Highway 1

State Highway 1 (officially "California State Route 1") is the longest state highway in California, running near the Pacific coast for the entire northwest-southeast length of the state. It enters Santa Cruz County from Monterey County, crossing the Pajaro River in the southeast near Watsonville, and exits to San Mateo County in the northeast past Waddell Creek. The highway roughly follows the route of the first European explorers to pass through the area that is now Santa Cruz County, the Spanish Portolá expedition of 1769. Construction timeline:

• 1949. Highway 1 from La Selva Beach to Morrissey Boulevard in Santa Cruz was expanded into a 4-lane freeway. From there, the highway ran through the downtown area on Morrissey, Water Street, and Mission Street.
  • "7 Years and 7.7 Miles of Highway", by Jill Ramar, in Category:Santa Cruz County History Journal Number 9
• 1955. A new "beach bypass" was begun, routing the highway around the downtown area before rejoining Mission Street.
• 1958. The last section of freeway was completed, from Morrissey to where the ends of Hwy. 17 and Ocean Street join, connecting to those roads and to the already completed section of the "beach bypass" via a complicated interchange known as the "fish hook".

From the end of the bypass, the highway continues to the city limit on 4-lane Mission Street. Before being named Mission Street, it was simply "the coast road". A few older sections beyond the city limits, now bypassed by the highway, retain the name "Coast Road", as shown on the Google Maps detail at right. Leaving the city, the highway reverts to 2 lanes (as in the photo) for most of the way to the county line. The state also gave the Central Coast portion of Highway 1 the name "Cabrillo Highway", which makes no historical sense and is rarely used by locals.

• "Coast Road" in The Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture, 4th edition, pages 64, 285.

Highway 1 is the only state highway that originates elsewhere on both ends and passes through Santa Cruz County. Five highways originate in Santa Cruz County and pass out of it: Highway 9, Highway 17, Highway 35, Highway 129, and Highway 152. One begins and ends within the county: Highway 236.