Interstate 280 (I-280) is a
57 mile (92 km) long north-south Interstate Highway in the San Francisco
Bay Area
of Northern
California. It connects San Jose
and San Francisco
, running along just to the west of the cities of
San Francisco Peninsula for
most of its route.
I-280 from
its beginning at King Street and Fifth Street in San Francisco
to the James Lick
Freeway is called the Southern Embarcadero
Freeway. I-280 from the
James Lick Freeway to its interchange
with
State Route 1 is
called the
Southern Freeway.
I-280 beginning at its
interchange with State Route
1 in Daly
City
was built and dedicated as the Junipero Serra Freeway. One
of the dedication signs (in Daly City) still indicates that the
Junipero Serra Freeway (actually a
parkway for most of its length ) is known as the
World's Most Beautiful Freeway due to its scenic route
though the San Francisco Peninsula. The portion of Interstate 280
between
U.S. 101
and
Interstate 880 is part of the
Sinclair Freeway.
This route is part of the
California Freeway and
Expressway System and is eligible for the
State Scenic Highway
System.
Route description
In between
San Jose and San Francisco, Interstate 280 passes through Santa
Clara
, Cupertino
, Los Altos
and Los Altos Hills
before it settles along its scenic route just to
the west of the cities of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Mateo
County
and just to the east of the Santa Cruz
Mountains
. I-280 re-emerges in a decidedly urbanized
area in the city of San Bruno
, passing through South San
Francisco
and Daly City
before it runs across a southeastern swath of the
city of San Francisco on the way to its northern
terminus.

A view of the scenic portion of
Interstate 280
The segment of the Junipero Serra Freeway between Cupertino and
Daly City has been called the "World's Most Beautiful Freeway"
since its dedication in the 1960s. Drivers along this portion of
Interstate 280 are treated to scenic views of the Santa Cruz
Mountains to the west and San Francisco Bay to the east, and are
isolated by hills from the cities to the east.
Through much of this
segment, the freeway is actually running just inside the eastern
rim of the canyon of the San Andreas Fault
. A particularly attractive six mile (ten
kilometer) stretch of the freeway from Hillsborough to Belmont
provides a beautiful look at Crystal Springs Reservoir
, formed by water piped hundreds of miles from
Hetch Hetchy
Valley
in Yosemite National Park
, filling the bottom of the fault
canyon.
For nearly all of its length, Interstate 280 runs roughly parallel
and several miles to the west of US 101 (the
Bayshore Freeway). Both freeways are
north-south routes connecting San Jose with San Francisco; however,
unlike I-280, the route that US 101 takes between the two cities
goes entirely through urbanized areas. The majority of the
population of the San Francisco Peninsula lives somewhere between
Interstate 280 and US 101.
I-280 never intersects with
Interstate 80, its parent
interstate.
The northern terminus of I-280 is within
about a mile of I-80's western terminus (at the approach to the
San Francisco – Oakland Bay
Bridge
), but the two interstates do not actually
intersect. Although San Francisco has had several
opportunities to connect I-280 to I-80, it has chosen to use the
money for other purposes. Connecting the two freeways is considered
to be politically and financially infeasible at this time, due to
the city's strong anti-freeway stance. Instead, 280's northernmost
extension primarily functions as a spur into Downtown San
Francisco, as suggested by signage on northbound US 101 at its San
Francisco interchange with 280
(see history section
below).
Most of Interstate 280, from San Jose to Daly City, is designated
as the Junipero Serra Freeway in honor of Spanish missionary
Junípero Serra, who founded many
of
California's
missions in the 18th century. A 26-foot (8 m) high
faux-sandstone statue of Father Serra kneeling and
pointing over the freeway is located at a highway rest area just
north of the
Highway 92
intersection between the Bunker Hill Drive and Black Mountain Road
exits on northbound I-280 in Hillsborough, and can be clearly seen
by drivers in both directions. The segment of Interstate 280 north
of Route 1 in San Francisco was originally named the
Southern Freeway, but has since recently been
officially renamed the
John F. Foran Freeway after
John Foran, a former California State Senator and Assembly member
and current partner at law firm
Nossaman
LLP. The section of I-280 between the James Lick Freeway and its
end at 6th St. and King Street is called the
Southern
Embarcadero Freeway.
Major intersections include US 101 and State Route 1 in San
Francisco,
Interstate
380 in San Bruno, and
Interstate
880 and 680 and US 101 in San Jose.
The Junipero Serra Freeway is Route 280 from Route 1 in San
Francisco to Route 17, as named by Assembly Concurrent Resolution
140, Chapter 208 in 1967.
History
Interstate 280 was added to the Interstate Highway System on
September 15, 1955
as a route from San
Jose
north to San Francisco
. This ran along the present alignment of
I-280 south of San Francisco, but in San Francisco it ran north
parallel to State Route
1, past the planned west end of Interstate 80 which would have
been at the junction with the Panhandle Freeway just south of Fulton and
Park Presidio, along what would have been the Park Presidio Freeway north to the
south approach to the Golden Gate Bridge
. At that point, I-280 would have met
Interstate 480, which
would have headed east on
Doyle Drive
(
U.S. Route 101), the Golden Gate Freeway, and onto the
Embarcadero Freeway to reach the
San Francisco – Oakland Bay
Bridge
. I-480 would have continued south on the
never-built section of the Southern Embarcadero Freeway from Folsom
and the Embarcadero to 5th and King Street, then along the present
Southern Embarcadero Freeway to meet the Southern Freeway (now
I-280) near the Alemany
Maze
, which served as the 101A Bypass until I-280 was
built. The I-280 number was approved on
November 10,
1958.
In the
1964
renumbering, the Route 280 designation was officially applied
to the planned route.
This replaced SR 1 in San Francisco; the new
SR 1 alignment turned northeast where I-280 now runs, quickly
ending at State Route 82
(San Jose Avenue/Alemany Boulevard
). SR 1 however continued to be signed along
its former (and current) alignment, which had not been upgraded to
freeway standards.
A realignment approved January
1968 took I-280
onto its current route. This ran along what had been SR 1, SR 82,
State Route 87 and I-480
(downgraded to a State Route then), ending at
Interstate 80 at the west end of
the Bay Bridge. This change was made on the state level in 1968,
restoring SR 1 to its current alignment and truncating SR 82, SR 87
and SR 480.
The I-280
is featured in the icon for the Maps function of the iPhone with
the pointer at Apple
Inc.
's headquarters in Cupertino, CA
.
The section of I-280 between SR 92 (San Mateo) and SR 84 (Woodside)
was not completed until the 1970s. Until then, traffic was routed
on Cañada road between the two ends.
The short piece of I-280 between
3rd Street and SR 480 in
downtown San Francisco was never built, and the piece from 5th
Street south to
U.S.
Route 101 was reconstructed
after it was damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
. The piece between SR 480 and I-80 was torn
down along with the rest of the Embarcadero Freeway; all that remains of
the I-80 interchange is a few
ramp stubs, which will be removed as part
of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay
Bridge
Western Approach reconstruction
project.
Exit list
- Note: Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured in 1964, based on the
alignment as it existed at that time, and do not necessarily
reflect current mileage. The numbers reset at county lines; the
start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county
column.
County |
Location |
Postmile
|
# |
Destinations |
Notes |
Santa Clara
SCL R0.00-20.63 |
San Jose |
R0.00 |
|
|
Continuation beyond US 101 |
R0.00 |
|
|
Southbound exit and northbound entrance |
R0.37 |
1A |
McLaughlin Avenue |
Southbound exit and northbound entrance |
R1.29 |
1B |
11th Street, 10th Street |
Signed as exit 1 northbound |
R1.99 |
2A |
|
Signed as exit 2 northbound |
|
2B |
Almaden Boulevard, Vine Street |
Southbound exit and northbound entrance |
R2.52 |
3A |
|
|
R2.88 |
3B |
Bird Avenue |
|
R3.76 |
4 |
Race Street, Southwest Expressway |
Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
R3.99 |
4 |
Meridian Avenue |
Southbound exit and northbound entrance |
L4.66 |
5A |
Leigh Avenue, Bascom Avenue |
|
L5.41 |
5B |
|
Signed as exits 5B (south) and 5C (north) northbound |
4.57 |
6 |
Winchester Boulevard – Campbell |
Southbound exit and northbound entrance |
5.95 |
7 |
Saratoga Avenue – Saratoga |
|
7.12-
7.39 |
9 |
Lawrence Expressway
(CR G2), Stevens Creek
Boulevard |
|
Cupertino |
8.38 |
10 |
Wolfe Road |
|
9.43 |
11 |
De Anza Boulevard |
|
10.74 |
12 |
|
Signed as exits 12A (north) and 12B (south) |
Los Altos |
11.45 |
13 |
Foothill Expressway, Grant
Road |
|
|
14.10 |
15 |
Magdalena Avenue |
|
Los Altos Hills |
15.05 |
16 |
El Monte Road, Moody Road |
|
|
18.38 |
20 |
Page Mill
Road, Arastradero Road – Palo Alto |
|
|
20.61 |
22 |
Alpine Road – Portola
Valley |
|
San Mateo
R0.00-M27.42 |
|
R1.61 |
24 |
Sand Hill
Road – Menlo Park |
|
Woodside |
R3.34 |
25 |
|
|
R4.65 |
27 |
Farm Hill Boulevard |
|
R6.60 |
|
Canada Road |
No exit ramps |
|
6.65 |
29 |
Edgewood Road |
|
|
10.87 |
33 |
|
Southbound exit to SR 92 west is via exit 34 |
|
R12.32 |
34 |
|
South end of SR 35 overlap |
Hillsborough |
R14.22 |
36 |
Black Mountain Road, Hayne Road |
|
|
R17.16 |
39 |
Trousdale Drive – Burlingame |
|
Millbrae |
R17.92 |
40 |
Millbrae Avenue |
Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
R18.52 |
41 |
Larkspur Drive, Millbrae Avenue |
Southbound exit and northbound entrance |
San Bruno |
R19.28 |
41 |
|
North end of SR 35 overlap; northbound exit and southbound
entrance |
R20.22 |
42 |
Crystal Springs Road |
Southbound exit and northbound entrance; former SR 117 |
R20.75 |
43A |
San Bruno Avenue |
Signed as exit 43B southbound |
R21.02 |
43B |
– San
Francisco International Airport |
Signed as exit 43A southbound |
R21.31 |
43A |
Sneath Lane |
Signed as exit 43B southbound |
South San Francisco |
R22.04 |
44 |
Avalon Drive |
Northbound exit and southbound entrance; former SR 117 |
R22.62 |
45 |
Westborough Boulevard |
Northbound exit is via exit 44 |
Daly City |
R24.20 |
46 |
Hickey
Boulevard – Colma , South San Francisco |
|
R24.63 |
47A |
Serramonte Boulevard |
Southbound exit and northbound entrance |
R25.28 |
47B |
|
South end of SR 1 overlap; signed as exit 47 northbound |
R25.78 |
48 |
Eastmoor Avenue, Mission
Street |
Signed as exit 47 northbound |
M27.17 |
49A |
Daly City , Westlake District
(Junipero Serra
Boulevard) |
Signed as exit 49 southbound |
M27.17 |
49B |
|
North end of SR 1 overlap; northbound left exit and southbound
entrance |
San Francisco
SF R0.00-T7.54 |
R0.74 |
50 |
|
Southbound exit and northbound entrance |
R1.77 |
51 |
Geneva Avenue, Ocean Avenue |
|
R2.70 |
52 |
Monterey Boulevard |
Southbound exit and northbound entrance |
R2.70 |
52 |
San Jose Avenue |
Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
R3.28 |
53 |
Alemany Boulevard , Mission
Street |
|
R4.34 |
54A |
|
Signed as exit 54 southbound |
R4.34 |
54B |
|
Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
R5.62 |
55 |
Cesar Chavez Street, 25th Street |
|
R6.60 |
56 |
Mariposa Street, 18th Street |
|
T7.54 |
57 |
Sixth Street |
Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
T7.26 |
|
King Street |
Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
References
-
http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tsip/hseb/products/Named_Freeways.pdf
- CA Codes (shc:250-257)
- CA Codes (shc:260-284)
- California Highways: Interstate 280
- California Department of
Transportation, State Truck Route List (XLS file), accessed February 2008
- California Department of
Transportation, Log of Bridges on State Highways, July 2007
- California Department of
Transportation, All Traffic Volumes on CSHS, 2005 and 2006
- California Department of
Transportation, California Numbered Exit
Uniform System, I-280 Northbound and I-280 Southbound, accessed February 2008
External links