Interstate 5

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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 (Medford, 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.

History

An extensive section of this highway (over 600 miles), from approximately Stockton, California to Vancouver, Washington, follows very closely the track of the Siskiyou Trail. The Siskiyou Trail was based on an ancient network of Native American footpaths connecting the Pacific Northwest with California's Central Valley. By the 1820s, trappers from the Hudson's Bay Company were the first non-Native Americans to use the route of today's I-5 to move between today's Washington State and California. During the second half of the 19th Century, mule trains, stagecoaches, and the Central Pacific railroad also followed the route of the Siskiyou Trail. By the early 20th Century, pioneering automobile roads were built along the path of the Siskiyou Trail.

Route description

California

Southern California

Main articles: San Diego Freeway, Santa Ana Freeway, and Golden State Freeway

Starting at the United States–Mexico border in San Ysidro, California, as the John J. Montgomery Freeway, 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 to eventually cross the Tejon Pass through the Tehachapi Mountains with Path 26 power lines generally paralleling the freeway. The freeway then sharply descends for 12 miles from over 4,100 feet at Tejon Pass to around 1,600 feet at Grapevine near the southernmost point of the San Joaquin Valley, approximately 30 miles (50 km) south of Bakersfield and 4 miles south from where California State Highway 99 splits away from it in Wheeler Ridge.

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. For most of this section, the Path 15 electrical transmission corridor follows the highway, forming an infrastructure corridor along with the California Aqueduct.

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.

Historical Naming in California

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.

California State Law

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

Route 5 is part of the [Scenic Highway System], as stated by section 263.3 of the California State Highway Code.

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.

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.

Length

Miles	km	state
796.53	1282	California
308.14	496	Oregon
276.62	445	Washington
1381.29	2223	Total

Major cities

Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs. Listed from South to North:

• San Diego, California
• Santa Ana, California
• Los Angeles, California
• San Francisco, California (bypassed)
• Sacramento, California
• Redding, California
• Mount Shasta City, California
• Weed, California
• Yreka, California
• Ashland, Oregon
• Medford, Oregon
• Grants Pass, Oregon
• Roseburg, Oregon
• Eugene, Oregon
• Salem, Oregon
• Portland, Oregon
• Olympia, Washington
• Tacoma, Washington
• Seattle, Washington
• Vancouver, British Columbia (via British Columbia Highway 99)

Junctions with other interstates (south to north)

• Interstate 805 (bypass) in south San Diego, California ([Map])
• Interstate 8 in San Diego, California ([Map])
• Interstate 805 (bypass) in north San Diego, California ([Map])
• Interstate 405 (bypass) at the El Toro Y near Irvine in El Toro, California ([Map])
• Interstate 605 in Santa Fe Springs, California ([Map])
• Interstate 710 southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California ([Map])
• Interstate 10 at the East Los Angeles Interchange complex, east of downtown Los Angeles, California ([Map])
• Interstate 405 (bypass) in Sylmar, California ([Map])
• Interstate 210 in Sylmar, California ([Map])
• Interstate 580 in Tracy, California ([Map])
• Interstate 205 in Tracy, California ([Map])
• Interstate 305 in Sacramento, California (hidden, known as Business Loop 80.)
• Interstate 80 in Sacramento, California ([Map])
• Interstate 505 in Dunnigan, California ([Map])
• Interstate 105 in Eugene, Oregon
• Interstate 205 (bypass) in Tualatin, Oregon (southern junction)
• Interstate 405 (bypass) in Portland, Oregon (southern junction)
• Interstate 84 in Portland, Oregon
• Interstate 405 (bypass) in Portland, Oregon (northern junction)
• Interstate 205 (bypass) in Hazel Dell, Washington (northern junction)
• Interstate 705 in Tacoma, Washington
• Interstate 405 (bypass) in Tukwila, Washington (southern junction)
• Interstate 90 in Seattle, Washington
• Interstate 405 (bypass) in Lynnwood, Washington (northern junction)

Spur routes

• San Diego, California - I-805
• San Diego, California - I-905 (future)
• Los Angeles, California - I-105
• Los Angeles, California - I-605
• Los Angeles and Orange County, California - I-405
• Seattle, Washington - I-405
• Tracy, California - I-205
• Sacramento, California - I-305 (unsigned)
• Zamora, California - I-505
• Eugene, Oregon - I-105
• Tacoma, Washington - I-705

[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ] Auxiliary routes of Interstate 5

Notes

• 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 Orange County 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.

Exit list

Main article: List of exits on Interstate 5

References and external links

• http://www.ihoz.com/
• [California Highways -- Interstate 5]
• [Museum of the Siskiyou Trail]

California

• [WestCoastRoads - Interstate 5]
• [California Highways: I-5]
• [The Big Highways Page: California Route 5]
• [Western Exit Guide - Interstate 5 California]
• [Cal-NExUS: Route 5 North]
• [Cal-NExUS: Route 5 South]

Main Interstate Highways
4	5	8	10	12	15	16	17	19	20	22	24	25	26	27	29
30	35	37	39	40	43	44	45	49	55	57	59	64	65	66	68
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 - Replaced

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 0.5em auto; font-size:95%;" |- !colspan=5|Browse numbered routes |- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align: center;" |colspan=2 align="center"|← 4'' !California |colspan=2 align="center"|6 →'' |- style="text-align: center;" |colspan=2 align="center"|← 3'' !Oregon |colspan=2 align="center"|6 →'' |- style="text-align: center;" |colspan=2 align="center"|← 4'' !Washington |colspan=2 align="center"|6 →''

 

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