Golden State Freeway

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Golden State Freeway
Maintained by Caltrans
South end: I-10 / US 101 in Los Angeles
Major
junctions:		 SR 134 near Glendale
SR 14 near Santa Clarita
North end: SR 99 in Lebec
System: Southern California freeways
State highways in California (list - pre-1964)
County routes in California (list)
History - Unconstructed - Deleted - Freeway - Scenic

The Golden State Freeway is a north-south freeway running through Kern County and Los Angeles County, California. Originally built as U.S. Route 99, it was re-signed as Interstate 5 in 1964.

Contents

[edit] Route description

I-5 and State Route 99 converge near the southernmost point of the San Joaquin Valley, approximately 30 miles (50 km) south of Bakersfield. At this point, the Golden State Freeway begins. It travels southward through the valley until sharply rising to cross the Tejon Pass through the Tehachapi Mountains, continuing through Grapevine Canyon. Path 26 power lines, a southern extension of Path 15, follow the freeway across the pass and onto Pyramid Lake. At one point along the treacherous route, the separated northbound and southbound lanes actually invert, with the southbound lanes being to the east of the northbound ones. The freeway continues into the Santa Clarita Valley, and then crosses Newhall Pass through the Santa Susana Mountains to enter the San Fernando Valley, and in turn, Los Angeles. Several major freeways split from the Golden State Freeway within a few miles of this point: the Foothill Freeway (I-210) near Sylmar, the San Diego Freeway (I-405) in Mission Hills, and the Hollywood Freeway (US 101 & SR-170) in Sun Valley. Traveling through the cities of Burbank and Glendale, it closely follows the Los Angeles River as it skirts the Hollywood Hills. It ends at the East Los Angeles Interchange in Boyle Heights; I-5 continues thereafter as the Santa Ana Freeway.

While the former surface street portions of State Route 99 are often named the Golden State Highway or Golden State Avenue, Highway 99 itself is not called the Golden State Freeway.

[edit] Legal definition

The Golden State Freeway is Route 5 from the 5/10/60/101 Junction to Route 14, as named by the Metropolitan Transportation Engineering Board on February 28, 1958.[1] Note that the segment from State Route 14 to Highway 99 is still legally unofficial.

[edit] Earthquakes and the Golden State Freeway

The Golden State Freeway at rush hour in the San Fernando Valley
The Golden State Freeway at rush hour in the San Fernando Valley

On February 9, 1971, the Sylmar earthquake destroyed a portion of the Golden State Freeway, including its interchange (then under construction) with the Antelope Valley Freeway, between the Santa Clarita and San Fernando Valleys. It was soon rebuilt with greater seismic reinforcement, but nevertheless sustained heavy damage in the January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake (and again had to be rebuilt).

The risk of earthquake damage to the freeway remains high, as the Grapevine route crosses the notorious San Andreas Fault. The risk along this route is such that the proposed high-speed rail corridor between Los Angeles and San Francisco, originally planned to be built within the Golden State Freeway's alignment, will instead veer east into the Antelope Valley, going through the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster before traversing the more seismically stable Tehachapi Pass on its way to Bakersfield. Despite adding over 50 miles (80 km) of line to the railroad and 20 minutes to its travel time, the route change will save billions of dollars in construction costs, as Tehachapi Pass presents relatively few engineering challenges.

[edit] Exit list

Note: Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured in 1964, based on the alignment as it existed at that time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.
County Location Postmile
[2][3][4]		 #[5] Destinations Notes
Los Angeles
(LA 16.88-R88.61)		 Los Angeles 16.88 I-5 south (Santa Ana Freeway) – Santa Ana Continuation beyond US 101
16.47 134B SR 60 east (Pomona Freeway) – Pomona Southbound left exit and northbound entrance
16.59 134A Soto Street Southbound exit and northbound entrance
16.90 134C Seventh Street No southbound exit; left exit northbound
16.90 I-10 west (Santa Monica Freeway) – Santa Monica South end of I-10 overlap; southbound exit and northbound entrance
17.56 135A Fourth Street Former SR 60[6]
18.06 135B Cesar Chavez Avenue
18.45 135C I-10 east (San Bernardino Freeway) – San Bernardino North end of I-10 overlap; signed as exit 135B southbound
18.78 135C Mission Road No northbound exit
19.20 136A Main Street Signed as exit 136 southbound; no entrance ramps
19.73 136B Broadway Southbound exit is part of exit 137A
20.44 137B SR 110 north (Pasadena Freeway) – Pasadena Signed as exit 137A southbound
20.5 137A Figueroa Street Southbound exit is part of exit 137B; former SR 159/SR 163 north
20.7 137B SR 110 south (Pasadena Freeway) – Los Angeles Southbound exit and northbound entrance
21.94 138 Stadium Way
22.55 139 SR 2 (Glendale Freeway) – Glendale, Echo Park Signed as exits 139A (north) and 139B (south) northbound
22.97 140A Fletcher Drive Southbound exit and northbound entrance; former SR 2
23.66 140B Glendale Boulevard Signed as exit 140 northbound
24.33 141A Los Feliz Boulevard Signed as exit 141 southbound
24.60 141B Griffith Park Northbound exit and southbound entrance
25.78 142 Colorado Street Former SR 134 east/SR 163 south
26.47 144A Zoo Drive No southbound exit; serves Los Angeles Zoo
26.65 144A SR 134 east (Ventura Freeway) – Glendale, Pasadena Signed as exit 144 southbound
27.08 144B SR 134 west (Ventura Freeway) – Ventura Northbound exit and southbound entrance
Glendale 27.84 145A Western Avenue
Burbank 28.43 145B Alameda Avenue Former SR 134 west
29.16 146A Olive Avenue, Verdugo Avenue – Burbank
29.78 146B Burbank Boulevard
30.47 147A Scott Road – Burbank Signed as exit 147 southbound; no southbound entrance
30.75 147B Lincoln Street Northbound exit and southbound entrance
31.23 148 Buena Vista Street
Los Angeles 32.35 149 Hollywood Way
33.28 150A Glenoaks Boulevard Northbound exit and southbound entrance
33.68 150B Sunland Boulevard – Sun Valley Signed as exit 150 southbound
34.28 151 Penrose Street No northbound entrance
34.65-
34.99		 152 Lankershim Boulevard, Tuxford Street – North Hollywood Former SR 170
35.94 153A Sheldon Street
36.36 153B SR 170 south (Hollywood Freeway) – Hollywood Southbound exit and northbound entrance
36.86 153B Branford Street Northbound exit and southbound entrance
37.41 154 Osborne Street – Arleta
37.96 155A Terra Bella Street Northbound exit and southbound entrance
38.50 155B Van Nuys Boulevard – Pacoima Northbound exit and southbound entrance
39.05 156A Paxton Street Signed as exit 156B northbound
39.36 156B SR 118 (Ronald Reagan Freeway) Signed as exit 156A northbound; southbound exit to SR 118 west is via exit 156A
39.98 157A Brand Boulevard – San Fernando Northbound exit and southbound entrance; former SR 118
40.24 157B San Fernando Mission Boulevard – San Fernando Signed as exit 157 southbound
41.60 158 I-405 south (San Diego Freeway) – Santa Monica Southbound exit and northbound entrance
42.65 159 Roxford Street – Sylmar Signed as exits 159A (east) and 159B (west) northbound
R44.01 161A I-210 east (Foothill Freeway) – Pasadena Signed as exit 161B northbound
R44.87 161B Balboa Boulevard Southbound exit and northbound entrance
R45.58 162 SR 14 north (Antelope Valley Freeway) – Palmdale, Lancaster
Santa Clarita R49.03 166 Calgrove Boulevard
R50.33 167 Lyons Avenue, Pico Canyon Road
R51.44 168 McBean Parkway
R52.47 169 Valencia Boulevard
R53.57 170 Magic Mountain Parkway Former SR 126 east
R54.17 171 Rye Canyon Road Southbound exit and entrance
R55.48 172 SR 126 west / Newhall Ranch Road – Ventura
R56.60 173 Hasley Canyon Road – Wayside Honor Rancho
R59.01 176A Parker Road – Castaic Northbound exit and southbound entrance
R59.49 176B Lake Hughes Road – Castaic Lake Park, Castaic Signed as exit 176 southbound
R65.97 183 Templin Highway
R74.45 191 Vista del Lago Road
R77.96 195 Smokey Bear Road
R81.49-
R82.10		 198A SR 138 east – Lancaster, Palmdale Signed as exit 199 southbound
R81.76 198B Quail Lake Road Signed as exit 198 southbound
R85.80 202 Gorman
R88.57 205 Frazier Mountain Park Road
Kern
(KER R0.00-R15.86)		 1.61 207 Lebec
5.02 210 Fort Tejon
10.15 215 Grapevine
13.52 219 Laval Road Signed as exits 219A (east) and 219B (west)
R15.86 I-5 north (West Side Freeway) – San Francisco, Sacramento Northbound exit and southbound entrance
R15.86 221 SR 99 north – Bakersfield, Fresno Northbound exit and southbound entrance

[edit] References

  1. ^ 2007 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California. Caltrans, 60. Retrieved on 2007-03-28. 
  2. ^ California Department of Transportation, State Truck Route List (XLS file), accessed January 2008
  3. ^ California Department of Transportation, Log of Bridges on State Highways, July 2007
  4. ^ California Department of Transportation, All Traffic Volumes on CSHS, 2005 and 2006
  5. ^ California Department of Transportation, California Numbered Exit Uniform System, I-5, accessed January 2008
  6. ^ Division of Highways, Los Angeles and Vicinity, 1963: shows that Legislative Route 172, which became SR 60 in 1964, was on Fourth Street
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