Interstate 5

I-5 redirects here. For the engine, see Straight-5.

Interstate 5 (abbreviated I-5) is the westernmost interstate highway in the United States. Its odd (as opposed to even) 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 (Eugene, Salem, and Portland); and Washington (Olympia, Tacoma, and Seattle).

Most notably, the metropolitan area not linked by this highway is San Francisco. San Francisco is about 80 miles (130 km) west of the I-5 alignment. Nevertheless, San Francisco is still 'interstate accessible' via Interstate 80 (I-80), a major east-west interstate that junctions with I-5 in Sacramento, as well as via Interstate 580 near Tracy and Patterson.

Along with Interstate 15, Interstate 10, Interstate 8, Interstate 40, and U.S. Highway 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.

Route Description

California

Detailed information on the sections of I-5 in Southern California can be found on the Golden State Freeway, Santa Ana Freeway, and San Diego Freeway pages.

In California 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 state highways providing connections. As previously mentioned, Interstate 580 provides a loop-route connection to San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area.

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.

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

Oregon

The highway runs from the Siskiyou summit and the California border, 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. 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 concludes at the Columbia River bridge.

Washington

The highway begins in Washington high over the Columbia River, before dropping 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 moderately hilly scenery, the 5 eventually reaches Olympia, then finally Tacoma and Seattle, before making its way out of the Seattle/Tacoma/Everett metro area, through the northern city of Bellingham to the Canadian border.

Length

Miles	km	state
796.53	1281.89	California
308.14	495.90	Oregon
276.62	445.18	Washington
1381.29	2222.97	Total

Major cities along the route

• San Diego, California
• Anaheim, California
• Los Angeles, California
• Sacramento, California
• Portland, Oregon
• Tacoma, Washington
• Seattle, Washington

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) around Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington
• Interstate 405 (bypass) in Portland, Oregon
• Interstate 84 in Portland, Oregon
• Interstate 705 in Tacoma, Washington
• Interstate 405 (bypass) in Tukwila, Washington and Lynnwood, Washington
• Interstate 90 in Seattle, Washington

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
• Tracy, California - I-205
• Sacramento, California - I-305 (unsigned)
• Zamora, California - I-505
• Eugene, Oregon - I-105
• Tacoma, Washington - I-705

Notes

Interstate 5 southbound in the Central Valley of California, near Lost Hills, California

• 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, in Oregon, about three miles 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 area, Interstate 5 is 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" that take place on the northbound I-5 were filmed on this freeway.

References and external links

• http://www.ihoz.com/
• California Highways -- Interstate 5

California

• WestCoastRoads - Interstate 5
• California Highways: I-5
• The Big Highways Page: California Route 5
• Cal-NExUS: Route 5 North
• Cal-NExUS: Route 5 South