Editing El Toro Y

{{short description|Highway interchange in Orange County, California}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox road junction
|country=USA
|name=El Toro "Y"
|image=El Toro Y Photo D Ramey Logan.jpg
|image_caption=Aerial view of the El Toro Y
|maint=[[Caltrans]]
|location=[[Irvine, California]]
|coord={{coord|33.6446|-117.7353|type:landmark_region:US|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|roads={{jct|state=CA|I|5}}<br/>{{jct|state=CA|I|405}}
|type=
|const=
|opened=
|height=
|other_names=El Toro Interchange, The "Y"
}}

The '''El Toro "Y"''' is a freeway interchange in [[Irvine, California]] where the [[Santa Ana Freeway]], [[Interstate 5 in California|Interstate&nbsp;5]] (I-5), and the [[San Diego Freeway]] (at that point [[Interstate 405 (California)|the I-405]]) merge. South of the El Toro Y, the highway is named the "[[San Diego Freeway]]" with the [[highway]] designation "I-5." Located in south [[Orange County, California|Orange County]], the interchange was named after the nearby city [[El Toro, California|El Toro]] (now [[Lake Forest, California|Lake Forest]]), and the now-closed [[Marine Corps Air Station El Toro]], located northeast of the interchange.

The "Y" is one of the busiest interchanges in the world; from 1975 to 2002, daily traffic surged from 102,000 to 356,000 vehicles a day.<ref>{{cite news |last= Weikel |first= Dan |title= The Road More Heavily Traveled |work= [[Los Angeles Times]] |date= July 5, 2004}}</ref>

The "Y" was where American broadcast reporter [[Zoey Tur]] of [[KCBS-TV]], via news helicopter, first located and broadcast [[O. J. Simpson murder case#Bronco chase|O.J. Simpson's white Ford Bronco slow-speed police chase]] exclusively for 22 minutes on June 17, 1994.<ref>{{Citation|title=O.J.: Made in America|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5275892/|access-date=2020-05-10}}. Episode 3, 00:27:47: "We're listening to the Los Angeles Police Department, and they believe that this vehicle is somewhere in the vicinity of the El Toro 'Y,' and I look down below and there's the El Toro 'Y.' And there's a white Bronco. Then there's a sheriff's unit, and then there's another sheriff's unit, and another sheriff's unit. We get the door open, and we get our very first shots, and I'm back on the two-way radio telling CBS 'You got to get us on the air; we found him!' And, with a flip of a switch, we were on with Dan Rather. We were on the air exclusively for 22 minutes..." - Zoey Tur</ref> In the cleft of the "Y" lies the [[Irvine Spectrum Center]].

==History==
By the early 1990s, the El Toro Y had become one of the most congested freeway interchanges in the world, its severe overcrowding fed by a housing boom in southern Orange County.

In November 1990, [[Orange County, California|Orange County]] voters approved [[Measure M]], a half-cent increase in the county [[sales tax]] to finance transportation improvements. In 1993, the [[California Department of Transportation]] (Caltrans) began a massive expansion project,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-22-me-4528-story.html|title=Widening Work Begins on Crowded El Toro 'Y'|last=Romero|first=Fernando|date=Dec 22, 1993|work=Los Angeles Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416184123/http://articles.latimes.com/1993-12-22/local/me-4528_1_el-toro |archive-date=2014-04-16 |access-date=}}</ref> adding a new interchange and [[collector/distributor road]]s at Bake Parkway (signed as truck bypass lanes) and [[Lake Forest, California|Lake Forest]] Drive, and [[high-occupancy vehicle|carpool lane]]s and connectors.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-16-me-38866-story.html|title=End Is in Sight for Construction at the El Toro Y|last=Messina|first=Frank|date=1997-03-16|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031061211/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-16-me-38866-story.html |archive-date=2019-10-31 |access-date=2019-09-18}}</ref> The $166-million project also vastly increased regular traffic lanes. The project increased the number of vehicles per day from 300,000 to 400,000.<ref name=":0" /> After the project was completed in 1997, the El Toro Y stood as one of the widest roads in the world, at 26 traffic lanes wide.{{Citation needed|date=September 2019}}

The traffic delays at the interchange sparked the construction of several parallel bypass [[toll road]]s. The [[San Joaquin Hills Toll Road]], designated [[California State Route 73|State Route&nbsp;73]] (SR&nbsp;73), opened in November 1996 and connects [[San Juan Capistrano, California|San Juan Capistrano]] and [[Costa Mesa, California|Costa Mesa]]. Another parallel road to the El Toro Y is [[California State Route 241|SR 241]], the [[California State Route 241|Foothill Toll Road]], and the free southern extension, known as "Los Patrones Parkway", that currently ends at Cow Camp Road near [[California State Route 74|SR 74]]. An extension is planned from Cow Camp Road to Avenida La Pata (Antonio Parkway) in [[San Clemente, California|San Clemente]] in the near future.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

SR 241 was proposed to connect to I-5 in northern [[San Diego County, California|San Diego County]], but local opposition regarding environmental issues near [[Trestles (surfing)|Trestles]] have put the project on hold. In 2017, the [[Transportation Corridor Agencies]] considered extending SR 241 to [[San Clemente, California|San Clemente]]. However, residents opposed the proposed route because it would have cost $2 billion, would have intersected at the busiest interchange in San Clemente, Avenida Pico, would have demolished many new homes with real estate value, would have been constructed next to a high school, and would waste taxpayers’ money because the interchange had undergone improvements between 2015 and 2018. Local residents also say that traffic would be worse, equivalent to the [[California State Route 91|SR 91]] and SR 241 interchange.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/01/san-clemente-officials-argue-proposed-toll-road-extension-would-cost-2-billion-make-traffic-worse/|title=San Clemente officials argue proposed toll road extension would cost $2 billion, make traffic worse|last=Robinson|first=Alicia|date=2018-03-02|website=Orange County Register|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180302173638/https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/01/san-clemente-officials-argue-proposed-toll-road-extension-would-cost-2-billion-make-traffic-worse/ |archive-date=2018-03-02 |access-date=2019-09-18}}</ref>

The [[Irvine Spectrum Center]], a large shopping center featuring a movie theater, numerous shopping destinations and a large obelisk, which conceals a cell phone and television tower inside of it, is in the cleft of the Y.

On July 29, 2008, a [[2008 Chino Hills earthquake|moderate earthquake centered in Chino Hills]] caused damage to an expansion joint on one of the overpasses in the interchange. [[Caltrans]] closed [[Interstate 5|the 5]] Southbound Truck Bypass/Bake Parkway/Lake Forest exit to replace the expansion joint that was damaged during the quake.<ref>{{cite news |first= Doug |last= Irving |date= July 29, 2008 |url= http://www.ocregister.com/news/oc-quake-roundup-2108278-cal-state |title= O.C. Quake Roundup: Cal State Fullerton damaged; trains disrupted for a bit |work= [[Orange County Register]] }}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
The El Toro Y was referenced the 2011 episode [[Angry Dad: The Movie|"Angry Dad: the Movie"]] of the animated sitcom [[The Simpsons]], when Bart gives Homer a list of "Must-See Attractions" in Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://patch.com/california/lakeforest-ca/the-simpsons-puts-the-el-toro-y-on-the-map-finally|title='The Simpsons' Puts the El Toro Y on the Map ... Finally|last=Wride|first=Nancy|date=Feb 23, 2011|website=The Patch|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112035056/https://patch.com/california/lakeforest-ca/the-simpsons-puts-the-el-toro-y-on-the-map-finally |archive-date=2020-11-12 |access-date=September 17, 2019}}</ref>

In the third episode of [[The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story]], it was initially reported that [[O. J. Simpson]] was spotted in [[Al Cowlings]]'s [[Ford Bronco]] on [[Interstate 405 (California)|Interstate 405]] at Irvine Center Drive at the El Toro Y. However, the scenes were shot elsewhere in [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]].

==See also==
* {{Portal-inline|Greater Los Angeles}}
* {{Portal-inline|California Roads}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
{{Irvine, California}}

[[Category:Southern California freeways]]
[[Category:Road interchanges in California]]
[[Category:Roads in Orange County, California]]
[[Category:Interstate 5]]
[[Category:Irvine, California]]
[[Category:Laguna Hills, California]]