Q. On the northbound 405 Freeway, exit number 6 is totally skipped! It goes from Culver Drive, with exit number 5, to Jamboree Road, with exit number 7. Do you know why?
– Andy O’Connor, Foothill Ranch
A. Yes.
To build suspense, Honk will first toss out a little background: Two decades ago, Caltrans announced that all freeway exit signs would be numbered, eventually. The numbering is to help travelers unfamiliar with the area get around a bit easier; motorists can also use the numbering system to track mileage without having to look down at the odometer.
Here is how the system works, and why some numbers are skipped:
Depending on the route, the signs are numbered beginning at the southern end, or the western one. The figure on the sign is roughly how many linear miles the exit is from where the counting begins.
So just after the Mexico border, the first exit on the 5 Freeway is for Camino de la Plaza, with an exit number of 1. The exit number for Hilt Road near the Oregon border is 796.
And, for example, Culver Drive is about 5 miles out from the southern start of the 405 and Jamboree Road is about 7 miles.
What if there is more than one off-ramp within the same mile?
Well, that plays out at the southern-most point of the southbound 405 Freeway — Lake Forest Drive is 1A, Bake Parkway is 1B, and Irvine Center Drive is 1C.
Can’t wait for next week’s Honk for some traffic trivia? You can check out any off-ramp’s exit number here: dot.ca.gov/programs/safety-programs/exit
Q. I drive a couple of times a week through the 405 Freeway’s construction project in Orange County that is adding lanes. I’ve noticed that the new bridges in Fountain Valley all seem to have new streetlights on them that look very nice at night, but the new bridges in Huntington Beach and Westminster do not have those streetlights. Is this a choice of the cities, or will they eventually be added to all of the bridges?
– Kevin Christiansen, Westminster
A. Yes, and possibly.
“Generally, adding lights onto new bridges is the choice of the cities,” said Joel Zlotnik, a spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority, which is overseeing that project. “OCTA is currently in discussions with the cities of Westminster and Huntington Beach regarding potentially adding lights to the new bridges in those two cities. Those discussions include how the lighting would be paid for and maintained.”
The Fountain Valley streetlights are indeed swell looking, with a throwback look you would have seen in the ’40s.
Along the 16 miles of freeway improvements, between the 605 Freeway in Seal Beach and the 73 in Costa Mesa, 18 bridges will have been rebuilt. The overall project will run $2.1 billion and is scheduled for completion in late 2023.
HONKIN’ FACT: There are nearly 793,000 teenage drivers in California, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles, a 6% boost from last year.
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk
Source: Orange County Register
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