page_title: California State Route 56
section_title: Route description
hierarchical_section_title: California State Route 56 / Route description
caption_attribution_description: English: Westbound on SR 56.
context_page_description: State Route 56 is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California. It runs 9.210 miles from Interstate 5 in the Carmel Valley neighborhood of San Diego to I-15. The eastern terminus of the highway is also the western end of the Ted Williams Parkway. SR 56 serves as an important connector between I-5 and I-15, being the only east–west freeway between SR 78 in north San Diego County, several miles away, and SR 52 near Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. It is also named the Ted Williams Freeway, after the San Diego-born baseball player.
  SR 56 was added to the state highway system in 1959 as Legislative Route 278, and was renumbered SR 56 in the 1964 state highway renumbering. Plans in 1964 were to connect SR 56 to the north end of SR 125 and continue east to SR 67, but these plans did not come to fruition. The eastern end from Black Mountain Road to I-15 was completed in 1993; the western end from I-5 to Carmel Creek Road was completed in 1995 after several lawsuits filed by the Sierra Club and other community groups. The two ends were not connected until the middle portion of the freeway was completed in 2004.
context_section_description: Eastbound SR 56 begins as a ramp from the northbound I-5's local bypass lanes. The interchange is not complete; southbound I-5 traffic must exit to Carmel Valley Road before entering SR 56. Westbound traffic on SR 56 merges into the southbound I-5 local bypass lanes, which provide access to I-805. Continuing east, the route then has an interchange at Carmel Creek Road, which provides access to the nearby San Diego Jewish Academy, and proceeds eastward through a residential area. After passing milepost 2, the freeway has another interchange with Carmel Country Road south of the community of Torrey Hills.
  SR 56 meets Carmel Valley Road and curves northward, passing Canyon Crest Academy before turning southeastward. The route passes over McGonigle Creek before intersecting Camino Del Sur, which serves the nearby Westview High School. Southeast of Camino Del Sur, SR 56 curves back east, passing under Carmel Mountain Road without an exit. The route encounters exits with Black Mountain Road and Rancho Peñasquitos Boulevard in Rancho Peñasquitos in a primarily residential area before meeting its terminus at a partial cloverleaf interchange with I-15. Past the bridge over I-15, the road continues as Ted Williams Parkway,  ending at Twin Peaks Road in Poway.
  SR 56 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System; it is not part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration. In 2014, SR 56 had an annual average daily traffic (AADT) of 32,000 vehicles between I-15 and the eastern terminus at Ted Williams Parkway, and 81,000 vehicles between Carmel Creek Road and Carmel Country Road, the latter of which was the highest AADT for the freeway.
caption: SR 56 west at the Carmel Creek Road interchange
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