San Bernardino Freeway
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I10eastneari15interchange.jpg
The San Bernardino Freeway serves as one of the primary east-west transportation corridors in the Greater Los Angeles area. Alternate east-west corridors are the Foothill Freeway, Interstate 210 (I-210); the Pomona Freeway, California State Highway 60 (CA/SR-60); and the Riverside Freeway, California State Highway 91 (CA/SR-91).
The massive volume of commuters traveling between Los Angeles and its eastern suburbs, and the heavy commercial truck traffic transporting goods/materials between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the railroad yards and warehouses in the Inland Empire, make the San Bernardino Freeway one of the busiest freeway corridors in the United States. In response to severe congestion in the early 1970s, the California Department of Transportation, otherwise known as Caltrans, renovated the freeway segment between the downtown Los Angeles and El Monte to incorporate one of the earliest examples of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) or "carpool" lanes. The east terminus of the carpool lanes is near the El Monte bus depot in El Monte at the intersection with Baldwin Avenue. The west terminus is at the East Los Angeles Interchange complex. The resulting "El Monte Busway" is one of the few undisputably successful mass transit projects undertaken in Southern California.
Uniquely, the carpool lanes of the El Monte Busway can only be entered and exited at the east and west termini as the entire length is demarcated with two 'double-yellow' lines (which are technically illegal to cross) and an approximately 12' wide asphalt median; carpool lanes in other California freeways (including other segments of the San Bernardino Freeway) generally allow entry and exit at multiple points which generally coincide with a nearby street or freeway interchange. Apparently, the Caltrans planners must have assumed that users of the El Monte Busway would not be making 'short', local trips but instead were traveling the full distance.
An additional mode of mass transit, passenger trains operated by Metrolink, shares the alignment of this freeway between the El Monte bus depot and Union Station near downtown Los Angeles. These trains travel along a track located in the median of the freeway; a similar type of 'multi-modal' alignment exists along the Foothill and Century freeways.
Recently (within the last 10 years), additional HOV lanes have been added (one lane per direction) to the freeway segment between the Kellogg interchange complex in Pomona and the interchange with the Ontario Freeway, Interstate 15 (I-15) in Ontario. An additional 2 miles of HOV lanes were also added to the freeway segment between the east terminus of the existing, original 'El Monte Busway' and the San Gabriel River Freeway, Interstate 605 (I-605) in Baldwin Park.
Cities/Communities along the San Bernardino Freeway (west to east)
- Boyle Heights
- Monterey Park
- Alhambra
- San Gabriel
- Rosemead
- El Monte
- Baldwin Park
- West Covina
- Covina
- San Dimas
- Pomona
- Claremont
- Montclair
- Upland
- Ontario
- Fontana
- Rialto
- Colton
- San Bernardino
Major Freeways/Highways intersecting the San Bernardino Freeway (west to east)
- Hollywood Freeway - US Route 101 (U.S. 101);
- Santa Ana Freeway/Golden State Freeway- Interstate 5 (I-5); and
- Santa Monica Freeway- Interstate 10 (I-10)
at the East Los Angeles Interchange complex) at about 34° 02' 37"N, 118° 13' 09"W
- Long Beach Freeway - Interstate 710 (I-710) in Commerce
at 34° 03' 40"N, 118° 09' 55"W
- San Gabriel River Freeway - Interstate 605 (I-605) in Baldwin Park
at 34° 03' 54"N, 118° 00' 00"W
- Foothill Freeway - Interstate 210 (I-210) before late 2003; Orange Freeway - California State Route 57 (CA/SR-57) after late 2003 (at the Kellogg interchange complex) in San Dimas
at 34° 03' 55"N, 117° 48' 23"W
- Chino Valley Freeway - California State Route 71 (CA/SR-71) (at the Kellogg interchange complex) in San Dimas
at 34° 04' 00"N, 117° 48' 11"W
- Ontario Freeway - Interstate 15 (I-15) in Ontario
at 34° 04' 03"N, 117° 32' 42"W
- Barstow Freeway - Interstate 215 (I-215) in San Bernardino
at 34° 03' 51"N, 117° 17' 47"W