7th Street and the Garden Grove Freeway
Runs from State 1 at the junction of 7th Street and PCH in Long Beach to SR-55 in Orange.
Route 22 has been in existence since 1934. It used to run along Garden Grove Blvd. In the mid 1960’s, State 22 was upgraded to a freeway from SR-55 to near the San Gabriel River. The freeway from I-405 to the San Gabriel River has a more complicated past. Starting as 7th Street, it was upgraded to an expressway in 1955, then in 1959 as a freeway with an overpass built at Studebaker Ave. In the mid 1960’s, the construction of the I-405, I-605, and SR-22 interchange modified the alignment further. Those changes, not all of which were fully implemented, are better shown on aerial photographs. The realignments that were planned and were partially constructed were to accommodate the Pacific Coast Freeway (which was planned to follow SR-22 along this segment) as well as a short extension of I-605 south to Pacific Coast Highway.
State 22 also has HOV lanes from I-405 to State 55. These lanes were opened as the first HOV lanes with a “continuous access” instead of striping with specific entrances/exits. This new concept is slowly being brought to the rest of the HOV lanes in Orange County.
