California's Pacific Coast Highway

 

State Route 1 is a prominent north–south state route that travels along the majority of California's Pacific coastline. It is California's longest state road, with a total length of slightly over 656 miles. Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), Cabrillo Highway, Shoreline Highway, and Coast Highway are all names for sections of SR 1. Its southern terminus is Interstate 5 (I-5) in Orange County near Dana Point, while its northern terminus is U.S. Route 101 (US 101) in Mendocino County near Leggett. SR 1 also runs parallel to US 101 at times, most notably for a 54-mile stretch between Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, as well as across the Golden Gate Bridge.

An All-American Road designation has been given to the roadway. The road serves as a significant roadway in the Greater Los Angeles Area, the San Francisco Bay Area, and several other coastal urban areas, in addition to providing a scenic path to several sites along the coast.

SR 1 was constructed in phases, with the first segment opening in the 1930s in the Big Sur region. However, as new segments of the route opened, different names and numbers were assigned to them. The full route was not formally classified as SR 1 until the 1964 state highway renumbering. Despite the fact that SR 1 is a popular route because of its beautiful splendor, numerous landslides and erosion near the coast have forced some stretches to be closed for long periods of time for repairs or rerouted inland.