Dear Street Smart:How do they come up...
Dear Street Smart:
How do they come up with the numbers for the freeways? The freeways that my parents take me on a lot are the 405 and 118.
What if they build a new freeway? How would they figure out what number it would be?
Elliot Moskowitz, age 7
Van Nuys
Dear Elliot:
Those are very good questions. Many adults wonder about the same things but don’t bother to find out.
The agency in charge of the freeways, Caltrans, has the answers. First of all, the numbers give you a clue to the direction of the freeway.
Almost always, interstate freeways that end in odd numbers, like the 405 and the 5, run north and south. Freeways that end in even numbers, like the 10 (a zero counts as an even number), go east and west. So it helps you know which direction you’re driving.
The numbers also reflect the freeway’s purpose.
Interstate freeways that use just one or two digits, like the 5 freeway or the 10 freeway, are main routes connecting major population centers of the country.
If a freeway has three numbers, then it is either a bypass around the main freeway or a “spur route”--an offshoot of the chief roadway.
Bypasses will always begin with even numbers, like the 405 and the 605 freeways. An odd starting number, as in the 105 freeway, means that it’s a spur route. All of these freeways serve Interstate 5, which is why their last two numbers are 05. (Similarly, the 210 freeway is a bypass for the 10 freeway, while the 110 freeway is a spur route.)
The 105 freeway was opened last year and is the newest in Southern California. Caltrans plans no new freeways for the foreseeable future, so it may be a long time, if ever, before we have a chance to observe firsthand how they come up with a new freeway number.
Dear Street Smart:
I was wondering what you’re supposed to do when someone gives you instructions, and they say to go west on the Ventura Freeway, but the signs only give you a choice of north or south.
Naomi Moskowitz, age 10
Van Nuys
Dear Naomi:
Like your brother’s, that is a good question. You were very observant to notice, even though (presumably) you don’t drive yet.
The 101 freeway, called the Ventura Freeway in some areas and the Hollywood Freeway closer to Downtown Los Angeles, runs from our city all the way up to San Francisco. Because of this, transportation officials consider it a north-south artery. That is why the signs on on-ramps and freeway interchanges will often say north and south.
But here in the San Fernando Valley, the freeway actually runs east and west, as you will see on a map. So we give directions that way, and some of the signs do say east and west.
Yes, it can be very confusing. But here is your rule of thumb: On the 101 freeway, west means north and east means south.
Just don’t tell that to a compass.
Update: Back in June we published a letter from Dick Tyler of Sherman Oaks, who asked why the Sepulveda Boulevard-Ventura Boulevard off-ramp from the northbound San Diego Freeway only had two lanes at the bottom, even though there was space for a right-turn lane onto Sepulveda. That space is currently a striped-over shoulder.
We took the question to Caltrans, which sent out engineers to examine the area. With their research now complete, spokeswoman Pat Reid told us last week that Caltrans has agreed to remove the hatch marks on the right shoulder and install a right-turn-only lane, bringing the number of lanes at the bottom of the off-ramp to three.
Construction is expected to be finished by the middle of next month.