User:BenjaminTheTrainGuy/Santa Monica Freeway

The Santa Monica Freeway is a 16-mile freeway that runs the westernmost segment of I-10 and a small section of State Route 1 (SR 1), beginning at the McClure Tunnel in Santa Monica and ending southeast of downtown Los Angeles at the East Los Angeles Interchange.

Route description
I-10 begins its eastward journey in the city of Santa Monica when SR 1 turns into a freeway and heads east. SR 1 exits onto Lincoln Boulevard and heads south while I-10 continues east. Soon after it enters the city of Los Angeles, I-10 has a four-level interchange with I-405. I-10 then continues through Sawtelle, Rancho Park, Cheviot Hills, Beverlywood and Crestview in West Los Angeles, Lafayette Square and Wellington Square in Mid-City, Arlington Heights, West Adams and Jefferson Park into downtown Los Angeles. On the western edge of downtown at the Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Memorial Interchange, I-10 has an interchange with I-110 to the south and SR 110 to the north. I-10 then travels along the southern edge of downtown to the East Los Angeles Interchange.

At the East Los Angeles Interchange, SR 60 diverges east towards Riverside and Pomona. I-10 then turns north, running concurrently with I-5 for approximately 1.5 mi. Then, I-10 heads east and merges with the traffic from the spur to US 101 onto the San Bernardino Freeway. The freeway is 14 lanes wide (two local, five express in each direction) from the Harbor Freeway (I-110) interchange to the Arlington Avenue off-ramp. Most of these lanes are full at peak travel times (even on Saturdays). The remainder of the freeway varies between eight and 10 lanes in width. The whole freeway opened in 1965 with 4 to 6 lanes, with a formal dedication held in 1966.

While the construction of the Century Freeway several miles to the south reduced traffic congestion to a considerable amount by creating an alternate route from downtown to the Los Angeles International Airport, the Santa Monica Freeway is still one of the busiest freeways in the world. All three freeway-to-freeway interchanges along its length are notorious for their congestion, and are routinely ranked among the top 10 most congested spots in the United States.

Due to the high traffic volume, car accidents are so common that the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has constructed special accident investigation sites separated from the freeway by fences. These enable the California Highway Patrol to quickly clear accidents from the through traffic lanes, and the fences reduce congestion by preventing rubbernecking (in which vehicles slow down so their occupants can watch the accident investigation).

The Santa Monica Freeway is considered the border between West Los Angeles and South Los Angeles. Part of the freeway also skims the Byzantine-Latino quarter, which is home to many immigrants affiliated with the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Accidents
Due to the high traffic volume, car accidents are so common that Caltrans has constructed special Accident Investigation Sites (AIS) separated from the freeway by fences. These enable the California Highway Patrol to quickly clear accidents from the through traffic lanes, and the fences reduce congestion by preventing rubbernecking (where cars slow to watch the accident investigation).

Fame
Downtown Los Angeles skyline as seen from the freeway. A slight traffic jam is ahead.

The Santa Monica Freeway is the freeway for which ground is being broken in the film L.A. Confidential. It is also remembered for a partial collapse west of downtown (at the large interchange with La Cienega, Venice and Washington boulevards) after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The title of punk rock legends The Minutemen's 1984 double album, Double Nickels on the Dime, is trucker slang referring to the freeway's then-current speed limit of 55 miles per hour (90 km/h).

Legal definition
The Santa Monica Freeway is Route 10 from Route 1 to Route 5, as named by the State Highway Commission on April 25 1957.

The Rosa Parks Freeway is Route 10 from Route 110 to Route 405, as named by Assembly Concurrent Resolution 134, Chapter 2 in 2002.

My Ideas to reimprove the freeway for the Future
In the future, I might be thinking that I want to widen this freeway to a 12-lane freeway (6 for each direction with one being a HOV Lane with double yellow stripes (which includes reimproving the I-110/CA-110 Interchange) to make traffic faster, reimprove the sound walls and install double-armed street lights on the median barrier.

The HOV Lane runs from the Western Terminus of Interstate 10 to the East LA Interchange which has a ramp transfer that goes to Interstate 5 North.

Requirements to install a HOV Lane for each direction

 * Reimproving the I-110/CA-110 Interchange.
 * The old guardrails needs to be replaced with modern barriers from the I-110/CA-110 Interchange to the East LA Interchange.


 * The McClure Tunnel needs to be widened into 6 lanes (3 for each direction).

Exit List
Mileage is based on Interstate 10.

10 California Interstate 10 Category:Roads in Los Angeles County, California Category:Transportation in Los Angeles Category:U.S. Route 99 Category:U.S. Route 66