State Scenic Highway 163 163
State Scenic Highway 163 is a State Scenic Byway in California. Within California it covers roughly 21 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along State Scenic Highway 163 with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
State Scenic Highway 163 carries traffic through San Diego's Balboa Park on the Cabrillo Freeway, one of California's earliest freeways. Planning began in 1938, and after a narrow 1941 City Council vote approved a 200-foot-wide corridor through Cabrillo Canyon, construction started in 1942 on ground that had briefly been a lily pond. The freeway opened as US 395 in February 1948, the first freeway in San Diego County and one of the first anywhere in California, and was renumbered Route 163 in 1969. Community opposition later blocked plans to widen the road from four lanes to as many as ten, preserving its narrow, tree-lined profile through the park. The stretch through Balboa Park was designated a California Historic Parkway and found eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, a rare case of a working freeway earning historic recognition rather than being replaced by one. Eucalyptus groves rise on either side of the sunken roadway, giving commuters a brief, unusually scenic pass through the middle of a major American city park.
- San Diego, Balboa Park
- Cabrillo Freeway (opened 1948)
- California Historic Parkway
- eligible for National Register (1996)
- community-blocked widening
- one of CA's earliest freeways
Plan a drive on State Scenic Highway 163 →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along State Scenic Highway 163
No campgrounds are listed close to State Scenic Highway 163 yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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