Interstate 280 (California)

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Interstate Route 280 (legal definition)
Length:	56.88[1] mi (91.54 km)
Formed:	September 15, 1955 by FHWA[2] July 1, 1964 by Caltrans[3]
South end:	I-680/US 101 in San Jose
Major junctions:	I-880 in San Jose I-380 in San Bruno US 101 in San Francisco
North end:	Downtown San Francisco
California State Highway Routes < SR 276 SR 281 > Unconstructed - Deleted - Freeway - Scenic

Interstate 280 (abbreviated I-280) is a 57-mile-long interstate highway in the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan area of Northern California. I-280 is also known as the Junipero Serra Freeway. It runs from the US 101/Interstate 680 interchange in San Jose to the South of Market area in San Francisco, just south of AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants baseball team.

Contents 1 Route description 2 History 3 State law 3.1 Designation 4 Control Cities 5 Exit list 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Route description

In between San Jose and San Francisco, Interstate 280 passes through Santa Clara, Cupertino, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills before it settles along its scenic route just to the west of the cities of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Mateo County and just to the east of the Santa Cruz Mountains. When Interstate 280 re-emerges in a decidedly urbanized area, it does so in the city of San Bruno and the interstate passes through South San Francisco and Daly City before it runs across a southeastern swath of the city of San Francisco on the way to its northern terminus.

Interstate 280, or at least the segment between Cupertino and Daly City, has been called the "World's Most Beautiful Freeway" and there is a sign stating this in Daly City. Drivers along this portion of Interstate 280 are treated to scenic views of the Santa Cruz Mountains to their west, San Francisco Bay to the east, and are isolated by hills from the suburban sprawl that lies just to their east. Through much of this segment, the freeway is actually running just inside the eastern rim of the canyon of the San Andreas Fault. A particularly attractive six mile (ten kilometer) stretch of the freeway from Hillsborough to Belmont provides a beautiful look at Crystal Springs Reservoir, formed by water piped hundreds of miles (kilometers) from Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, filling the bottom of the fault canyon.

For nearly all of its length, Interstate 280 runs roughly parallel and several miles to the west of US 101 (designated as the Bayshore Freeway). Both freeways are north-south routes connecting San Jose with San Francisco; however, unlike I-280, the route that US 101 takes between the two cities goes entirely through urbanized areas. The majority of the population of the San Francisco Peninsula lives somewhere between Interstate 280 and US 101.

Interestingly, I-280 never intersects with its ostensible "parent" interstate, I-80. The northern terminus of I-280 is within about a mile of I-80's western terminus (at the approach to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge), but the two interstates do not actually intersect. Although San Francisco has had several opportunities to connect I-280 to I-80, it has chosen to use the money for other purposes. Connecting the two freeways is considered to be politically and financially infeasible at this time, due to the city's strong anti-freeway stance. (Instead, 280's northernmost extension primarily functions not as a through route but as a spur into Downtown San Francisco, as suggested by signage on northbound US 101 at its San Francisco interchange with 280.) For further details, read below.

Most of Interstate 280, from San Jose to San Bruno, is designated as the Junipero Serra Freeway in honor of Spanish missionary Junípero Serra, who founded many of California's missions in the 18th century. A 26-foot (8 meter) high faux-sandstone statue of Father Serra kneeling and pointing over the freeway is located at a highway rest area just north of the Highway 92 intersection between the Bunker Hill Drive and Black Mountain Road exits on northbound I-280 in Hillsborough, and can be clearly seen by drivers in both directions. The segment of Interstate 280 north of Route 1 in San Francisco was the original Southern Freeway, but has since been renamed the John F. Foran Freeway.

Major intersections include US 101 and State Route 1 in San Francisco, Interstate 380 in San Bruno, and Interstate 880 and 680 and US 101 in San Jose.

[edit] History

Interstate 280 was added to the Interstate Highway System on September 15, 1955 as a route from San Jose north to San Francisco. This ran along the present alignment of I-280 south of San Francisco, but in San Francisco it ran north parallel to State Route 1, past the planned west end of Interstate 80, to the south approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. At that point, Interstate 480 began and headed east on Doyle Drive (U.S. Route 101), the Golden Gate Freeway, and onto the Embarcadero Freeway to reach the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. I-480 would continue south on the never-built Southern Embarcadero Freeway to meet the Southern Freeway (now I-280), and meet up with I-280 again near Alemany Boulevard. The I-280 number was approved on November 10, 1958.^[2]

In the 1964 renumbering, the Route 280 designation was officially applied to the planned route. This replaced SR 1 in San Francisco; the new SR 1 alignment turned northeast where I-280 now runs, quickly ending at State Route 82 (San Jose Avenue/Alemany Boulevard). SR 1 however continued to be signed along its former (and current) alignment, which had not been upgraded to freeway standards.

A realignment approved January 1968 took I-280 onto its current route. This ran along what had been SR 1, SR 82, State Route 87 and I-480 (downgraded to a State Route then), ending at Interstate 80 at the west end of the Bay Bridge.^[2] This change was made on the state level in 1968, restoring SR 1 to its current alignment and truncating SR 82, SR 87 and SR 480.^[4]

The short piece of I-280 between 3rd Street and SR 480 in downtown San Francisco was never built, and the piece from 3rd Street south to U.S. Route 101 was reconstructed after it was damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The piece between SR 480 and I-80 was torn down along with the rest of the Embarcadero Freeway; all that remains of the I-80 interchange is a few ramp stubs, which will be removed as part of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Western Approach reconstruction project.

[edit] State law

Route 280 is part of the Scenic Highway System, as stated by section 263.8 of the California State Highway Code.

[edit] Designation

635.
 (b) State highway routes embracing portions of Routes 280, 82,
238, 101, 5, 72, 12, 37, 121, 87, 162, 185, 92, and 123 and
connecting city streets and county roads thereto, and extending in a
continuous route from Sonoma southerly to the international border
and near the route historically known as El Camino Real shall be
known and designated as "El Camino Real."

Source: California Streets and Highways Code, Chapter 2, Article 2.5, Section 635

[edit] Control Cities

Northbound

• Downtown San Jose - between US 101 and CA-87
• San Francisco - between US 101 and the north junction with CA-1
• Sixth Street/Civic Center - between the north junction with CA-1 and the northern terminus

Southbound

• Daly City - between Sixth Street and the north junction with CA-1
• San Jose - between CA-1 and CA-87
• Sacramento - between CA-87 and US-101

[edit] Exit list

Postmile[1]		Municipality	#[5]	Destinations	Notes
County	Statewide
SCL 0.00		San Jose		Interstate 680 - Sacramento	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
SCL 0.00				U.S. Route 101 - San Francisco; Los Angeles	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
SCL 0.36			1A	Mc Laughlin Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
SCL 1.29			1B	11th Street; 10th Street	Exit 1 northbound
SCL 1.55 SCL 1.86			2A	State Route 82 - Virginia Street; 7th Street	Exit 2 northbound
			2B	Vine Street; Almaden Boulevard	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
SCL 2.52			3A	State Route 87 - Guadalupe Parkway
SCL 2.87			3B	Bird Avenue
SCL 3.76 SCL 3.89			4	Race Street; Southwest Expressway	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
SCL 3.99			4	Meridian Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
SCL 4.50 SCL 4.94			5A	Leigh Avenue; Bascom Avenue
SCL 5.42			5B	Interstate 880 North; State Route 17 South - Oakland; Santa Cruz	Split into Exit 5B (SR-17) and Exit 5C (I-880) northbound
SCL 4.57	5.59		6	Campbell; Winchester Boulevard	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			7	Saratoga Avenue - Santa Clara; Saratoga
SCL 7.12 SCL 7.39	8.14 8.41		9	Lawrence Expressway; Stevens Creek Boulevard
		Cupertino	10	Wolfe Road
SCL 9.42	10.44		11	De Anza Boulevard
SCL 10.74	11.76		12	State Route 85 - Mountain View; Gilroy	Split into Exit 12A (North - Mountain View) and Exit 12B (South - Gilroy) northbound
SCL 11.47	12.49	Los Altos	13	Foothill Expressway; Grant Road
SCL 14.10	15.12		15	Magdalena Avenue
SCL 15.05	16.07	Los Altos Hills	16	El Monte Road; Moody Road
SCL 18.38	19.40		20	Page Mill Road - Palo Alto; Arastradero Road
SM 0.01	21.66		22	Alpine Road - Portola Valley
SM 1.56 SM 1.61	23.21 23.26		24	Sand Hill Road - Menlo Park
SM 3.32	24.97	Woodside	25	State Route 84 - Woodside Road; Woodside
SM 4.65	26.30		27	Farm Hill Boulevard
SM 6.60	28.25			Canada Road	Entrances only
SM 6.65	28.84		29	Edgewood Road
SM 10.82	33.01		33	State Route 92 - San Mateo; Hayward; Half Moon Bay
SM 12.32	34.51		34	State Route 35 South to State Route 92 West - Half Moon Bay; Bunker Hill Drive	SR-35 joins northbound and leaves southbound
SM 14.22	36.41	Hillsborough	36	Black Mountain Road; Hayne Road
SM 17.16	39.35		39	Trousdale Drive - Burlingame
SM 17.92	40.11	Millbrae	40	Millbrae Avenue	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
SM 18.52	40.71		41	Larkspur Drive; Millbrae Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
SM 19.29	41.48	San Bruno	41	State Route 35 north - Pacifica	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; SR-35 joins southbound and leaves northbound
			42	Crystal Springs Road	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
SM 20.75	42.94		43A	San Bruno Avenue; Sneath Lane	Exit 43B southbound
SM 20.98	43.17		43B	Interstate 380 to U.S. Route 101 - San Francisco International Airport	Exit 43A southbound
SM 22.04	44.23	South San Francisco	44	Avalon Drive; Westborough Boulevard	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
SM 22.62	44.81		45	Westborough Boulevard	No northbound exit
SM 24.20	46.39	Daly City	46	Hickey Boulevard - Colma; South San Francisco
SM 24.63	46.82		47A	Serramonte Boulevard	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
SM 25.29	47.48		47B	State Route 1 South - Pacifica; Mission Street	Exit 47 northbound; SR-1 joins northbound and leaves southbound
SM 25.78	47.97		48	Eastmoor Avenue; Mission Street	Combined with Exit 47 northbound
SM 27.17	49.36		49A	Daly City; Westlake District	Exit 49 southbound
SM 27.12	49.31		49B	State Route 1 North - 19th Avenue; Golden Gate Bridge	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; SR-1 joins southbound and leaves northbound
SF 0.74	50.36	San Francisco	50	State Route 82 to State Route 1 North - Mission Street; Daly City	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
SF 1.65	51.27		51	Ocean Avenue; Geneva Avenue
SF 2.69	52.31		52	Monterey Boulevard	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
SF 2.70	52.32		52	San Jose Avenue	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
SF 3.28 SF 3.87	52.90 53.49		53	Alemany Boulevard; Mission Street
SF 4.34	53.96		54A	U.S. Route 101 South - San Jose	Exit 54 southbound
SF 4.34	53.96		54B	U.S. Route 101 North - Civic Center; Bay Bridge	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			55	Cesar Chavez Street; 25th Street
			56	Mariposa Street; 18th Street
			57	Sixth Street	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
SF 7.26	56.88			King Street; Embarcadero	Northbound exit and southbound entrance

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} January 1, 2006 California Log of Bridges on State Highways
2. ^ ^{a b c} California Highways: Interstate Highway Types and the History of California's Interstates
3. ^ California Highways: Interstate 280
4. ^ California Highways: Interstate 280
5. ^ Cal-NExUS Interchange Exit Numbering

[edit] External links

• WestCoastRoads - Interstate 280
• Ladies of 280 - Interstate 280

	edit Auxiliary routes of Interstate 80
I-180	Illinois - Nebraska - Pennsylvania - Wyoming
I-280	California - Illinois/Iowa - New Jersey - Ohio
I-380	California - Iowa - Pennsylvania
I-480	Iowa/Nebraska - Ohio
I-580	California - Nevada
I-680	California - Iowa/Nebraska - Ohio
I-780	California
I-880	California
I-980	California
past/ future	I-180: California - Pennsylvania - I-280: Iowa/Nebraska - Pennsylvania - I-480: California - Pennsylvania - I-580: Nebraska - I-680: Pennsylvania