Interstate 405 (also referred to as "I-405" and "The 405") is one of the principal north-south interstate highways in Southern California, and the major bypass of Interstate 5 running through the Greater Los Angeles Area. The entire 405 is known as the northern segment of the San Diego Freeway, despite being away from downtown San Diego. I-405 is a heavily-traveled thoroughfare by commuters and freight haulers along its entire length and has earned its place as one of the busiest and most congested freeways in the world, and the most congested in the United States. [1][2] It has played a crucial role in the development of dozens of cities and suburbs along its route through the Greater Los Angeles area.
The San Diego Freeway's congestion problems are legendary, leading to the joke that the Interstate was named 405 because traffic moves at "four or five" miles an hour. Indeed, average speeds as low as five miles per hour are routinely recorded during morning and afternoon commutes, and its interchanges with the Ventura Freeway (U.S. Route 101) and with the Santa Monica Freeway (Interstate 10) each consistently rank among the five most congested freeway interchanges in the United States. As a result of these congestions problems on the 405, it may take longer to pass through the entire Los Angeles area using this bypass route than merely taking the parent I-5 through the city.
Commuters are known to despise the freeway. Steve Harvey of the Los Angeles Times once featured a personalized license plate with the text HATE405 in his column. While much of this gridlock has to do with the lack of alternate routes between many of the areas it connects — some of which, such as the Pacific Coast and Laurel Canyon freeways, were proposed but abandoned for political reasons — the freeway would likely be busy even with the addition of other roads and mass transit solutions, as it connects so many important Greater Los Angeles area locations.
Points of interest along the 405
Major cities Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs
The 405 passes many recreational and commercial destinations. These include more than ten California state beaches, several other beaches owned by counties and municipalities, many of the beach cities favored by tourists, as well as Century City and Marina del Rey.
Civil engineers Marilyn Reece & Carol Schumaker, at Reece-designed I-10/I-405 interchange, 1964
Interstate 405 was approved as a chargeable interstate in 1955. It begun construction in 1957 and the first section was opened in 1961 signed as SR 7 which is mostly north of LAX Airport. I-405 sections west of Interstate 605 were done before 1965, and the newest section was done in 1969, covering most of Orange County. The freeway from present-day Interstate 10 to Interstate 5 near San Fernando was once known as the Sepulveda Freeway as it was named for the L.A. district now known as North Hills.[4]
The O.J. Simpson chase
While dangerous high-speed chases along the San Diego Freeway are not uncommon, perhaps the most famous chase in its history was also one of the slowest. On the afternoon of June 17, 1994, former football star O.J. Simpson, suspected in the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and waiter Ronald Goldman, took to the freeway in a white Ford Bronco (driven by former USC teammate Al Cowlings) with police in pursuit. A bizarre, widely-televised low-speed chase ensued and ended hours later when Simpson returned to his Brentwood estate via the Sunset Boulevard exit and surrendered to law enforcement.[5][6]
Other events
Following the 1966 UCLA-USC rivalry game, USC was voted into the Rose Bowl despite UCLA defeating the Trojans and both teams having only one loss. UCLA students protested by blocking the Northbound 405 lanes at Wilshire Boulevard.
In November 2003, Amber Stachowski, a collegiate water polo player for the UCLA Bruins and member of the U.S. National Team was injured in a motor vehicle accident on Interstate 405. She sustained a concussion, which kept her out of the water for two months. Six months later, she qualified for the Olympic team, which won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. [8]
Exit list
Note: Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured in 1964, based on the alignment as it existed at that time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.
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