Interstate 605 in California

Interstate 605 or I -605 is an Interstate Highway in the US state of California. The highway forms a north-south route in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. The highway is called the San Gabriel River Freeway, one of the few freeways in southern California that isn’t named after a city on the route. The highway is important for traffic from Orange County and Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles, via I-5, and alternatively to the airport from San Bernardino County, via I-105. The route is 44 kilometers long. Locals often speak of The Six-oh-Five.

Travel directions

I-605 at I-10.

According to topschoolsintheusa.com, the highway begins at Rossmoor, east of Long Beach, at the interchange with I-405, which is the busiest road in the United States just south of this interchange. The highway mainly parallels the San Gabriel River to the north. You pass through some small suburbs like Los Alamitos and Hawaiian Gardens, and west of the highway is the large Long Beach. At Artesia, one crosses SR-91, also known as the Artesia Freeway, which runs from Carson to Riverside. The highway then forms the boundary between Bellflower and Norwalk, and a few miles further on it crosses I-105, which ends here in Norwalk, a city of 103,000 inhabitants. The highway has 2×5 lanes here. This leads to the interchange with Interstate 5, the Santa Ana Freeway, which runs from Los Angeles toward Santa Ana and San Diego. There is a lot of traffic going to and from the north here. I-5 has only 2×4 lanes here, and traffic jams can hit back on I-605.

It then passes through Santa Fe Springs, Los Nietos, and west of the highway is Pico Rivera, a suburb of 63,000 residents. After Whittier you pass through a hilly area, and you enter the valley of the SR-60 and I-10 Freeways. In the distance you can already see the San Gabriel Mountains, which rise to 3000 meters and often have snow on the peaks. In South El Monte, one crosses SR-60 or the Pomona Freeway, which runs from Los Angeles to Riverside. The 605 still has 2×5 lanes here. One crosses El Monte, which has 116,000 inhabitants. Here one crosses Interstate 10, the San Bernardino Freeway, which runs from Los Angeles to San Bernardino and Phoenix. The I-605 eventually ends in Duarte on theInterstate 210, the Foothill Freeway, which runs from Pasadena to San Bernardino. The 605 is one of the few highways that intersects all 4 east-west axes.

History

Construction of I-605 began in 1963, opening in 1964 from I-405 to I-10. The newest section, until I-210 opened in 1971. The highway was once planned as I-13 between I-5 and I-15. Striking about the design were the long straights compared to, for example, the I-710.

Opening history

HOV

I-605 at Bellflower, with an HOV lane on the left.

I-605 at CA-60 at South El Monte.

The I-605 largely has HOV lanes, namely from the I-405 in Long Beach to the I-10 in Baldwin Park, a length of almost 35 kilometers. Only the northernmost portion of I-605 does not have HOV lanes.

History

The first HOV lanes opened on April 2, 1997 between South Street and Telegraph Road in Norwalk and Bellflower. On April 3, 1998, HOV lanes were extended north to I-10 in Baldwin Park. On March 1, 2000 or 2001, the HOV lanes opened from the Orange County border to South Street.

Traffic intensities

Congestion

Southbound Interstate 605 between Beverly Boulevard and Florence Avenue is the United States’ 5th largest congestion bottleneck. 681,000 hours are lost per mile annually. It is also the 43rd most expensive traffic jam with a loss of $70 million a year.