California State Route 73

SR 73 begins in northern San Juan Capistrano near the Mission Viejo border at an interchange with I-5. The freeway heads northwest into Laguna Niguel before the tolled portion begins at the Greenfield Drive exit. After passing Greenfield Drive, SR 73 enters Aliso Viejo before entering Laguna Beach, where SR 73 has an interchange with SR 133. Following this, the road passes through Crystal Cove State Park, where the main toll plazas are located. After leaving the state park, SR 73 straddles the border between Irvine and Newport Beach and provides easy access to University of California, Irvine through the Bison Avenue exit. Following the MacArthur Boulevard exit, the tolled part of the road ends and becomes a freeway. SR 73 continues into Newport Beach, running along the southern boundary of Orange County John Wayne Airport (IATA Airport Code SNA). Entering Costa Mesa, SR 73 interchanges with SR 55 before ending at I-405.[2]

SR 73 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System,[3] and is part of the National Highway System,[4] a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration.[5]

SR 73 climbs into the San Joaquin Hills, as seen looking southward from University Hills in Irvine. In the foreground is the Bonita Canyon Drive exit.

Most of SR 73 is a limited-access toll highway designed to reduce congestion within Orange County on the Pacific Coast Highway (SR 1) and the San Diego Freeway (I-5 and I-405) by providing a direct route through the San Joaquin Hills.

SR 73 is not a toll road over its entire length. From its northbound terminus heading southbound, the first three miles (4.8 km) of SR 73 has no tolls and is known as the Corona Del Mar Freeway. SR 73's previous alignment had the freeway portion end at MacArthur Boulevard, and the SR 73 designations ran along with MacArthur south to meet SR 1 in Corona del Mar. Under the current alignment, heading southbound, SR 73 becomes a designated toll road immediately after the Jamboree/MacArthur ramp and remains so until its southern terminus at I-5. Though the next ramp heading southbound (Bison Avenue) is part of the toll road, it is toll-free, as is the first ramp heading northbound from the southern terminus (Greenfield Drive).

The design and construction of the highway cost a total of $800 million. The design and construction was overseen by the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agencies, or SJHTCA, an agency formed in 1988[6] for the express purpose of designing the tollway. In the end, State Route 73 included 10 interchanges, 68 bridges, 725,000 square feet (67,400 m²) of retaining walls, and 32 million cubic yards (24,000,000 m³) of excavation at completion. Construction was divided into four sections, each with an individual management system and quality control. A joint venture led by Kiewit Pacific Co., a subsidiary of Kiewit Corporation, completed this project in 1996.

SR 73's toll road was the first to be financed with tax-exempt bonds on a stand-alone basis, including construction and environmental risk. In 2011, $2.1 billion in debt for the San Joaquin Hills toll roads was restructured, which pushed back the time until the bonds are paid off and the route becomes a state-owned freeway to 2042.[7] In 2014, the debt was again restructured in an attempt to get improved interest rates, improved debt ratings,[8] and in the process save $44 million in debt repayment. This resulted in another eight years of payments, delaying the pay-off date to 2050.[9] Under this new plan the debt can be paid off earlier than 2050 if ridership and revenue improve.[8]

The tolled portion of SR 73 (beginning after Greenfield Drive in the northbound direction, and starting after the Bison Avenue exit in the southbound direction) employs a barrier toll system, where drivers are charged flat-rate tolls based on what particular toll booths they pass through. Since May 13, 2014, the road has been using an all-electronic, open road tolling system,[10] and on October 2, 2019, the license plate tolling program, under the brand name "ExpressAccount", was discontinued.[11] Drivers may still pay using the FasTrak electronic toll collection system or via a one time payment online. Drivers must pay within 5 days after their trip on the toll road or they will be assessed a toll violation.[12]

Drivers who drive the entire tolled segment of SR 73 will only encounter the Catalina View Mainline toll gantry. As of July 2022, the gantry uses a congestion pricing scheme based on the time of day for FasTrak users, while non-FasTrak drivers must pay the $9.00 maximum toll regardless of the day and time. Tolls are also collected at a flat rate for all drivers at the northbound exits and southbound entrances of La Paz Road ($2.60), Aliso Creek Road ($3.23), and SR 133 ($3.92); and at the southbound exits and northbound entrances of Newport Coast Drive ($3.64) and Bonita Canyon Drive ($2.20).[13]

The entire route is in Orange County.

Location	mi [14][1][15][16]	km	Exit [14]	Destinations	Notes
San Juan Capistrano–Mission Viejo line	0.00	0.00	—	I-5 south (San Diego Freeway) – San Diego	No access to I-5 north; southern terminus of SR 73; exit 85A on I-5 north
Laguna Niguel–Laguna Hills line	1.79	2.88	2	Greenfield Drive	Southern end of toll road; last free exit for northbound traffic
Aliso Viejo	2.91	4.68	3	Moulton Parkway	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	3.40	5.47	3	La Paz Road	Tolled northbound exit and southbound entrance
	4.72	7.60	4	Aliso Creek Road	Tolled northbound exit and southbound entrance
	5.25	8.45	5	Pacific Park Drive / Glenwood Drive	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
Aliso Viejo–Laguna Beach line	6.35– 6.82	10.22– 10.98	6	SR 133 (Laguna Canyon Road) / El Toro Road (CR S18)	Tolled northbound exit and southbound entrance; signed as exit 7 southbound
San Joaquin Hills	8.70	14.00	Catalina View Mainline toll gantry
Irvine–Newport Beach line	11.46	18.44	11	Newport Coast Drive	Tolled southbound exit and northbound entrance
	12.00	19.31	12	Bonita Canyon Drive	Tolled southbound exit and northbound entrance
	12.74	20.50	13	Bison Avenue	Last free exit for southbound traffic
	14.00	22.53	14	MacArthur Boulevard north – John Wayne Airport	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; northern end of toll road
			14A	MacArthur Boulevard south – Newport Beach	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; former routing of SR 73 south
Newport Beach	14.35	23.09	14B	University Drive	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	15.01	24.16	15	Jamboree Road	No northbound exit
				Birch Street	Northbound exit only
	15.53	24.99	16	Irvine Avenue / Campus Drive	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
Costa Mesa	16.53– 17.23	26.60– 27.73	17A	SR 55 north (Costa Mesa Freeway)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; exit 5A on SR 55
			17B	SR 55 south (Costa Mesa Freeway)	Signed as exit 17A southbound; exit 5A on SR 55
	17.23	27.73	17C	Bear Street	Signed as exit 17B southbound
	17.76– 17.95	28.58– 28.89	18B	Fairview Road	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			—	405 Express Lanes north	Express lanes scheduled to open in 2023;[17] northbound exit and southbound entrance
			—	Susan Street / Harbor Boulevard	Northbound exit only; southbound access via I-405
			18A	I-405 north (San Diego Freeway) – Long Beach	No access to I-405 south; northern terminus of SR 73; exit 10 on I-405 south
	1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Closed/former       Electronic toll collection       Incomplete access       Unopened

•  California Roads portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to California State Route 73.

• Caltrans: State Route 73 highway conditions
• Caltrans Traffic Conditions Map
• California Highway Patrol Traffic Incidents
• Transportation Corridor Agencies official website – includes toll information on SR 73 and the other Toll Roads of Orange County
• Project Description at Kiewit
• California @ AARoads.com - State Route 73
• California Highways: SR 73