SANTA MONICA FREEWAY

The 'Santa Monica Freeway' is the westernmost segment of Interstate 10, beginning at the western terminus of I-10 at the Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica, California and ending southeast of downtown Los Angeles at the famous East Los Angeles Interchange. (I-10 continues as the San Bernardino Freeway.) The section between the Harbor and San Diego freeways is also signed as the 'Rosa Parks Freeway'. The freeway is signed as the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway in Santa Monica. The freeway is 14 lanes wide (2 local, 5 express in each direction) from the Harbor Freeway interchange to the Arlington Avenue offramp; most of these lanes are full at peak travel times (even on Saturdays). The remainder of the freeway varies between 8 and 10 lanes in width. The whole freeway was opened in 1964.
While the construction of the Century Freeway several miles to the south eased traffic congestion to a considerable amount by creating an alternate route from downtown to Los Angeles International Airport, the Santa Monica Freeway is still one of the busiest freeways in the world. All three freeway-to-freeway interchanges along its length are notorious for their congestion and are routinely ranked among the top 10 most congested spots in the United States.

Contents

Accidents

Fame

Legal definition

Control cities

Communities served

Major Intersections

References

Accidents

Due to the high traffic volume, car accidents are so common that Caltrans has constructed special Accident Investigation Sites separated from the freeway by fences. These enable the California Highway Patrol to quickly clear accidents from the through traffic lanes, and the fences reduce congestion by preventing rubbernecking (where cars slow to watch the accident investigation).

Fame

The Santa Monica Freeway is the freeway for which ground is being broken in the film ''L.A. Confidential''. It is also remembered for a partial collapse west of downtown (at the large interchange with La Cienega, Venice and Washington boulevards) after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The title of punk rock legends The Minutemen's 1984 double album, ''Double Nickels on the Dime'', is trucker slang referring to the freeway's then-current speed limit of 55 miles per hour (90 km/h).

Legal definition

The Santa Monica Freeway is Route 10 from Route 1 to Route 5, as named by the State Highway Commission on April 25 1957.^[1]
The Rosa Parks Freeway is Route 10 from Route 110 to Route 405, as named by Assembly Concurrent Resolution 134, Chapter 2 in 2002.^[2]

Control cities

'Eastbound'

★ Los Angeles
'Westbound'

★ Santa Monica

Communities served

Communities along the length of the Santa Monica Freeway include:

★ South Los Angeles

★ West Adams

★ Koreatown

★ Country Club Park

★ Carthay Circle

★ Crenshaw

★ Beverlywood

★ Palms

★ Rancho Park

★ Mar Vista

★ West Los Angeles

★ Santa Monica

Major Intersections

County	Location	Road(s)[3]
25x20px I-10 Santa Monica Freeway becomes 25x20px SR 1.
Los Angeles	Culver City	24x20px I-405 San Diego Freeway
	South Los Angeles	24x20px I-110-SOUTH/ 24x20px SR-110-NORTH Harbor Freeway
Los Angeles	East Los Angeles	25x20px SR 60 Pomona Freeway
Traffic defaults on Golden State Freeway and continues alonge 25x20px I-10 San Bernardino Freeway

References

1. 2006 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California, , , , Caltrans, ,
2. Ib. at 62
3. January 1, 2006 California Log of Bridges on State Highways