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Interstate 605 (abbreviated I-605, officially known as the San Gabriel River Freeway and locally referred to as The 605) is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in the
Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the eas ...
urban area of
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
. It runs from I-405 and State Route 22 (SR 22) in Seal Beach in Orange County to I-210 just south of the IrwindaleDuarte border in
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...
. The San Gabriel River Freeway closely parallels the San Gabriel River for most of its alignment, hence its name, which is one of the few Southern California freeways not named after a city along its route. Aside from changes to the interchange with I-105 (which did not open until the early 1990s), and the addition of an HOV lane between I-405 and I-10, I-605 is one of the only remaining freeways that kept its original alignment throughout its run through Los Angeles County since it first opened.


Route description

The entirety of I-605 is defined in the state highway system as Route 605. It is defined as such in the California Streets and Highways Code's section 619:
Route 605 is from:
(a) Route 1 near Seal Beach to Route 405.
(b) Route 405 to Route 210 near Duarte. Route 605 shall be known and designated as the “San Gabriel River Freeway.”
The interchange with I-405 and SR 22 was built to accommodate an unconstructed future extension south to SR 1 as outlined in subdivision (a). The distance is traversable via nearby Seal Beach Boulevard, but Caltrans has no intention to adopt the road as part of Route 605. The southern terminus of I-605 is at the
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
( I-405) and Garden Grove ( SR 22) Freeways in Seal Beach. From there, it runs roughly north through the Gateway Cities of the
Los Angeles Basin The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary Structural basin, basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an wikt:anomalous, anomalous group of east–west trending chains of mountai ...
. It then shifts north-northeast, crossing the Whittier Narrows and across the
San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley (), sometimes referred to by its initials as SGV, is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, with the city of Los Angeles directly bordering it to the west and occupying the vast majority of the southeastern ...
. I-605 then ends at its junction with the Foothill Freeway, ( I-210) just south of the IrwindaleDuarte border. Ramps from I-605 then extend north to Huntington Drive in Duarte. I-605 follows most of the length of the San Gabriel River from the San Diego Freeway in Seal Beach to the Santa Fe Dam. Typically dry riverbed and flood basins are visible from many portions of the route, especially near the northern terminus. In the mid-2000s, a HOV lane was added for motorists with two or more people to use between I-405 and I-10. The HOV lane ends at I-10 and there are no plans to extend it to I-210 at this time. With the addition of the HOV lane, the left shoulder was eliminated to avoid massive costs to widen the freeway. The highway also suffers from traffic jams regularly, especially the junction with I-5 (the Santa Ana Freeway). Newer signs with exit numbers replaced the older signs between the Orange County line and I-10 in 2016, with the completion of the I-605 and I-10 junction improvement. I-605 is one of the only Southern California freeways without destinations ( control cities) such as " Seal Beach" or " Irwindale" since its opening. Rather, cardinal directions ("NORTH" or "SOUTH"), and a simple "THRU TRAFFIC" designation in place of control cities, are used on signs along I-605 itself. I-605 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, and is part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the
Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...
. I-605 from I-405 to I-10 is known as the San Gabriel River Freeway, as named by Senate Bill 99, Chapter 1101 in 1967.


History

In 1957, the number for this route was proposed as I-13, as it is positioned approximately midway between I-5 and I-15 (although it intersects the former). That number was rejected, as was the second proposed number, I-102. Finally, the designation I-605 was accepted in 1958. I-605 began construction in 1963 and the first section was opened in 1964 from I-405 to SR 60. The newest section (extension to I-210) was opened in 1971 was originally signed as SR 243. There are plans to extend it to SR 1 further south in Orange County as SR 605, but strong community opposition means that it is unlikely that the alignment will ever be built. In 2020, there was a proposal to widen I-605, which would have added four new lanes to of I-605 between Norwalk and
El Monte, California El Monte is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the San Gabriel Valley, east of the city of Los Angeles. El Monte's slogan is "Welcome to Friendly El Monte" and is historically known as "The End of the San ...
. This proposal was rejected due to strong community opposition, in particular due to the fact that it would have led to the destruction of houses in Downey, California.


Exit list


See also

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References


External links


California @ AARoads.com - I-605
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