Interstate 605

Interstate 605
San Gabriel River Freeway
Route information
Defined by S&HC § 619
Maintained by Caltrans
Length:	27.40 mi[1] (44.10 km)
History:	1940s as a state highway, 1964 as a number[2]
Major junctions
South end:	I-405 / SR 22 in Seal Beach
	I-105 in Norwalk I-5 in Santa Fe Springs I-10 in Baldwin Park
North end:	I-210 / Huntington Dr. in Irwindale
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business State highways in California List Pre-1964 History Unconstructed Deleted Freeway Scenic ← I-580 I-680 →

Interstate 605 (abbreviated I-605, officially known as the San Gabriel River Freeway and colloquially referred to as the 605 (the six-oh-five)) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Greater Los Angeles Area of Southern California. It is about 27 miles (43 km) in length, and runs from Seal Beach to Irwindale, closely paralleling the San Gabriel River for most of its alignment. The San Gabriel River Freeway is one of the few Southern California freeways not named after a city along its route.

This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System.^[3]

Route description

The southern terminus of I-605 is at the San Diego (I-405) and Garden Grove (State Route 22) Freeways in Seal Beach. From there, it runs roughly north through the Gateway Cities of the Los Angeles Basin. It then shifts north-northeast, crossing the Whittier Narrows and across the San Gabriel Valley. I-605 then ends at its junction with the Foothill Freeway, (I-210) in Duarte, a small city located at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

I-605 follows most of the length of the San Gabriel River from the San Diego Freeway in Seal Beach to the Santa Fe Dam. Typically dry riverbed and flood basins are visible from many portions of the route, especially near the northern terminus. Also, the freeway features an HOV lane for carpools of two or more people throughout most of the route. The left shoulder is close to non-existent. The road also suffers from traffic jams regularly, especially near I-5 (the Santa Ana Freeway).

Signs along I-605's entrances and freeway junctions do not include destinations (control cities) such as "Seal Beach" or "Irwindale", but simply read "NORTH" or "SOUTH". In place of control cities, a simple "THRU TRAFFIC" designation is used on signs along I-605 itself.

Route 605 from Route 405 to Route 10 is known as the San Gabriel River Freeway, as named by Senate Bill 99, Chapter 1101 in 1967.^[4]

Other names

• The I-605/I-105 interchange is known as the Joe A. Gonsalves Memorial Interchange, as named by Assembly Bill 96, Chapter 129 in 2001. Gonsalves became the first person of Portuguese ancestry to become a member of the California State Legislature in 1962^[5]

Transportation

Metro Express line 577 runs through Interstate 605 between Interstate 10 and Interstate 405. The Green Line serves the Norwalk Station at the interchange of the eastern terminus of Interstate 105.

History

Approaching the northern terminus of I-605

Interstate 605 began construction in 1963 and the first section was opened in 1964 from Interstate 405 to Pomona Freeway CA 60. The newest section (extension to Interstate 210) was opened in 1971 was originally signed as SR 243. Originally it was planned as I-13 running from Interstate 5 to I-15. There are plans to extend it to SR 1 further south in Orange County, but strong community opposition means that it is unlikely that the alignment will ever be built.^[6]

Exit list

Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then.^[7] The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.

County	Location	Postmile [7][8][9]	Exit [10]	Destinations	Notes
Orange ORA 3.09-R1.64	Seal Beach	3.09	1A	SR 22 west (7th Street) – Long Beach	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		3.50	1B	I-405 south (San Diego Freeway) / SR 22 east (Garden Grove Freeway) – San Diego, Garden Grove	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; former SR 7 south
		R0.00	1C	I-405 north (San Diego Freeway) – Santa Monica	Signed as exit 1A northbound; former SR 7 north
	Los Alamitos	R1.41	1D	Katella Avenue – Los Alamitos	Signed as exit 1B northbound
		R1.41	2A	Willow Street	Signed as exit 1B northbound
Los Angeles LA R0.00-25.76	Long Beach	R0.29	2B	Spring Street, Cerritos Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		R1.74	3	Carson Street, Lincoln Avenue – Hawaiian Gardens	Former US 91
	Cerritos	R2.87	5A	Del Amo Boulevard – Lakewood
		R3.75	5B	South Street
		R5.05	7A	SR 91 (Artesia Freeway)
	Norwalk	R5.81	7B	Alondra Boulevard
		R6.81	9A	Rosecrans Avenue
		R7.65	9B	I-105 west (Century Freeway)
		R7.85	9C	Imperial Highway	Signed as exit 9B southbound
		R8.38	10	Firestone Boulevard	Former SR 42
	Santa Fe Springs	R9.35	11	Florence Avenue – Downey
		R9.61	11	I-5 (Santa Ana Freeway) – Los Angeles, Santa Ana
		R10.25	12	Telegraph Road – Santa Fe Springs
		R11.54	13	Slauson Avenue
		R12.05	14	Washington Boulevard – Pico Rivera	Signed as exits 14A (west) and 14B (east) southbound
	Whittier	R13.57	15	SR 72 (Whittier Boulevard) – Whittier	Former US 101
	Pico Rivera	R14.41	16	Beverly Boulevard	Southbound exit to Beverly Boulevard west is via exit 17
		R15.57	17	Rose Hills Road
	Industry	R16.65	18	Peck Road
		R17.41	19	SR 60 (Pomona Freeway) – Los Angeles, Pomona
		R19.39	21	Valley Boulevard – Industry	Former SR 212
	Baldwin Park	20.19	22	I-10 (San Bernardino Freeway) – Los Angeles, San Bernardino	Former US 99
		21.07	23	Ramona Boulevard – Baldwin Park, El Monte
	Irwindale	22.15	24	Lower Azusa Road, Los Angeles Street
		23.52	25	Live Oak Avenue – Irwindale	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		23.96	26	Arrow Highway	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		25.76	27	I-210 (Foothill Freeway) – Pasadena, San Bernardino	Signed as exits 27A (east) and 27B (west); no exit number southbound
	Duarte	25.76	27C	Huntington Drive – Duarte	At-grade intersection; former US 66
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access

See also

• California Roads portal
• Greater Los Angeles portal

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Interstate 605 (California).

v t e Auxiliary routes of Interstate 5 California 105 1051 205 3054 405 505 605 805 9052 Oregon 105 205 3053 405 5053 Washington 205 405 6053 705 1Former 2Future 3Unbuilt 4Unsigned