"Orange County" as control city

[NJ]

Is there any "Orange County" on any signage as control city? I think Orange County would make perfect sense because it's very well know county and can be useful especially in LA/Southern Cali area.

[ATLRedSoxFan]

Having grown up in So.CA, I down' t recall or think so. IIRC, on the 5 and the 405, San Diego, El Toro, Long Beach, Newport Beach(and Beach Cities), Garden Grove and many more I haven't mentioned. I can't vouch for the state route freeways. Never seen Orange County used, but things change.

[OCGuy81]

Closest I've seen is signage on the 5 that uses Santa Ana (OC seat) as the control city.

[DTComposer]

"South County" is used on CA-241 southbound, but Orange County itself isn't used anywhere.

I don't know if it would be as effective as you might think. Once you're in close enough proximity that it would make sense to use a more specific control than Los Angeles (using that to refer to the metro area in addition to the city itself), than the Orange County destinations are spread out enough that it wouldn't make sense. For example, you could use Orange County on I-5 south out of downtown L.A. (instead of Santa Ana), but 8 miles later you would then take I-605 to I-405 to get to beachside destinations, or stay on I-5 to get to central destinations (i.e. Disneyland), so at that point you'd need to drop Orange County and be more specific.

A more effective location would be I-5 north out of San Diego, paired with Los Angeles.

Having grown up in So.CA, I down' t recall or think so. IIRC, on the 5 and the 405, San Diego, El Toro, Long Beach, Newport Beach(and Beach Cities), Garden Grove and many more I haven't mentioned. I can't vouch for the state route freeways. Never seen Orange County used, but things change.

My understanding is Beach Cities (used on CA-91 west in the Riverside/Corona area) is referring to Redondo/Manhattan/Hermosa Beach, not Huntington/Newport/Laguna.

I never saw El Toro used, but they do have Irvine now on I-405 southbound out of Long Beach.

[NJ]

"South County" is used on CA-241 southbound, but Orange County itself isn't used anywhere.

I don't know if it would be as effective as you might think. Once you're in close enough proximity that it would make sense to use a more specific control than Los Angeles (using that to refer to the metro area in addition to the city itself), than the Orange County destinations are spread out enough that it wouldn't make sense. For example, you could use Orange County on I-5 south out of downtown L.A. (instead of Santa Ana), but 8 miles later you would then take I-605 to I-405 to get to beachside destinations, or stay on I-5 to get to central destinations (i.e. Disneyland), so at that point you'd need to drop Orange County and be more specific.

A more effective location would be I-5 north out of San Diego, paired with Los Angeles.

Having grown up in So.CA, I down' t recall or think so. IIRC, on the 5 and the 405, San Diego, El Toro, Long Beach, Newport Beach(and Beach Cities), Garden Grove and many more I haven't mentioned. I can't vouch for the state route freeways. Never seen Orange County used, but things change.

My understanding is Beach Cities (used on CA-91 west in the Riverside/Corona area) is referring to Redondo/Manhattan/Hermosa Beach, not Huntington/Newport/Laguna.

I never saw El Toro used, but they do have Irvine now on I-405 southbound out of Long Beach.

If you can use states and regions as control cities, I'm pretty sure Orange County will work fine! We have "New Jersey" and "New England" as control.

[Henry]

FWIW, I could see Anaheim (in addition to Santa Ana, as previously mentioned) on I-5 signs. I've never seen any counties as control cities, so no Orange County here.

[TheStranger]

Once you're in close enough proximity that it would make sense to use a more specific control than Los Angeles (using that to refer to the metro area in addition to the city itself)

Isn't "Los Angeles" as a control generally used to refer ONLY to downtown?  (Which is why it is the southbound control for US 101 all the way to the Four-Level even though 101's final 29 miles are in the city limits)

If you can use states and regions as control cities, I'm pretty sure Orange County will work fine! We have "New Jersey" and "New England" as control.

California generally prefers in-state destinations as control cities (i.e. the infamous I-10 east "Indio & other desert cities" sign), often specific short-distance destinations (i.e. "Santa Ana" for 5 south from Los Angeles, "Hollywood" for 170 south off of I-5).  I don't think there is any precedent for a whole county to be used as a destination - and Orange County is large enough that using that as a reference isn't specific enough (Disneyland?  San Juan Capistrano?  Newport Beach?  Irvine?  Westminster?).

[DTComposer]

Once you're in close enough proximity that it would make sense to use a more specific control than Los Angeles (using that to refer to the metro area in addition to the city itself)

Isn't "Los Angeles" as a control generally used to refer ONLY to downtown?  (Which is why it is the southbound control for US 101 all the way to the Four-Level even though 101's final 29 miles are in the city limits)

It's kinda both - you're right that Los Angeles is used as a control long after some freeways have entered the city limits (not just US-101, but I-5 and I-10), so the implied destination is downtown.

But as mentioned in another recent thread, Los Angeles is used as a control on I-15 in Las Vegas and I-40 in Arizona even though those freeways don't come within 50 miles or more of the city, so the implied destination (at least to me) is the greater Los Angeles area, where connections can be made to get you to L.A. proper.

[TheStranger]

But as mentioned in another recent thread, Los Angeles is used as a control on I-15 in Las Vegas and I-40 in Arizona even though those freeways don't come within 50 miles or more of the city, so the implied destination (at least to me) is the greater Los Angeles area, where connections can be made to get you to L.A. proper.

A couple of thoughts of that (and this also applies to Route 14 using Los Angeles as a control despite barely making it into city limits) -

1. Isn't that somewhat a vestige of former routes (US 91 and US 66 respectively) which did enter the city?  66 did make it downtown (91 didn't though, but did run concurrent with 66 along today's I-15 from Barstow to Cajon)

2. I feel like "Los Angeles" as a control is more to point towards routes that DO go to Downtown Los Angeles - Route 14's southbound control of LA leading to I-5's southbound control of LA; I-15's southbound control of LA leading to I-10 west heading to downtown LA.  (Similar example outside of this: Route 120 west in Manteca and I-5 south in Stockton each being signed for "San Francisco")

[Occidental Tourist]

FWIW, I could see Anaheim (in addition to Santa Ana, as previously mentioned) on I-5 signs. I've never seen any counties as control cities, so no Orange County here.

I've always advocated for Anaheim being used as a control city on the 5 and the 91 freeways.  On the 5, there'd be a very short length of freeway southbound where the control city would switch to Santa Ana, probably somewhere from Harbor down to 17th Street. And northbound I'd suggest dually signing Anaheim and Santa Ana as control cities from the 55 freeway north, and Anaheim as the control city from midway between the 55 and 57 freeways.

[MarkF]

FWIW, I could see Anaheim (in addition to Santa Ana, as previously mentioned) on I-5 signs. I've never seen any counties as control cities, so no Orange County here.

I've always advocated for Anaheim being used as a control city on the 5 and the 91 freeways.  On the 5, there'd be a very short length of freeway southbound where the control city would switch to Santa Ana, probably somewhere from Harbor down to 17th Street. And northbound I'd suggest dually signing Anaheim and Santa Ana as control cities from the 55 freeway north, and Anaheim as the control city from midway between the 55 and 57 freeways.

Better there than where they currently post it - on northbound CA 55.

[Sub-Urbanite]

San Diego
Other Republican Cities

[Desert Man]

Two of CA's largest cities: Anaheim (9th) and Santa Ana (10th in the 2010 census) are in the OC. Anaheim is more known for Disneyland within its city limits, while less renowned Santa Ana is the county seat. On the I-5 in L.A., Santa Ana is the control city due to political and economic reasons over Anaheim, unless you know where the Angels and Ducks play their home games.

[jeffandnicole]

While NJ & NE are used as control cities, they're not the most useful of control points.  Yeah, it gets you to the state or region, but that's all.

Since you are looking at 'Orange County' as a small region that fits well...from here in Jersey, imagine someone from California using 'Jersey Shore' as a control city.  Yeah, again, it gets you in the area.  But are you going to be where you want to go, when the Jersey Shoreline is about 130 miles long?

It's also why some people dislike the 'Shore Points' Control City already in use in NJ.

[mrsman]

Control cities should be as specific as possible, and ideally, they should be cities.