Orange County Sign Now Showing On I-5

The monument sign is part of a Caltrans pilot project and is being incorporated into the freeway improvements through Buena Park
ORANGE – Are we there yet? If you’re heading south into Orange County on the Santa Ana Freeway (I-5), the question just got a whole lot easier to answer.
Officials from the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) unveiled a new monument sign welcoming visitors and signaling to locals that they have left Los Angeles and are almost home.
The Orange County sign, constructed of aluminum and resting on stone pillar bases, is part of a Caltrans pilot project in which 48 agencies around the state are participating. The goal of the project is to define and signify the character of distinct locations in California.
“Orange County has long ago broken away from its rural and suburban roots and transformed into a distinct metropolitan area and the monument sign is an excellent way to show the unique character of our county,” said OCTA Chairman Peter Buffa.
Two local companies were key in producing the monument sign. It was designed by Clark & Green Associates of Costa Mesa and fabricated by Outdoor Dimensions of Anaheim. The cost of the sign was $155,000 and incorporated into the total I-5 Gateway project budget.
The sign has been installed as part of the $325 million I-5 Gateway project, which is adding two lanes in each direction, reconstructing bridges and on- and off-ramps in a two-mile stretch between the Riverside Freeway (SR-91) and the county line. The project, which broke ground in 2006, is heading into its final year of construction.
When completed the I-5 Gateway project will help ease congestion on the stretch of freeway traveled by an average of 172,000 vehicles a day. Traffic is expected to grow to more than 300,000 average daily vehicles by 2020.