California State Route 85

California State Route 85

State Route 85 (SR 85) is a freeway which connects the cities of Mountain View and southern San Jose in the U.S. State of California. The freeway, along its entire length, is named the West Valley Freeway. Sections of the route also possess additional names: a significant portion of the route is also signed as the Norman Y. Mineta Highway; also, a section which passes through Saratoga is named the CHP Officer Scott M. Greenly Memorial Freeway, whose namesake was killed in the line of duty on that stretch of freeway; finally, the stretch north of Interstate 280 is known as the Stevens Creek Freeway. The route provides an alternative to U.S. Route 101, bypassing downtown San Jose and instead passing through Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Saratoga, Campbell, Los Gatos, and San Jose's Cambrian Park, Almaden Valley, Blossom Valley and Santa Teresa neighborhoods. The highway intersects with Interstate 280, Highway 17, and Highway 87. Its total length is 23.7 miles (38.1 km); the length of Highway 101 that it bypasses is 21.3 miles (34.3 km).

The freeway was built in two phases: the first, comprising the northern half, runs 5.7 miles from Stevens Creek Boulevard near Interstate 280 to its northern terminus at U.S. 101 in Mountain View, was built in the 1960s. The second half, running 18.5 miles from U.S. 101 in southern San Jose to Stevens Creek boulevard in Cupertino, remained unbuilt until the 1980s and was opened in 1994. Prior to the construction of the southern half, the route was signed along surface streets from the end of the freeway portion southwards until its junction with Route 9 in Saratoga, which served as its southern terminus.