State Route 19 (SR 19) is a
state highway in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, running along
Lakewood Boulevard and Rosemead Boulevard in the Los Angeles area. An additional "hidden" state highway, State Route 164 (SR 164), is also signed as part of SR 19, despite having a legal description separate from Route 19. The combined route is a north–south four-to-six lane suburban roadway, lying east of the Long Beach Freeway (
Interstate 710
Route 710, consisting of the non-contiguous segments of State Route 710 (SR 710) and Interstate 710 (I-710), is a major north–south state highway and auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of the ...
) and west of the San Gabriel River Freeway (
Interstate 605
Interstate 605 (abbreviated I-605, officially known as the San Gabriel River Freeway) is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Greater Los Angeles urban area of Southern California. It runs from I-405 and State Route ...
), and connecting the eastern parts of
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
and
Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
...
via the
Whittier Narrows
The Whittier Narrows is a narrows or water gap in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States, between the Puente Hills to the east and the Montebello Hills to the west. The gap is located at the southern boundary of t ...
. Under their legal descriptions, SR 19 runs north to Gallatin Road in
Pico Rivera
Pico Rivera is a city located in southeastern Los Angeles County, California. The city is situated approximately southeast of downtown Los Angeles, on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles basin, and on the southern edge of the area known as th ...
, then SR 164 goes from Gallatin Road to Pasadena. Since 1998, several pieces have been relinquished to local governments, and more transfers are authorized by state law.
Route description
Locals generally refer to the combined SR 19/164 route as either Lakewood Boulevard or Rosemead Boulevard, not by its numerical designation. The two highways are 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
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program ...
.
The original official southern terminus of SR 19 was at the
Los Alamitos Circle in
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
, where Lakewood Boulevard,
State Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway), and Los Coyotes Diagonal converge. SR 19 then proceeded north along Lakewood Boulevard through Long Beach and the
City of Lakewood, intersecting with
Interstate 405, passing under a runway of the
Long Beach Airport
Long Beach Airport is a public airport three miles northeast of downtown Long Beach, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is also called Daugherty Field, named after local aviator Earl Daugherty. The airport was an operating base ...
[State begins transfer of Lakewood Boulevard](_blank)
/ref> (the part through the airport has been relocated to the east; parts of the old alignment remain as airport service roads), then running to the west of Lakewood Center Mall before passing through the neighborhood of Mayfair.
Since the California Legislature relinquished segments of the highway, state control of SR 19 now officially begins at the point where Lakewood Boulevard crosses the Lakewood– Bellflower city limits at Rose Street (SR 19 in Bellflower is also planned to be relinquished by the state). SR 19 then intersects State Route 91 before straddling the city border between Bellflower and Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
and later Bellflower and Downey Downey may refer to:
People
* Downey (surname)
*Robert Downey Jr.
Places
* Downey, California, US
* Downey, Idaho, US
* Downey, Iowa, US
Businesses
* W. & D. Downey, photographic studio
* Downey Studios, created out of a former Boeing plant
Sch ...
. State control of SR 19 then ends north of Gardendale Street when Lakewood Boulevard fully enters into Downey.
Lakewood Boulevard continues north through Downey, intersecting with Interstate 105 before passing by the large site formerly occupied by North American Aviation, Rockwell International and Boeing Reusable Space Systems and interchanging with Interstate 5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...
. At Telegraph Road at the Downey-Pico Rivera
Pico Rivera is a city located in southeastern Los Angeles County, California. The city is situated approximately southeast of downtown Los Angeles, on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles basin, and on the southern edge of the area known as th ...
city limits, Lakewood Boulevard turns into Rosemead Boulevard. Rosemead Boulevard continues north through Pico Rivera (where this segment of SR 19 has been relinquished to the city as well["Caltrans relinquished the piece of Rosemead Boulevard in Pico Rivera - Google News Archive Search](_blank)
/ref>) to Gallatin Road.
The hidden SR 164, but signed as part of SR 19, begins north of Gallatin Road, traveling along Rosemead Boulevard across Whittier Narrows Dam
Whittier Narrows Dam is a 56-foot (17 m) tall earth dam on the San Gabriel River and the smaller, parallel Rio Hondo. The dam is located, as the name implies, at the Whittier Narrows. It provides water conservation storage and is also the centr ...
before entering the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area
The Whittier Narrows is a narrows or water gap in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States, between the Puente Hills to the east and the Montebello Hills to the west. The gap is located at the southern boundary of t ...
and intersecting with State Route 60. After this, the road enters South El Monte
South El Monte is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,116, down from 21,144 at the 2000 census.
Geography
According to the United States C ...
before crossing the Rio Hondo and straddling the city boundary between Rosemead and El Monte. It then intersects with Interstate 10. This portion of Rosemead Boulevard between Gallatin Road and Interstate 10 is still maintained by the state and built to expressway standards.
State maintenance ends again at the Rosemead–Temple City
Temple City, officially the City of Temple City, is a city in Los Angeles County, California located northeast of downtown Los Angeles and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. Temple City is part of a cluster of cities, along with Pasadena ...
city limits near Grand Avenue. Rosemead Boulevard then continues north through Temple City and the unincorporated areas of East San Gabriel and East Pasadena and into the City of Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
Its ...
. (The highway was relinquished to Temple City,[SB910](_blank)
/ref> and those portions in the unincorporated areas were transferred to Los Angeles County.)[CPY Document](_blank)
/ref> In Pasadena, the state still maintains the short portion of Rosemead Boulevard from Interstate 210 to Foothill Boulevard, with SR 164's legal northern terminus at the latter. Rosemead Boulevard continues northwest under Pasadena's control from Foothill Boulevard to Sierra Madre Villa Avenue.
Bus service is provided by Metro Local
Los Angeles Metro Bus is the transit bus service in Los Angeles County, California operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
, there ar ...
line 266 (between Foothill Boulevard and Del Amo Boulevard) and Long Beach Transit
Long Beach Transit (LBT) is a municipal transit company providing fixed and flexible bus transit services in Long Beach, California, United States, in other communities in south and southeast Los Angeles County, and northwestern Orange County. L ...
line 111 (south of Del Amo Boulevard) throughout Rosemead Boulevard and Lakewood Boulevard. The Metro C Line
The Metro C Line is a bus rapid transit line in Brooklyn Center and Minneapolis, Minnesota operated by Metro Transit. The line is part of Metro Transit's Metro network of light rail and bus rapid transit lines. The route operates from the Broo ...
is also provided by a station in the median of Interstate 105 under Lakewood Boulevard.
History
Before the present SR 19 was constructed, San Gabriel Boulevard, which extended from Lamanda Park south to Downey Downey may refer to:
People
* Downey (surname)
*Robert Downey Jr.
Places
* Downey, California, US
* Downey, Idaho, US
* Downey, Iowa, US
Businesses
* W. & D. Downey, photographic studio
* Downey Studios, created out of a former Boeing plant
Sch ...
, and was widened and repaved by an assessment tax in 1925, was the main road through the Whittier Narrows
The Whittier Narrows is a narrows or water gap in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States, between the Puente Hills to the east and the Montebello Hills to the west. The gap is located at the southern boundary of t ...
, requiring several turns to stay on it and to continue south to Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
.[Ben Blow, California Highways: A Descriptive Record of Road Development by the State and by Such Counties as Have Paved Highways, 1920]
Archive.org
o
Google Books
, p. 165 The state legislature added Route 168 to the state highway system in 1933, which followed this general alignment between Route 60 ( SR 1) in Long Beach and Route 9 ( Foothill Boulevard, then US 66) near Lamanda Park. SR 19 was later designated out of the 1964 state highway renumbering.
The 9.56-mile (15.39 km) piece of SR 19 north of Gallatin Road in Pico Rivera
Pico Rivera is a city located in southeastern Los Angeles County, California. The city is situated approximately southeast of downtown Los Angeles, on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles basin, and on the southern edge of the area known as th ...
has legally been State Route 164 since the 1964 renumbering, but has always been signed as SR 19. Original plans for SR 164 took it southeast to Interstate 605
Interstate 605 (abbreviated I-605, officially known as the San Gabriel River Freeway) is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Greater Los Angeles urban area of Southern California. It runs from I-405 and State Route ...
from the present transition between SR 164 and SR 19, and it was originally planned as the Rio Hondo Freeway.
Many segments of SR 19 have since been relinquished to the cities that they run through. Caltrans relinquished Long Beach's portion of SR 19 to the city on January 27, 1999, and Downey's segment of SR 19 was relinquished to the city on July 3, 2001. However, the segment in Pico Rivera was not relinquished to that city until June 22, 2004. On October 27, 2006, the northern portion of SR 164 that went through an unincorporated area of the county from Callita Street to I-210 was relinquished to the county. In April 2008, the section of SR 164 through Temple City was relinquished to that city. On April 9, 2012, the section of SR 19 through Lakewood was relinquished to that city.[http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist07/divisions/planning/cm/D7_SR19_signedRAR_corrected.pdf ] In 2017, the relinquishment process in Bellflower has started.
Major intersections
See also
*
References
External links
{{commons category, position=left
California @ AARoads.com - State Route 19
Caltrans: Route 19 highway conditions
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Roads in Los Angeles County, California
Streets in Pasadena, California
Streets in the San Gabriel Valley
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