach. Just short of reaching the city of San Francisco, Highway 1 splits from Interstate 280 and the Cabrillo Highway designation ends at the Daly City / San Francisco border, where the road becomes Junipero Serra Boulevard. It is also at this point where the first sign announcing the Shoreline Highway is installed. Shortly thereafter, the highway makes a slight left, becoming the six-lane wide 19th Avenue where, in spite of being a city street, it retains a dense traffic flow. Highway 1 turns into Park Presidio Boulevard after it passes through the city's Golden Gate Park and the Presidio of San Francisco, where it goes through the General Douglas MacArthur Tunnel. It then joins US 101 for a fourth time on the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge known as Doyle Drive.

 The area of the coast north of the Bay Area is sometimes called the Redwood Empire. After crossing the bridge and entering Marin County, Highway 1 then splits from US 101 again near Marin City, where it leaves the city and, as the Shoreline Highway, returns to a winding, two lane road as it passes over the Marin Hills to rejoin the coast at Muir Beach. Leaving the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the highway passes the Point Reyes National Seashore and Tomales Bay, eventually leaving Marin County and entering Sonoma County just south of Bodega Bay, where its name changes to Coast Highway past the Sonoma Coast State Beaches. Route 1 crosses Russian Gulch State Park on the Frederick W. Panhorst Bridge After bridging the Russian River at Jenner, Highway 1 winds along the rugged coast to Fort Ross and Salt Point State Parks before bridging the Gualala River and entering Mendocino County. The highway enters the city of Point Arena, in which it becomes Main Street, before following School Street to the northwest and then becoming Shoreline Highway once again. It bridges the Garcia River and then, near Elk, the Navarro River, where it meets California State Route 128. At the town of Albion, the Albion River is spanned by the Albion River Bridge, the only remaining wooden trestle bridge on the highway. Highway 1 then passes through Little River and Van Damme State Park, crosses Big River and passes through Mendocino Headlands State Park and the Victorian community of Mendocino. Continuing north, Highway 1 crosses Russian Gulch State Park on the Frederick W. Panhorst Bridge, and passes through Jug Handle State National Reserve and the town of Casper. Highway 1 widens to two lanes at the western terminus of State Highway 20, bridges the Noyo River at Noyo, California, and becomes Main Street of Fort Bragg, where it crosses the California Western Railroad. North of Fort Bragg as a single-lane highway again, the highway passes MacKerricher State Park and the towns of Cleone and Inglenook before crossing Ten Mile River. At Rockport the highway turns away from the Lost Coast to avoid steep and unstable highlands created by Mendocino Triple Junction uplift. The highway follows Cottaneva Creek inland through redwood-forested mountainous terrain and terminates at US 101 in Leggett. [edit] History State construction of what is now Highway 1 started after the state's third highway bond issue passed in 1919. At that time, California highways were not publicly referred to by any route numbers, and the Highway 1 name came about 15 years later. The legislature and Highway Department referred to roads either by a name or as "Legislative Route Numbers." The first two approved sections of what is now Highway 1 were Legislative Route 56 from San Simeon to Carmel (connecting with existing county highways at each end) and Legislative Route 60 from Oxnard via the coast to San Juan Capistrano, intended as links in a continuous coastal roadway from Oregon to Mexico.[10][11] A 1921 law extended Legislative Route 56 south over the county road to Cambria,[12] and Legislative Route 60 was extended from Oxnard to El Rio (midway to Ventura, now the site of the Oxnard Boulevard interchange with US 101) in 1925. The latter law, in theory, made Legislative Route 60 a continuous coastal loop, with both ends at what became US 101 in Oxnard and at Capistrano Beach (since 1964 the southern terminus of Highway 1 at Interstate 5 in Orange County).[13] Legislative Route 56 was extended further south from Cambria to connect to present-day US 101 in San Luis Obispo in 1931.[14] A large expansion of the state highway system in 1933 resulted in Legislative Route Number 56 being extended in both directions. To the south, a second section was added, beginning at Pismo Beach on US 101 (Legislative Route 2) and heading south through Guadalupe and Lompoc to rejoin US 101 at a junction called Los Cruces (sic), just north of Gaviota Pass. (A short piece near Orcutt and Los Alamos had been part of Legislative Route Number 2, which originally followed present Highway 135 from Los Alamos to Santa Maria.) To the north, Legislative Route Number 56 was continued along the coast from Carmel through Santa Cruz to San Francisco. Several discontinuous pieces were added north of San Francisco, one from Legislative Route Number 1 (US 101) north of the Golden Gate to the county line near Valley Ford, another from the Russian River near Jenner (where the new Route 104 ended) to Westport, and a third from Ferndale to Route 1 near Fernbridge. Except for the gaps in Legislative Route Number 56 north of San Francisco, these additions completed the coastal highway, with other sections formed by Legislative Route Numbers 1, 2, and 71.[15][16] California Highway 1 is a famous brand name around the world now, but California 1 was called several other names and numbers prior to 1964. When the road was first envisioned in the World War I era, it was referred to either by a highway name or by a "Legislative Route Number" or LRN. LRNs were used by state highway planners and the Legislature from 1915 until 1964, but were never posted on highways, referred to by the auto clubs or public, nor used on maps. Various portions of State Highway 1 have been posted and referred to by various names and numbers over the years. The section of Highway 1 from Santa Monica to Oxnard, via Malibu, went out to contract in 1925 as "Coast Boulevard" but was designated "Theodore Roosevelt Highway" when it was dedicated in 1929. California Highway 1 signs first went up after California decided to number its highways, in 1934. But only the section from Santa Barbara County north was posted as Highway 1, that section of the road known Legislative Route Number 56 (Las Cruces to Fernbridge, including the gaps). In Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange counties, Legislative Route Number 60 (San Juan Capistrano to the Oxnard area) became California Highway 3, and a few Route 3 signs were actually posted [17]. But the Route 3 signs were replaced by "U.S. Route 101 Alternate" shields and strips by 1936, as the road was built out; this change also allowed the extension of US 66 to end at another U.S. Route, in Santa Monica. The gaps of non-state highway along the northern coast were finally filled in by the Legislature in 1951, though the State Department of Public Works was not required to maintain the newly-added portions immediately. A short connection from near Rockport to Highway 1 at Leggett was also included,[19] as the existing county road north from Rockport to Ferndale had not yet been paved.[20] The Leggett connection became State Route 208.[21] The state Legislature in 1963 tossed out the old conflicting Legislative Route Numbers (1964 renumbering), got rid of some famous old U.S. routes (like U.S. 66), and renumbered many state highways. It abolished US 101A in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties and renumbered it as state Highway 1. The cover of "California Highways" magazine in fall 1964 shows state engineers posting the new shield at Point Mugu.[22]. The same year, the Legislature by state law named Highway 1 "Pacific Coast Highway" in Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and "Cabrillo Highway" from San Luis Obispo north to San Francisco. Many cities, however, did not change the name of city streets that are part of Highway 1, such as Lincoln and Sepulveda boulevards in Los Angeles, Santa Monica and El Segundo; Oxnard Boulevard in Oxnard; and Junipero Serra and Park Presidio boulevards in San Francisco. In 1980, another section was added northwest of Ventura, when several miles of the old two-lane alignment of US 101 were posted as Highway 1 where the freeway had bypassed it in about 1960. At its northern terminus, in 1984 State Highway 1 replaced State Highway 208, with the old alignment to Fernbridge, never constructed south of Ferndale, becoming State Highway 211.[23] This part of the Pacific coast, the only long section in California not served by a state highway, has been termed California's "Lost Coast".

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