Santa Ana Freeway

The Santa Ana Freeway is one of the principal freeways in Southern California, connecting Los Angeles and its southeastern suburbs including the freeway's namesake, the city of Santa Ana. The freeway begins at the Four Level Interchange (also known as the Bill Keene Memorial Interchange) in downtown Los Angeles, signed as U.S. Route 101. From there, it proceeds 2.95 mi southeast to the East Los Angeles Interchange where it takes the designation of Interstate 5. Its alignment then generally goes northwest to southeast towards its junction with the San Diego Freeway, Interstate 405 (I-405), called the El Toro Y in Irvine.

North of the East Los Angeles Interchange complex, Interstate 5's name changes to the Golden State Freeway. South of its junction with I-405, its name changes to the San Diego Freeway. (Interstate 405 ends at this junction.)

An abundance of landmarks, most importantly Disneyland and Angel Stadium of Anaheim, along the Orange County portion of its route combines with a severe bottleneck beginning at the Los Angeles County border (shrinking from 10 to 6 lanes) to make it one of the most congested freeways in Southern California. The infamously busy intersection of the Santa Ana, Garden Grove, and Orange freeways in southwestern Orange is nicknamed the Orange Crush.