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.
Read more about Santa Ana Freeway: History, Legal Definition, Exit List
Famous quotes containing the words santa and/or freeway:
“I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.”
—Shirley Temple Black (b. 1928)
“The landscape of the northern Sprawl woke confused memories of childhood for Case, dead grass tufting the cracks in a canted slab of freeway concrete. The train began to decelerate ten kilometers from the airport. Case watched the sun rise on the landscape of childhood, on broken slag and the rusting shells of refineries.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)