Interstate 5

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{{Infobox Interstate |article_route=5 |route_type=reg |type=Main |direction_a=South |direction_b=North |terminus_a=MX 1 at Mexican border in San Ysidro, CA |terminus_b=Image:Bc99.png BC 99 at Canadian border in Blaine, WA |junction=Image:I-8.svg I-8 in San Diego, CA
Image:I-10.svg I-10 in Los Angeles, CA
Image:I-80.svg I-80 in Sacramento, CA
Image:I-84.svg I-84 in Portland, OR
Image:I-90.svg I-90 in Seattle, WA |length_mi=1381.29 |length_km=2222.97 |year_established=1957 }}

Interstate 5 (abbreviated I-5) is the westernmost interstate highway in the continental United States. Its odd number indicates that it is a north-south highway (though in much of the southern half of California it runs in a northwest-southeast direction). Its south terminus is at the international border between the United States and Mexico in the San Diego community of San Ysidro, California (Map). Its north terminus is at the international border between the United States and Canada at Blaine, Washington (Map).

This highway links the majority of the metropolitan areas in California (San Diego, Los Angeles, and Sacramento); Oregon (Eugene, Salem, and Portland); and Washington (Tacoma and Seattle).

Most notably, the metropolitan area not directly linked by this highway is San Francisco, which is about 80 miles (130 km) west of I-5. To the south, Interstate 580 splits from I-5 towards San Francisco, while, to the north, Interstate 505 cuts south to Interstate 80, which serves that city. That routing, via I-580, I-80 and I-505, was once Interstate 5W.

Along with Interstate 15, Interstate 10, Interstate 8, Interstate 40, and U.S. Route 101, I-5 serves as one of the primary roads that link the Los Angeles/San Diego Metropolitan areas north and east to the entire rest of the nation.

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Route description

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California

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Southern California

Template:Main articles Starting at the United States–Mexico border in San Ysidro, California, I-5 goes through the suburbs of National City and Chula Vista before reaching downtown San Diego. It then parallels the Pacific coastline, going through the northern suburbs of San Diego before passing through the 28 miles of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in northern San Diego County.

At Dana Point, I-5 turns inland and heads due north through Mission Viejo to the El Toro Y interchange in southeastern Irvine. From that point, I-5 becomes the Santa Ana Freeway as it runs southeast to northwest, passing through major cities and suburbs in Orange and Southern Los Angeles counties.

When the freeway reaches the East Los Angeles Interchange one mile east of downtown Los Angeles, I-5 becomes the Golden State Freeway. The route continues through the San Fernando Valley and then crosses the Newhall Pass through the Santa Susana Mountains into the Santa Clarita Valley. From there, the Golden State Freeway sharply rises to the north through the Grapevine Canyon to eventually cross the Tejon Pass through the Tehachapi Mountains. The freeway then sharply descends to near the southernmost point of the San Joaquin Valley, approximately 30 miles (50 km) south of Bakersfield, where California State Highway 99 splits away from it.

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Central and Northern California

From Highway 99 to south of Tracy, I-5 skirts along the far more remote western edge of the great Central Valley, and thus here is removed from population centers such as Bakersfield and Fresno with other state highways providing connections.

Interstate 580 splits off from I-5 at a point south of Tracy, providing a loop-route connection to San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area. After passing Tracy, I-5 heads due north through Stockton and Sacramento before turning due west to Woodland. At Woodland, the interstate heads northwest again towards Dunnigan, where it converges with Interstate 505.

From Dunnigan, I-5 skirts north along the western edge of the Sacramento Valley to Red Bluff. I-5 then enters the Shasta Cascade, passing through Redding and Shasta Lake before climbing up to near the foot of Mount Shasta. The interstate then travels to Yreka before reaching the Oregon border.

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History

The portion of this highway from Los Angeles, California to San Ysidro, California was also co-signed as U.S. Route 101 until the late 1960s.

The portion of this highway from Lebec, California to Red Bluff, California roughly follows old US 99W.

In California the former western branch of Interstate 5 (the northern end of the spur into the Bay Area) connecting Interstate 80 out of Vacaville to near Dunnigan, previously known as Interstate 5W, was renamed Interstate 505. Interstate 580 running between I-5 and I-80 was also once designated 5W; what is now I-5 (the stretch that runs through Sacramento) had been originally designated Interstate 5E.

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California State Law

Legal Definition of Route 5: California Streets and Highways Code, Chapter 2, Article 3, Section 305

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Oregon

The highway runs from 4,310 foot Siskiyou Summit, the highest point on I-5, through Oregon's southern mountains and towns such as Ashland, Medford, and Grants Pass. Past Roseburg, the mountains tend to turn into hills, and by the time one reaches Eugene driving northward, they have entered the Willamette River Valley. At Eugene the highway intersects with the short Interstate 105. The interstate then heads almost due north, skirting near Albany and Corvallis, and passes through Salem, then tracks a little to the northeast, splitting off Interstate 205 south of the Portland metro area, hits the southern terminus of the the I-405 western downtown loop, crosses the Willamette River, passes the westernmost terminus of Interstate 84, picks up the northern end of I-405, follows through the northern parts of the city of Portland, then crosses into Washington via the Interstate Bridge.

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Washington

The highway begins in Washington over the Columbia River and drops down into the town of Vancouver. About seven miles into the state, it reaches the northern terminus of I-205, which is on the eastern edge of the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. It then tracks north by northwest to Kelso and Longview, WA, at which point it ceases paralleling a large bend of the Columbia. Continuing north through the Willapa Hills, the freeway eventually reaches Olympia, where it bends sharply east, then finally Tacoma where it bends sharply north again to reach Seattle. The freeway makes its way out of the Seattle/Tacoma/Everett metro area, crosses the floodplains of three rivers and the northern city of Bellingham to arrive at the Canadian border crossing between Blaine, Washington and Surrey, British Columbia. British Columbia provincial highway 99 continues northwesterly from the border into Vancouver, BC.

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Length

Mileskmstate
796.53 1282California
308.14 496Oregon
276.62 445Washington
1381.29 2223Total
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Major cities

Image:Interstate5 map.png

Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs.

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Junctions with other interstates (south to north)

Image:I-90 and I-5 cloverleaf seattle washington.jpg

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Spur routes

Image:I-5 near Shasta.jpg


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Notes

Image:Interstate5incentralvalley.jpg Image:I-5 South San Ysidro.jpg

  • Of the existing three-digit Interstate highways, I-105 is the lowest number.
  • Interstate 5 is the only Interstate highway to touch both the Canadian and Mexican borders; it may be considered part of the Pan-American Highway, a road that runs from Alaska, United States to Chile. It continues into Vancouver, Canada as BC Provincial Highway 99, and crosses from San Diego to adjacent Tijuana, where it becomes Mexico Route 1D. (If plans to extend I-69 continue as planned, that would be the second interstate to extend from the Canadian border to the Mexican border.)
  • The highest elevation on I-5 is Siskiyou summit, at 4,310 feet (1,314 m), in Oregon, about 3 miles (5 km) north of the California border.
  • There were plans to build a spur into Salem, Oregon, called I-305, as well as a spur in Portland off of I-405, called I-505, but they were never built. However, a stub of I-505 exists as a long exit ramp to US-30.
  • The interstate bisects the University of California, San Diego campus.
  • In the Los Angeles and San Diego areas, Interstate 5 is usually referred to colloquially as "The 5"; for the rest of California as well as Oregon and Washington state it is more likely to be called "I-5".
  • Randall Woodfield, the "I-5 killer", committed a series of rapes and murders along the long stretch of I-5 that runs through Oregon and Washington.
  • Specific scenes in the movie "Freeway" were filmed on the northbound I-5.
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See also

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References and external links

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California

Template:Ed rightMain Interstate Highways (major in pink) Image:I-blank.svg
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69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 (W) 76 (E) 77 78 79 80 81
82 83 84 (W) 84 (E) 85 86 (W) 86 (E) 87 88 (W) 88 (E)
89 90 91 93 94 95 96 97 99 (238) H-1 H-2 H-3
Unsigned  A-1 A-2 A-3 A-4 PRI-1 PRI-2 PRI-3
Lists  Main - Auxiliary - Suffixed - Business - Proposed - Unsigned
Gaps - Intrastate - Interstate standards

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