Ventura Freeway

The Ventura Freeway begins at the Santa Barbara/Ventura county line, west of La Conchita, as US 101. The road alternates between a freeway and an expressway up to the seashore community of Mussel Shoals, when it becomes a freeway for the rest of its length.[4] It travels eastward through the citrus orchards and strawberry fields of the Oxnard Plain before ascending the short, steep Conejo Grade into the Conejo Valley. Continuing eastward through the northern Santa Monica Mountains, it crosses the Ventura/Los Angeles county line before entering the San Fernando Valley. The freeway continues eastward along the valley's southern rim, crossing the San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405) near Sherman Oaks at an interchange consistently rated as one of the five most congested in the nation. It then reaches an interchange with the Hollywood Freeway known as the Hollywood Split. Here, the US 101 designation switches to the southeast-bound Hollywood Freeway, while the Ventura Freeway becomes SR 134 as it continues eastward. The northwest-bound portion of the Hollywood Freeway is designated as SR 170.

The portion of the Ventura Freeway signed as US 101 is signed as a north-south route by CalTrans despite the freeway's actual alignment being east-west. This is due to the fact that US 101 as a whole has a north-south alignment. The apparent inconsistency can be confusing to visitors, as the same freeway entrance can often be signed as "101 North" and "101 West." This is most common in the San Fernando Valley.

The SR 134 portion of the Ventura Freeway at the western edge of Burbank, California looking west from N Pass Ave.

The Ventura Freeway crosses the Los Angeles River at its confluence with Verdugo Wash

Westbound SR 134 near I-5 in Glendale.

Continuing eastward from the Hollywood Split as SR 134, the Ventura Freeway, now signed as east-west, skirts the northern edge of Griffith Park before intersecting the Golden State Freeway (I-5) and crossing the Los Angeles River. After passing through Downtown Glendale south of the Verdugo Mountains, it continues along the southern slope of the San Rafael Hills between Glendale and Eagle Rock before entering Pasadena near the Arroyo Seco and terminating at the Foothill Freeway (I-210).

The road is the main connector from the San Fernando Valley and points north to the San Gabriel Valley and points east. The future I-710 dead-ends at California Blvd and is signed as SR 710. Residents of South Pasadena have blocked efforts to extend I-710 north to California Boulevard from its current end at Valley Boulevard north of I-10 near the Alhambra/Los Angeles city limit. Signs on SR 134 and I-210 refer to the SR 710 stub in Pasadena as TO SR 110, because exiting left from the SR 710 stub onto California Blvd and turning right on Arroyo Parkway leads directly to SR 110, which is Pasadena's only direct freeway link to Downtown Los Angeles.

Both the SR 134 and US 101 portions of the freeway are part of the California Freeway and Expressway System,[5] and is part of the National Highway System,[6] a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration.[7]

A pre-freeway alignment of State Route 134 originated at U.S. Route 101 (Ventura Boulevard) and Fulton Avenue in Los Angeles, then along Fulton, Moorpark Street, Riverside Drive and Alameda Avenue before meeting up with U.S. 6/99 (San Fernando Road) in Burbank. It traveled along San Fernando Road to Colorado Street, then ran along Colorado Street (portions of which have been renamed Eagle Vista Drive) through Glendale, Eagle Rock and Pasadena before terminating at U.S. Route 66. The alignment was later cut back to terminate in Studio City at Lankershim and Ventura.

The Interstate 5 off-ramp at Colorado Street is actually a former routing of SR 134, and there are still mileposts that refer to it as such. Old SR 134 followed Colorado Street through Glendale and Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock to the ramp connecting Colorado Boulevard and Figueroa Street to the Ventura Freeway. Old SR 134 continued onto the ramp and then onto what is presently the Ventura Freeway to Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena. The Colorado Boulevard/Figueroa Street ramps plus the segment of freeway between the ramps and just east of Orange Grove Boulevard were previously known as the Colorado Freeway.

From 1964 to 1992, the Colorado Boulevard portions of Route 134 were renumbered as California State Route 248.