U.S. Route 101 (US101) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway, stretching from Los Angeles, California, to Tumwater, Washington. The California portion of US101 is one of the last remaining and longest U.S. Routes still active in the state, and the longest highway of any kind in California.[8] US101 was also one of the original national routes established in 1926. Significant portions of US101 between the Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area follow El Camino Real, the commemorative route connecting the former Alta California's 21 missions.
The south terminus of US101 is in Los Angeles, about one mile (1.6km) east of downtown Los Angeles at the East Los Angeles Interchange, also known as the "Commuters' Complex". This southernmost portion is named the Santa Ana Freeway, inheriting that title as the northerly extension of the roadway now known as I-5. US101 heads north for 2 miles (3.2km) before merging with the western end of the San Bernardino Freeway (I-10).
US101 passes right next to the Universal Studios Hollywood and then intersects with SR134 and SR170 at the interchange known as the Hollywood Split. Here, the alignment of US101 shifts to the alignment of SR134 (i.e. heading northbound, the road's alignment turns left, or westbound) and thereafter is referred to as the Ventura Freeway until it reaches Ventura. Though confusing, the "Hollywood Freeway" name continues northward from this interchange on SR170, and the "Ventura Freeway" name continues eastward to SR134.
From the Hollywood Split, US101 is an east–west highway (until it reaches Gaviota State Park in Santa Barbara County where it shifts back to a north–south alignment). It meets with I-405 in Sherman Oaks, an interchange which holds claim to the most traveled intersection in the nation.[citation needed] The east–west geographical alignment of the Ventura Freeway and the north–south designation which appears on the freeway signs can be confusing to visitors; the same freeway entrance can often be signed as "101 North" and "101 West"; this is most common in the San Fernando Valley where the local E/W signing does not match the Caltrans' proper statewide N/S designation.
After the Conejo Grade, which is a 7% grade incline, the freeway enters the Oxnard Plain and runs concurrent with SR 1 for the first time. Upon reaching Ventura, there is an interchange with SR126, which runs east to Santa Clarita.
Central Coast
North of Santa Barbara, US101 switches intermittently between freeway and expressway status (i.e. there is occasional cross-traffic), but there are no traffic signals until San Francisco. The last traffic signals along this stretch of the route were removed in 1991 when the section through downtown Santa Barbara was constructed to freeway standards after years of disagreement over the impact that the original elevated design would have on the community.[15]
From Ventura and through Santa Barbara, US101 closely follows the Gaviota Coast (generally no more than one to two miles [1.6 to 3.2km] from the shore) until Gaviota State Park, about 23 miles (37km) west of Goleta. At Gaviota State Park, the highway shifts back from an east–west highway to a north–south alignment. About one mile (1.6km) north of this point, the northbound lanes pass through the Gaviota Tunnel.
A few miles north of the Gaviota Tunnel, SR1 splits from US101 and heads northwest, running along the Pacific coastline parallel and to the west of US101. US101 passes through Buellton, Los Alamos, Orcutt, Santa Maria, and Nipomo. South of Santa Maria, US101 widens from a four-lane highway to a six-lane freeway. SR166 joins US101 for about 3 miles (4.8km) before splitting just north of the city limits, while US101 continues as a four-lane freeway before reverting to expressway status north of Nipomo.
Farther north, SR1 rejoins US101 between Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo. Then US101 takes an inland route through the Salinas Valley, while Highway 1 heads northwest, running along the Pacific coastline in California, parallel and to the west of US101.
From Paso Robles to Salinas, US101 is an expressway known as the Salinas River Valley Highway, since the Salinas River Valley extends from Santa Margarita to the SR156 junction in Prunedale. US101 resumes freeway status between San Miguel and King City, bypassing the smaller towns of Camp Roberts, Bradley, and San Ardo, as well as the San Ardo Oil Field about five miles (8.0km) south of San Ardo. Near this point, the wide agricultural bottomlands of the Salinas Valley begins. North of King City, US101 once again switches intermittently between freeway and expressway status, passing through Greenfield, Soledad, Gonzales, and Chualar before reaching Salinas. Shortly after leaving Salinas, US101 joins SR156 in Prunedale for about eight miles (13km). After crossing the San Benito County line, SR156 splits from US101 near San Juan Bautista while US101 continues northward mostly as a four-lane highway until it reaches Gilroy.
San Francisco Bay Area
US101 crosses the Pajaro River into Santa Clara County as a four-lane highway, with an interchange at SR25 a few miles later. Upon reaching Gilroy, it becomes the South Valley Freeway (as in South Santa Clara Valley), and at the same time, it expands to three lanes in each direction. It then enters Silicon Valley when reaching Morgan Hill, and shortly afterwards expands to four lanes in each direction, with an HOV lane in the middle, before reaching San Jose. From San Jose to San Francisco, US101 is known as the Bayshore Freeway as it passes through Palo Alto and the other major communities along the San Francisco Peninsula.
US101 is called the James Lick Freeway, named for James Lick, a philanthropist, from the San Francisco county/city line, through the interchange with I-280 at the Alemany Maze, until the junction with the San Francisco Skyway (I-80) and the Central Freeway near the city's Civic Center. US101 continues in a northwestern direction on the Central Freeway, and then leaves the freeway, on Mission Street (northbound) and South Van Ness Avenue (southbound), to run north on Van Ness Avenue. At the intersection of Van Ness Avenue and Lombard Street, US101 heads west on Lombard Street, and then on Richardson Avenue, entering The Presidio, where it becomes a divided highway again (the Presidio Parkway). It is then joined by Route 1 before approaching and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.
From San Francisco north the highway is heavily traveled by commuters through to Windsor, just north of Santa Rosa. North of the Golden Gate Bridge, US101 enters Marin County and is known as the Redwood Highway. After crossing the bridge, US101 climbs the Waldo Grade and passes through the Robin Williams Tunnel, the only one of its kind in 300 miles (480km) (the other being the Gaviota Tunnel in Santa Barbara County). Upon exiting the tunnel, it passes above the hillside town of Sausalito and descends to Richardson Bay, where SR1 splits from the freeway and heads to the coast. US101 then passes through Mill Valley, Corte Madera, Larkspur, San Rafael and Novato, before entering Sonoma County. The section between Novato in Marin County and Petaluma in Sonoma County changes from its original six or eight lanes through Marin to four lanes, creating a bottleneck, and is thus called the "Novato Narrows" by locals.[16] The Narrows continue up to the county line between Marin and Sonoma Counties. The entire area between Novato and Petaluma is also the voter approved Novato–Petaluma Community Separator, which forbids most development.[17]
Upon entering Sonoma County, the freeway widens again to six lanes from the county line to Windsor, passing through Petaluma, Cotati, Rohnert Park, and Santa Rosa. Upon reaching Windsor, the freeway returns to two lanes in each direction, crossing the Russian River in Healdsburg and then following the river up the Alexander Valley. SR128 joins US101 in the town of Geyserville before splitting just north of Cloverdale. US101 then heads up a steep hill just before leaving Sonoma County and entering Mendocino County.
North Coast
US101 crosses into Mendocino County as a freeway for one mile (1.6km), but then narrows to an expressway through the Russian River canyon and eventually a two-lane road south of Hopland, the first time since leaving San Francisco. Just before reaching Ukiah, US101 becomes a four-lane freeway. In the community of Calpella, SR20 merges with US101 for the next 15.5 miles (24.9km) to Willits. The freeway portion ends as the combined US101 and SR20 ascend the 1,956-foot (596m)Ridgewood Summit, the highest elevation along the route's 808-mile-long (1,300km) trek through California.[18] As US 101 resumes freeway status just south of Willits, SR 20 splits from US 101 shortly before it suddenly reverts to a 2-lane undivided freeway and eventually a highway north of Willits.
US101 then widens to a four-lane expressway until the intersection with the western portion of SR162, where it reverts to a two-lane road. North of Laytonville, US101 ascends Rattlesnake summit (1,796 feet or 547 metres) before a descent to follow the South Fork Eel River and Eel River all the way to Fortuna near the mouth of the river. About 12 miles (19km) northwest of Laytonville, US101 becomes an undivided freeway near the community of Cummings. SR271 is the old portion of US101 through this area. At Leggett, US101 meets SR1 for the last time, and from this point until Piercy, US101 runs along a section of highway with frequent landslides. Caltrans bypassed the most difficult section in 2009 with unique construction of two bridges known collectively as the Confusion Hill Bridges. This project, funded by an emergency act from the State Legislature, moved the highway across the Eel River away from the troubled spots to prevent disruption in commerce and travel from infrequent, but costly, winter closures on the main transportation route to the far North Coast. North of Piercy, the freeway portion again ends and the road narrows down to two lanes, before another stretch of divided highway.
Arriving in Humboldt County, another narrow two-lane portion of US101 bisects Richardson Grove State Park. Because of the narrow lanes and the redwood trees that tower over this segment of the highway, standard-sized trucks in compliance with the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) are prohibited through the park.[6][7] Just after the park boundary, the highway switches to a short undivided freeway and then eventually a divided freeway just before reaching Garberville. North of Garberville, US101 reverts to an undivided freeway, which continuing north by northwest, passes through the 53,000-acre (210km2)Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California's third largest State Park and the site of the largest remaining Redwood old growth forest in the world. A preserved portion of the original, bypassed highway route, known as the Avenue of the Giants for the huge, centuries-old redwood trees, parallels the highway for over 30 miles (48km) in southern Humboldt County. US101 again switches to another stretch of divided freeway near the town Pepperwood before reverting to a short, 2-mile (3km) expressway just north of Stafford. A short freeway then runs through Rio Dell before another short, 3-mile (5km) expressway.
Shortly before reaching the western terminus of SR36, US101 becomes a freeway again between Fortuna and Eureka. North of Humboldt Hill, the road enters the City of Eureka (a potential new freeway cutting through or bypass of the city was successfully blocked repeatedly). As the route traverses Eureka, the southern portion is known as "Broadway" and then as it bears east along Humboldt Bay, the Highway is aligned on a one-way couplet (4th and 5th streets). Five miles (8.0km) later the highway leaves Eureka's northern city limit and continues north. The expressway style section between Eureka and Arcata, which is also a safety corridor, is named the "Michael J. Burns Freeway," in honor of the State Senator who was a proponent of California's Highways. The highway becomes an unobstructed freeway south of the center of Arcata. Proceeding north it passes the junction for SR299 (also the western terminus for that route), in the Valley West (northernmost) part of the college town.
The highway continues north as it skirts westerly around McKinleyville on a high bluff north of the Mad River. As the highway reaches Clam Beach (a county park), motorists get their first magnificent full view of the Pacific Ocean north of the Golden Gate. North of Trinidad, the highway narrows to one lane in each direction after crossing Big Lagoon to pass inland of Stone Lagoon and follow the coastal bar between Freshwater Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean south of Orick. It becomes a 14-mile (23km) undivided freeway through Redwood National and State Parks running inland east of the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park boundary. The freeway narrows to one lane in each direction at the Klamath River before losing its freeway designation in Klamath. The original placement of the highway near giant Coast Redwoods led to increased awareness of the destruction of the redwoods after decades of extensive logging, which ultimately led to the establishment of Redwood National Park in 1968. The original highway segment through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is now a scenic alternate similar to Avenue of the Giants, named Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway in honor of the fourth director of the National Park Service and executive director of the Save-the-Redwoods League
North of the town of Klamath just inside Del Norte County, the highway closely follows the Pacific coast again. In Crescent City, US101 once again separates into a one-way couplet (L and M Streets) for nine blocks. As it leaves Crescent City, US101 becomes a divided freeway for the last time in California (built slightly to the west of the original two-lane alignment, now called Parkway Drive). As the 3-mile divided freeway portion ends, US101 intersects the southern terminus of US199, which heads northeast as the Redwood Highway, passing through the Collier Tunnel and terminating in Grants Pass, Oregon. US101 (no longer called the "Redwood Highway" at this point) is reduced to two lanes and continues north along the California coast until it reaches the Oregon border.
As of August2022[update], the HOT lanes' hours of operation is weekdays between 5:00am and 8:00pm. Solo drivers are tolled using a congestion pricing system based on the real-time levels of traffic. Two-person carpools and clean air vehicles with a solo driver are charged 50percent of the posted toll. Carpools with three or more people and motorcycles are not charged.[23][24] All tolls are collected using an open road tolling system, and therefore there are no toll booths to receive cash. Each vehicle using the HOT lanes is required to carry either a FasTrakFlex or CAV (Clean Air Vehicle) transponder, with its switch set to indicate the number of the vehicle's occupants (1, 2, or 3 or more). Solo drivers may also use the FasTrak standard tag without the switch.[23][24] Drivers without any FasTrak tag will be assessed a toll violation regardless of whether they qualified for free.[25]
The segment of the express lanes in Santa Clara County is co-administered by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) while the segment in San Mateo County is co-administered by the separate San Mateo County Express Lanes Joint Powers Authority, and so drivers will see separate toll charges when using each segment.[23][24]
This article is missing information about the original construction and history behind this route. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.(September 2020)
Distinctive route markers with symbolic mission bell and shepherd's crook are seen along the segments of US101 that follow the historic El Camino Real between Los Angeles and Marin Counties
Early narrow concrete pavement survives on some former alignments like this stage route near Mission San Miguel Arcángel was designated US101 until bypassed in 1938
Ferryboat Eureka at Hyde Street Pier with US101 sign
Historic US101 roadside attraction in Ukiah, now bypassed by the freeway
Instead of terminating in Los Angeles, US101 once continued all the way south through San Diego to the United States–Mexico border in San Ysidro. However, this part was decommissioned on July 1, 1964, in favor of I-5. Though much of U.S. Route 101 has been superseded by I-5, several street segments of former Route 101 exist.
Historic route in San Diego County
Much of the route in northern San Diego County is County Route S21; this includes Coast Highway in Oceanside, Carlsbad Boulevard in Carlsbad, Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas, Camino del Mar in Del Mar, and Torrey Pines Road in Torrey Pines. In San Diego, one alignment entered La Jolla Village on La Jolla Blvd, while a newer alignment went through Rose Canyon under what is now I-5. Roads followed by US-101 in San Diego included Mission Bay Drive, Pacific Hwy, Harbor Drive and Main Street. It ran along National City Blvd in National City, Broadway in Chula Vista and Beyer Blvd in San Ysidro.
Oceanside–Carlsbad freeway bypass
By the early 1950s, traffic had become very heavy on US101 through Oceanside and Carlsbad. The US101 freeway bypass (Oceanside-Carlsbad freeway bypass) was built in 1953 and completed in 1955 by the California Department of Public Works (now Caltrans) and brought up by the San Diego Highway Development Association on a US 80/US 101 discussion on how to resolve the huge traffic loads on US 101 in Oceanside. Today it is part of I-5 and Palomar Airport Road. It follows I-5 from Coast Highway (former Hill Street exit) in Oceanside to Palomar Airport Road in Carlsbad. From there the US101 bypass went onto Palomar Airport Road to merge with US101 Bus. on Carlsbad Boulevard. As it approached the Coast Highway/SR76 exit on southbound I-5 in Oceanside, US101 Bus. split off. US101 Bus. followed the original US101 through downtown Oceanside and Carlsbad as former Hill Street/Carlsbad Boulevard (CR S-21) while the US101 freeway followed modern I-5 and Palomar Airport Road. The south end of the freeway bypass is Carlsbad Boulevard and Palomar Airport Road and the north end is I-5 and the Coast Highway/SR 76 exit. The south end was modified after US101 was decommissioned between the East Los Angeles Interchange in Los Angeles and the Mexican border in San Ysidro. This freeway construction by the California Department of Public Works put US 101 on an all new highway route alignment to relieve Oceanside and Carlsbad of their very heavy bumper-to-bumper burdensome traffic problem. Also before the bypass in the 1950s, US 101 followed North Coast Highway (formerly Hill Street) from San Luis Rey Mission Expressway (SR 76 and north end of the Oceanside–Carlsbad freeway bypass) to Harbor Drive. From there it followed Harbor Drive to Vandergrift Boulevard, San Rafael Drive, and the freeway onramp for I-5 north near the Camp Pendleton north entrance guardhouse gate. It merges with the I-5 northbound onramp to shoot onto the southbound lanes of I-5 to follow the freeway lanes all the way to Las Pulgas Road in Camp Pendleton.
Historic route in Orange and Los Angeles Counties
An old orphaned alignment of US 101, that ran through the cities of Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel, San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point, and San Clemente, was located in south Orange County. The old roadway, from a dead end just west of I-5 and east of the railroad tracks in Mission Viejo to Cristianitos Road in San Clemente, followed Camino Capistrano, Doheny Park Road, Coast Highway and El Camino Real. It had interchanges with I-5 and California State Route 1. It was replaced by the San Diego freeway (which US 101 became part of it in 1958) and finally replaced by I-5 in 1968.
In northern Orange County, US 101 followed Harbor Boulevard. U.S. Route 101 left Orange County, traversed southeast Los Angeles County, and entered the City of Los Angeles along Whittier Boulevard.
El Camino Real: Los Angeles to San Francisco
Significant portions of US101 from its southern terminus to the San Francisco Bay Area is designated as the Royal Road or El Camino Real. The route roughly follows the historic trail that connected the former Alta California's 21 missions.
Before the Golden Gate Bridge was completed in 1937, there was regular vehicle ferry service across the Golden Gate strait, running from the Hyde Street Pier to Sausalito. Under the California Streets and Highways Code § 401, the Golden Gate Bridge is legally not part of US101. The portion of US 101 starting from Los Angeles ends at "the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge" and then resumes at "a point in Marin County opposite San Francisco" to the Oregon state line. The bridge itself is maintained by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District instead of Caltrans.
From the 1940s to 1991, various segments of US101 between Los Angeles and San Francisco were upgraded to either a freeway or expressway. In the Los Angeles area, the first segment of the Hollywood Freeway through the Cahuenga Pass opened in 1940, while the segment from the San Fernando Valley to Downtown Los Angeles opened in 1954, replacing Cahuenga Boulevard.[28] The Ventura Freeway then opened in 1960, replacing Ventura Boulevard.[29] The segment of the original two-lane alignment between Emma Wood State Beach north to the Mobil Pier Undercrossing near Sea Cliff, which followed the historic Rincon Sea Level Road, was the re-signed as part of SR1.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, US101 was originally divided. US101W followed the same general right-of-way of today's US101 through the region, primarily along what was originally signed as Bayshore Boulevard. US101E then generally followed the right-of-way taken by today's I-880 from San Jose to Oakland, then across the Carquinez Bridge to follow what is now SR37, joining US101W. The US101E designation was removed by the 1940s and became SR17 (later designated as I-880 and the westernmost section I-580), running from San Jose to Oakland and then across the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge. Meanwhile, Bayshore Boulevard was later redesignated as the US 101A bypass and then eventually upgraded to what is now the Bayshore Freeway. The first stretch that was completed between Redwood City and South San Francisco was the Bay Area's first freeway when it opened in 1947. After the entire Bayshore Freeway was completed in the early 1960s, the old alignment along the peninsula was renumbered and renamed as SR82/El Camino Real.
Various other freeway or expressway bypasses along the California Central Coast were also built. In 1991, the last traffic signal along US101 between Los Angeles and San Francisco was taken down in Santa Barbara.[30] The primary control city that is listed on freeway signs along northbound US 101 through the Central Coast region remains San Francisco.
As the result of freeway revolts in San Francisco in the 1950s, a direct freeway connection through the city to the Golden Gate Bridge has never been built. The Central Freeway was completed to extend from the Bayshore Freeway to Turk Street in 1959,[31][32] before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to remove the remainder of the Central Freeway and most other proposed freeways from the city's highway plan.[33] For decades, southbound traffic on US101 flowed on the one-way Turk Street from Van Ness Avenue to the Central Freeway, while northbound traffic used the parallel Golden Gate Avenue. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the structure, the segment of the Central Freeway north of Market Street was replaced with the surface-level Octavia Boulevard; traffic on US101 was then eventually re-routed to exit south of that at Mission Street/South Van Ness Avenue. With no direct freeway along US101 through the City of San Francisco, the old US101E/I-880/I-580 route remains as a faster bypass through the Bay Area.
In the wake of the dot-com bubble expansion, the segment of US101 between Morgan Hill and San Jose, also known as the Sig Sanchez Freeway, expanded to eight lanes between Cochrane Road and SR85 exits between 2001 and 2003 and a new interchange at Bailey Avenue, which had been planned since the 1970s, opened in 2004.[34] Originally, the ten-mile segment was only four lanes (it was planned to have six lanes when opened in 1984).[35] The improved segment was to alleviate the consistent congestion that had expanded as far south as Masten Avenue coming from Gilroy, and as far north as Bernal Road coming from San Jose.[36][37] Traffic now typically only runs slow between the Bailey Avenue and East Dunne Avenue exits.
The interchange at the beginning of I-280 and I-680 in San Jose was constructed years before its completion. The three flyovers, with no on ramps or off ramps connecting them stood at 110-foot-tall (34m) over US101 for years in the 1970s (the SR 87/I-280 interchange also had this at the same time). It became the butt of many local jokes. The highlight prank occurred in January 1976, when a 1960 Chevrolet Impala was placed on the highest bridge overnight, where it obviously would be impossible to drive. The following day, San Jose City Councilman Joe Colla was photographed standing next to the car, a photo which was circulated across many newspapers.[38] It has been suggested this stunt nudged the wheels of progress to find the funds to complete the freeway. In 2010, the interchange was named the Joe Colla Interchange.[39]
Freeway segments along the Redwood Highway portion of US101 are not as prevalent as along the Los Angeles-San Francisco route. A notable segment of the old US101 alignment is SR254, also known as the Avenue of the Giants, in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The freeway bypassing this scenic route, surrounded by towering Coast Redwoods, was completed in 1960.[41] Several bridges along the segment of highway running along the Eel River were destroyed during the Christmas flood of 1964.
Construction on a freeway segment bypassing Willits began in 2013.[42] The bypass around Willits remained controversial because the intended route goes through protected wetlands. Construction was halted by US Army Corps of Engineers in June 2014 and work restarted the following month after Caltrans committed to extensive mitigation of the project.[43][44] The 5.9mi (9.5km) bypass around Willits opened to traffic in November 2016.[45] The bypass included a 1.1mi (1.8km) viaduct going over a flood plain.[46] The freeway segment cost $459 million to complete, 50% more than what Caltrans first reported when it opened.[47]
The city of Eureka has long resisted a freeway through it.[48]
The Richardson Grove section of US 101 has been proposed for a bypass for many years, but Caltrans conducted a study in 2000 which stated that a bypass was not cost effective and recommended realignment of US 101 within the redwood grove instead to accommodate modern-sized trucks in compliance with the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA).[6][7]
Major intersections
Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage.R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers to an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see California postmile §Official postmile definitions).[1] Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted.The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.
Northern end of Santa Ana Freeway; southern end of Hollywood Freeway[55]Four Level Interchange; Grand Avenue not signed southbound; signed as exit 3B southbound; SR110 exit 24A
No southbound exit, which was permanently closed on October 17, 2015 due to weaving concerns with the construction of the new Universal Studios Boulevard southbound onramp.[57]
Northbound left exit and southbound left entrance; US101 north transitions onto Ventura Freeway west;[55] southern end of Hollywood Split; SR170 south exit 5A
Northbound exit and southbound entrance; southern end of Alemany Maze; ramps extend over the Silver Avenue interchange; I-280 north exit 54A, south exit 54
Ignacio Boulevard, Bel Marin Keys Boulevard, Entrada Drive– Hamilton Field
Entrada Drive, Hamilton Field not signed northbound; signed as exits 459A (Bel Marin Keys Boulevard, Hamilton Field) and 459B (Ignacio Boulevard, Entrada Drive) southbound
U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as El Camino Real where its route along the southern and central California coast approximates the commemorative trail which links the Spanish missions, pueblos, and presidios. It merges at some points with California State Route 1 (SR 1).
State Route 1 (SR 1) is a major north–south state highway that runs along most of the Pacific coastline of the U.S. state of California. At 656 miles (1,056 km), it is the longest state route in California, and the second-longest in the US after Montana Highway 200. SR 1 has several portions designated as either Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), Cabrillo Highway, Shoreline Highway, or Coast Highway. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 5 (I-5) near Dana Point in Orange County and its northern terminus is at U.S. Route 101 (US 101) near Leggett in Mendocino County. SR 1 also at times runs concurrently with US 101, most notably through a 54-mile (87 km) stretch in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, and across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Interstate 580 (I-580) is an approximately 76-mile-long (122 km) east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway in Northern California. The heavily traveled spur route of I-80 runs from US Route 101 (US 101) in San Rafael in the San Francisco Bay Area to I-5 at a point outside the southern city limits of Tracy in the Central Valley. I-580 forms a concurrency with I-80 between Albany and Oakland, the latter of which is the location of the MacArthur Maze interchange immediately east of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. I-580 provides a connection from the Bay Area to the southern San Joaquin Valley and Southern California via I-5, as I-5 bypasses the Bay Area to the east.
Interstate 680 (I-680) is a north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in Northern California. It curves around the eastern cities of the San Francisco Bay Area from San Jose to I-80 at Fairfield, bypassing cities along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay such as Oakland and Richmond while serving others more inland such as Pleasanton and Concord.
State Route 91 (SR 91) is a major east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves several regions of the Greater Los Angeles urban area. A freeway throughout its entire length, it officially runs from Vermont Avenue in Gardena, just west of the junction with the Harbor Freeway, east to Riverside at the junction with the Pomona and Moreno Valley freeways.
Interstate 280 (I-280) is a 57.22-mile-long (92.09 km) major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It runs from I-680 and US Route 101 (US 101) in San Jose to King and 5th streets in San Francisco, running just to the west of the larger cities of San Francisco Peninsula for most of its route.
The Santa Ana Freeway is one of the principal freeways in Southern California, connecting Los Angeles and its southeastern suburbs including the freeway's namesake, the city of Santa Ana. The freeway begins at its junction with the San Diego Freeway, called the El Toro Y, in Irvine, signed as I-5. From there, it generally goes southeast to northwest to the East Los Angeles Interchange, where it takes the designation of U.S. Route 101 (US 101). It then proceeds 2.95 miles (4.75 km) northwest to the Four Level Interchange in downtown Los Angeles. Formerly, the entirety of the route was marked as US 101 until the 1964 highway renumbering, which truncated US 101 to the East Los Angeles Interchange and designated the rest of the freeway as I-5.
State Route 85 is a state highway which connects the cities of southern San Jose and Mountain View in the U.S. State of California. The highway intersects with major highways such as I-280, SR 17, and SR 87. The route serves as a bypass of U.S. Route 101 in the Santa Clara Valley area, running through the foothill cities of Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino, roughly paralleling the Santa Cruz Mountains up to its interchange with I-280.
State Route 58 is a major east-west state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs across the Coast Ranges, the southern San Joaquin Valley, the Tehachapi Mountains, which border the southern Sierra Nevada, and the Mojave Desert. It runs between U.S. Route 101 near Santa Margarita and Interstate 15 in Barstow. It has junctions with Interstate 5 near Buttonwillow, State Route 99 in Bakersfield, State Route 202 in Tehachapi, State Route 14 near Mojave, and U.S. Route 395 at Kramer Junction. SR 58 also provides access to Edwards Air Force Base. At various points it is known as the Calf Canyon Highway, Carrisa Highway, Bakersfield-McKittrick Highway, Rosa Parks Highway, Rosedale Highway, Barstow-Bakersfield Highway, Bakersfield Tehachapi Highway, Kern County Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway, and Mojave-Barstow Highway.
State Route 152 is a state highway that runs from east to west near the middle of the U.S. state of California from State Route 1 in Watsonville to State Route 99 southeast of Merced. Its western portion provides access to and from Interstate 5 toward Southern California for motorists in or near Gilroy and San Jose.
State Route 87, known as the Guadalupe Freeway or referred to by the locals as Highway 87, is a north–south state highway in San Jose, California, United States. Before being upgraded to a freeway, it was Guadalupe Parkway.
State Route 126 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves Ventura and Los Angeles counties. The route runs from U.S. Route 101 in Ventura to Interstate 5 in Santa Clarita through the Santa Clara River Valley. The highway is an important connector highway in Ventura County, and serves as an alternate route into the Santa Clarita Valley, and the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles and the High Desert of Antelope Valley.
State Route 84 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that consists of two unconnected segments, one in the San Francisco Bay Area and the other primarily in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta area.
State Route 17 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from State Route 1 in Santa Cruz to I-280 and I-880 in San Jose. SR 17, a freeway and expressway, carries substantial commuter and vacation traffic through the Santa Cruz Mountains at Patchen Pass between Santa Cruz and the San Francisco Bay Area.
State Route 20 is a state highway in the northern-central region of the state of California, running east–west north of Sacramento from the North Coast to the Sierra Nevada. Its west end is at SR 1 in Fort Bragg, from where it heads east past Clear Lake, Colusa, Yuba City, Marysville and Nevada City to I-80 near Emigrant Gap, where eastbound traffic can continue on other routes to Lake Tahoe or Nevada.
State Route 156 is a west to east state highway in the U.S. state of California, running from State Route 1 in Castroville to State Route 152 near Hollister. It serves as part of the primary route from the Monterey Peninsula to either the San Francisco Bay Area or the California Central Valley.
State Route 65 is a north-south state highway in the U.S. state of California. It is composed of two segments in the Central Valley. The southern segment begins at SR 99, near Bakersfield and terminates at SR 198 near Exeter. It also serves the communities of Oildale, Ducor, Terra Bella, Porterville, Strathmore, and Lindsay. The northern segment begins at Interstate 80 in Roseville and terminates at SR 70 at Olivehurst. It also serves the communities of Rocklin, Lincoln, and Wheatland.
Interstate 10 (I-10) is a transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from Santa Monica, California to Jacksonville, Florida. The segment of I-10 in California runs east from Santa Monica through Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Palm Springs before crossing into the state of Arizona. In the Greater Los Angeles area, it is known as the Santa Monica Freeway and the San Bernardino Freeway, linked by a short concurrency on I-5 at the East Los Angeles Interchange. I-10 also has parts designated as the Rosa Parks Freeway and the Sonny Bono Memorial Freeway. Some parts were also formerly designated as the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway. However, the California State Legislature removed this designation following the passage of a bill on August 31, 2022. I-10 is also known colloquially as "the 10" to Southern California residents (See also California English § Freeways).
Interstate 5 (I-5) is a major north–south route of the Interstate Highway System in the United States, stretching from the Mexican border at the San Ysidro crossing to the Canadian border near Blaine, Washington. The segment of I-5 in California runs 796.77 miles (1,282.28 km) across the length of the state from San Ysidro to the Oregon state line south of the Medford-Ashland metropolitan area. It is the longest interstate in California, and accounts for more than half of I-5's total length.
References
1 2 3 California Department of Transportation. "State Truck Route List". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. Archived from the original(XLS file) on June 30, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
↑ McNichol, Dan (2006). The Roads that Built America: The Incredible Story of the US Interstate System. New York: Sterling. p.74. ISBN1-4027-3468-9.
↑ "Article 2 of Chapter 2 of Division 1". California Streets and Highways Code. Sacramento: California Office of Legislative Counsel. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
↑ Federal Highway Administration (March 25, 2015). National Highway System: California (South)(PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved October 7, 2017. Federal Highway Administration (March 25, 2015). National Highway System: California (North)(PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
↑ Natzke, Stefan; Neathery, Mike & Adderly, Kevin (June 20, 2012). "What is the National Highway System?". National Highway System. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
↑ California Department of Transportation (2012). Scenic Highway Guidelines(PDF). Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. p.5. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
↑ "Pay Tolls & Violations". www.bayareafastrak.org. California Department of Transportation. Retrieved August 14, 2022. If you use Bay Area Express Lanes, you must use a FasTrak toll tag, otherwise you will receive a violation notice including toll evasion penalties
↑ "Golden Gate Bridge". www.bayareafastrak.org. California Department of Transportation. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
I-5 / I-10 / SR 60 in Los Angeles 
US 101 at Oregon state line near Brookings, OR 
