Interstate 5
Interstate 5 is an interstate highway along the west coast of the United States. Like other interstates, it is commonly referred to as I-5 by most Americans (Southern Californians typically call it the 5). 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). It extends from San Ysidro, California—south of San Diego—at the Mexican border to Blaine, Washington at the Canadian border and, apart from the San Francisco Bay Area, which lies further off to the west, links most of the major metropolitan areas on the West Coast. In California and Oregon the route runs up the central valleys of those states.
History
The portion of this highway from Los Angeles, California to San Ysidro, California was also co-signed as US 101 until the late 1960s.
The portion of this highway from Lebec, California to Red Bluff, California roughly follows old US 99W.
Length
| Miles | km | state
|
|
|
| 796.53 | 1282 | California
|
| 308.14 | 496 | Oregon
|
| 276.62 | 445 | Washington
|
|
|
| 1381.29 | 2223 | Total
|
Major cities along the Route
- San Ysidro, California (border of Mexico)
- San Diego, California
- Anaheim, California, and Disneyland
- Los Angeles, California
- Stockton, California
- Sacramento, California
- Redding, California
- Ashland, Oregon
- Medford, Oregon
- Eugene, Oregon
- Salem, Oregon
- Portland, Oregon
- Vancouver, Washington
- Olympia, Washington
- Tacoma, Washington
- Seattle, Washington
- Everett, Washington
- Bellingham, Washington
- Blaine, Washington (border with Canada, becoming British Columbia provincial highway 99 northbound)
- In California south of Tracy, I-5 skirts along the more remote western edge of the great central valley, and thus here is removed from population centers such as Bakersfield, California and Fresno, California with state highways providing connections. Interstate 580 provides a loop-route connection to San Francisco, California and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Intersections with other Interstates
- Interstate 8 and Interstate 805 in San Diego, California
- Interstate 10 and Interstate 110 in downtown Los Angeles, California
- Interstate 405 in El Toro, California north to Sylmar, California; also from Tukwila, Washington north to Lynnwood, Washington; also for a distance within Portland, Oregon
- Interstate 710 in East Los Angeles, California
- Interstate 210 in Sylmar, California
- Interstate 80 in Sacramento, California
- The western Interstate 84 in Portland, Oregon
- Interstate 90 in Seattle, Washington
Spur routes
- I-305 in Sacramento is the hidden Interstate designation for Business Loop I-80 and US 50 between I-80 in West Sacramento and State Highway 99 near downtown Sacramento. Unlike most signed routes in California, there is no assigned California State Route 305, but the number is reserved because I-305 is still used for funding petitions for this road.
Notes
- The western branch of Interstate 5, called I-5W, was replaced by I-505 and I-580, the main spur into the San Francisco Bay Area.
- There were plans to build a spur into Salem, Oregon, called I-305, but it was never built.
- 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 is part of the Pan-American Highway, a 17,000-mile road that runs from Alaska to South America. It continues into Vancouver, Canada as BC Provincial Highway 99, and crosses from San Diego to adjacent Tijuana, where it becomes Mexico Route 1D.
References and external links
