page_title: Interstate 5 in California
section_title: Ridge Route
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 5 in California / History / Ridge Route
caption_attribution_description: English: A portion of the Old Ridge Route in Lebec, that was bypassed when U.S. Highway 99 was made. It is known locally as "Dead Man's Curve." Photo by George Garrigues.
context_page_description: Interstate 5 is a major north–south route of the Interstate Highway System in the United States, stretching from the Mexican border at the San Ysidro crossing to the Canadian border near Blaine, Washington. From San Ysidro, the segment of I-5 in California runs north across the length of the state, and crosses into Oregon south of the Medford-Ashland metropolitan area. It is the more important and most-used of the two major north–south routes on the Pacific Coast, the other being U.S. Route 101, which is primarily coastal.
  This highway links the major California cities of San Diego, Santa Ana, Los Angeles, Stockton, Sacramento, and Redding. The Interstate bypasses the San Francisco Bay area, which is about 80 miles west of the highway. I-5 is generally referred to as "5" in Northern California, and is often called "the 5" in the Southern California area.
  I-5 has several named portions: the Montgomery Freeway, San Diego Freeway, Santa Ana Freeway, Golden State Freeway, and West Side Freeway.
context_section_description: The Ridge Route refers to the section of highway between Castaic and Grapevine, through the Tejon Pass. The highway had its origins in the early 1910s, when a route was needed to connect Los Angeles to the Central Valley. Some believed that the only option was the route through Mojave and the Tehachapi Mountains, but a new route was discovered through the Tejon Pass. This route became known as the Ridge Route and saw almost constant planning, construction, and improvement from 1914 to 1970.
  The first road was completed in 1915. It was a slow, winding, two-lane road through the mountains with a speed limit of 15 mph in some places. However, the need for improvements was realized soon after it was completed. The road was paved after World War I, and several blind turns were opened up ("daylighted"). Even with these improvements in the 1920s, it became clear that a new route was needed to keep up with increasing demand.
  In 1927, plans were drawn up for a "Ridge Route Alternate", named as it was planned as an addition to the existing Ridge Route and not as a replacement. It opened in 1933 as a three-lane highway through the mountains. The middle or "suicide lane" was used as an overtaking lane for cars in both directions. This route was a great improvement, faster and 9.7 miles (15.6 km) shorter than the old Ridge Route, but was not enough to satisfy demand, and a conversion to a four-lane expressway was needed. The outbreak of World War II delayed this until 1948 and the fourth lane was completed in 1952. However, just three years later, plans were begun for converting the four-lane expressway to a six-lane freeway.
  The last major alteration to the Ridge Route began in the early 1960s. By then, the plan for a six-lane freeway had expanded to eight lanes. This construction project made the most changes to the route. Many of the curves that followed the mountainside were cut through. To climb the mountain on the south side of Castaic more easily, traffic lanes were reversed (southbound lanes to the east and northbound lanes to the west). To prevent head-on collisions, the two ends of the route were separated on two different mountainsides, and the section through Piru Canyon was moved to an entirely new alignment to make room for Pyramid Lake. The project was completed by 1970 and brought the Ridge Route to its current alignment.
caption: A section of the 1915 Ridge Route in Lebec, abandoned when US 99 (later upgraded to I-5) was constructed over the Tejon Pass in order to make the travel straighter and safer
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