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Interstate 280 (I-280) is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...
of
Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...
. It runs from I-680 and US Route 101 (US 101) in San Jose to King and 5th streets in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
, running just to the west of the larger cities of
San Francisco Peninsula The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is Mountain View, south of Palo Alt ...
for most of its route. From I-880 in San Jose to State Route 1 (SR 1) in
Daly City Daly City () is the second most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, with population of 104,901 according to the 2020 census. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and immediately south of San Francisco (sharing its ...
, I-280 was built and dedicated as the Junipero Serra Freeway, after the Spanish Franciscan friar who founded the first nine of 21
Spanish missions in California The Spanish missions in California ( es, Misiones españolas en California) comprise a series of 21 religious outposts or missions established between 1769 and 1833 in what is now the U.S. state of California. Founded by Catholic priests of ...
from
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
to San Francisco. One of the dedication signs (in Daly City) still indicates that the ''Junipero Serra Freeway'' is known as the "World's Most Beautiful Freeway" due to its scenic route through the San Francisco Peninsula. From SR 1 to the James Lick Freeway (US 101) in San Francisco it is officially called the John F. Foran Freeway (after a former member of the
California State Legislature The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legislatu ...
). From the James Lick Freeway to its northern end at King and 5th streets, I-280 is called the Southern-Embarcadero Freeway. I-280 is one of two auxiliary Interstate designations to appear on opposite coasts of the United States. I-110 in
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
and
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
is the only other designation. I-280 was formerly shown on the app icon for
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...
's iOS and
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...
built-in
Apple Maps Apple Maps is a web mapping service developed by Apple Inc. The default map system of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS, it provides directions and estimated times of arrival for driving, walking, cycling, and public transportation navigat ...
. This is because the highway goes through
Cupertino Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 57,82 ...
, the home of Apple's headquarters.


Route description

The southern end of I-280 is at the
Joe Colla Interchange The Joe Colla Interchange is a highway interchange in San Jose, California, United States, connecting Interstate 280 (I-280), I-680, and U.S. Route 101 (US 101). It is named after Joe Colla, a former councilman of San Jose, who also pa ...
with US 101 in San Jose, where it acts as a continuation of I-680 westward. In between San Jose and San Francisco, I-280 passes through Santa Clara,
Cupertino Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 57,82 ...
, 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 The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is Mountain View, south of Palo Alt ...
in San Mateo County and just to the east of the
Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from ...
. I-280 reemerges in a decidedly urbanized area in the city of
San Bruno San Bruno (Spanish for " St. Bruno") is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, incorporated in 1914. The population was 43,908 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is between South San Francisco and Millbrae, adjacent to ...
, passing through
South San Francisco South San Francisco is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is colloquially known as "South City". The population was 66,105 at the 2020 cens ...
and
Daly City Daly City () is the second most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, with population of 104,901 according to the 2020 census. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and immediately south of San Francisco (sharing its ...
before it runs across a southeastern swath of the city of San Francisco on the way to its northern terminus. The segment of the Junipero Serra Freeway between Cupertino ( SR 85) and Daly City (SR 1) has been called the "World's Most Beautiful Freeway" since its dedication in the 1960s. Drivers along this portion of I-280 are treated to scenic views of the
Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from ...
to the west and, at a few points,
San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water f ...
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 rift valley of the
San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal) ...
. A particularly attractive stretch of the freeway from Hillsborough to Belmont provides a view at
Crystal Springs Reservoir Crystal Springs Reservoir is a pair of artificial lakes located in the northern Santa Cruz Mountains of San Mateo County, California situated in the rift valley created by the San Andreas Fault just to the west of the cities of San Mateo and Hi ...
, formed by water piped over from Hetch Hetchy Valley in
Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...
, partly filling the rift valley. For nearly all of its length, I-280 runs roughly parallel and several miles to the west of US 101 (
Bayshore Freeway The Bayshore Freeway is a part of U.S. Route 101 (US 101) in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. It runs along the west shore of the San Francisco Bay, connecting San Jose with San Francisco. Within the city of San Fran ...
). 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 vast majority of the population of the San Francisco Peninsula lives somewhere between I-280 and US 101. I-280 does not currently intersect with I-80, its parent Interstate, although it was originally intended to do so. The northern terminus of I-280 is now within about of I-80's western terminus (at the interchange with US 101), but the two Interstates do not directly connect; instead, I-280 complies with numbering conventions by virtue of its linkages to I-680 and I-880, both of which connect to I-80 at their northern terminuses. Although San Francisco planned and has had several opportunities to connect I-280 to I-80, it has chosen to use the money for other purposes. Instead, I-280's northernmost extension, which includes a significant double-deck section (with northbound traffic on the lower deck and southbound traffic on the upper), primarily functions now as a spur into the
Financial District, San Francisco The Financial District is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, United States, that serves as its main central business district and had 372,829 jobs according to U.S. census tracts as of 2012-2016. It is home to the city's largest conce ...
, as suggested by signage on northbound US 101 at the
Alemany Maze Alemany Maze is the name given to the interchange between the James Lick Freeway (U.S. Route 101, US 101) and the John F. Foran Freeway ( Interstate 280, I-280) in the city of San Francisco. An alternative name for this highway feature is ...
. Major intersections include US 101 and SR 1 in San Francisco,
I-380 Interstate 380 may refer to: * Interstate 380 (California) Interstate 380 (I-380) is a short east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California, connecting I-280 in San Bruno to US Route& ...
in San Bruno, SR 92 in San Mateo, SR 85 in Cupertino, and I-880 and I-680 and US 101 in San Jose. I-280 is part of the
California Freeway and Expressway System The California Freeway and Expressway System is a system of existing or planned freeways and expressways in the U.S. state of California. It encompasses both State highways and federal highways in California. It is defined by Article 2 (comme ...
and is part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the
Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program ...
(FHWA). I-280 is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System and, from the San Mateo–Santa Clara county line to the San Bruno city limits, is officially designated as a scenic highway by the
California Department of Transportation The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the cabinet-level California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA). Caltrans is headquartered in Sacram ...
(Caltrans), meaning that it is a substantial section of highway passing through a "memorable landscape" with no "visual intrusions", where the potential designation has gained popular favor with the community. The Junipero Serra Freeway is the name of I-280 from SR 1 in San Francisco to SR 17, as named by Assembly Concurrent Resolution 140, Chapter 208 in 1967, in honor of Spanish missionary
Junípero Serra Junípero Serra y Ferrer (; ; ca, Juníper Serra i Ferrer; November 24, 1713August 28, 1784) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest and missionary of the Franciscan Order. He is credited with establishing the Franciscan Missions in the Sierr ...
, who founded many of California's missions in the 18th century. I-280 from its southern terminus at US 101 and I-680 north to I-880 in San Jose is part of the Sinclair Freeway (named after Joseph P. Sinclair, District Engineer for District 4 California Division of Highways). A high faux-sandstone statue of Father Serra kneeling and pointing over the freeway is located at a highway rest area just north of the SR 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.


History

I-280 was added to the
Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...
on September 15, 1955 as a route from San Jose north to
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
. This ran along the present alignment of I-280 south of San Francisco, but, in San Francisco, it was instead intended to run north parallel to SR 1, past the planned west end of I-80 which would have been at the junction with the
Panhandle Freeway The Panhandle is a public park in San Francisco, California, so named because it forms a panhandle with Golden Gate Park. It is long and narrow, being three-quarters of a mile (eight blocks) long and just one block wide. Fell and Oak Streets ...
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 The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...
. At that point, I-280 would have met I-480 (Embarcadero Freeway), which would have headed east on Doyle Drive ( US 101), the
Golden Gate Freeway State Route 480 (SR 480) was a state highway in San Francisco, California, United States, consisting of the elevated double-decker Embarcadero Freeway (also known as the Embarcadero Skyway), the partly elevated Doyle Drive approach to the Golde ...
, and onto the Embarcadero Freeway to reach the
San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 ...
. 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 streets, then along the present Southern-Embarcadero Freeway to meet the Southern Freeway (now I-280) near the
Alemany Maze Alemany Maze is the name given to the interchange between the James Lick Freeway (U.S. Route 101, US 101) and the John F. Foran Freeway ( Interstate 280, I-280) in the city of San Francisco. An alternative name for this highway feature is ...
, which served as the US 101 Bypass until I-280 was built. The I-280 number was approved on November 10, 1958. In the 1964 renumbering, I-280's legislative designation was officially applied to your 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 SR 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 A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
standards. A realignment approved January 1968 primarily took I-280's legislative definition onto its current route. This new routing ran along what had been SR 1, SR 82, SR 87, and I-480 (downgraded to SR 480 then), ending at I-80 at the western Bay Bridge approach. 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. For the scenic portion, the section of I-280 between SR 85 (Cupertino) and SR 84 (
Woodside Woodside may refer to: Places and buildings Australia * Woodside, South Australia, a town * Woodside, Victoria, a town Canada * Woodside National Historic Site, the boyhood home of William Lyon Mackenzie King *Woodside, Nova Scotia, a neighbo ...
) was completed in the late 1960s alongside SR 85. The section between SR 92 (San Mateo) and SR 84 was not completed until the 1970s. Until then, traffic was routed on Cañada Road between the two ends. A direct freeway connection between I-280 and I-80 was never completed. I-280 was planned to run along The Embarcadero underneath the Bay Bridge approach/I-80 to connect to SR 480 and then loop back to the Bay Bridge approach/I-80 near 1st Street. However, the segment of I-280 between 3rd Street and SR 480 was never built. This left I-280 terminating in midair at 3rd Street, along with
ramp stub An unused highway is a highway or highway ramp that was partially or fully constructed, but went unused or was later closed. An unused roadway or ramp may often be referred to as an abandoned road, ghost road, highway to nowhere, stub ramp, g ...
s at 5th Street that were intended to connect to the second proposed location of a parallel bay bridge (which was also never built). This also caused the completed freeway segment from the Bay Bridge approach/I-80 near 1st Street to The Embarcadero to be signed as part of SR 480 instead of I-280. After the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...
, plans to connect I-280 to I-80 were formally abandoned, the earthquake-damaged Embarcadero Freeway was torn down in 1991, and the northern terminus of I-280 was reconfigured to the present-day King Street on/offramps in 1997. The interchange at the beginning of I-280 at I-680 and US 101 in San Jose was constructed years before its completion. The three flyovers, with no connecting ramps, stood as a monument to inefficiency for years in the 1970s, becoming the butt of local jokes. The highlight prank occurred in January 1976, when a 1960 Chevrolet Impala was placed on the highest bridge overnight, where it obviously would be impossible to drive. The following day, San Jose City Councilmember Joe Colla was photographed standing next to the car, an image that was circulated across many newspapers. It has been suggested this stunt nudged the state of California to find the funds to complete the freeway. The ramps opened five years later in 1981. In 2010, a resolution was introduced in the state legislature to name it the
Joe Colla Interchange The Joe Colla Interchange is a highway interchange in San Jose, California, United States, connecting Interstate 280 (I-280), I-680, and U.S. Route 101 (US 101). It is named after Joe Colla, a former councilman of San Jose, who also pa ...
in memory of the late councilmember. In 2021,
University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...
researchers published a report on wildlife-vehicle collisions based on
California Highway Patrol The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is a state law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and roads and streets outside city limits, and can exercise law enforcem ...
and insurance data over the past five years, according to which five of the 20 stretches of highway in the state with the highest costs for this reason are on I-280, the worst being between San Bruno and Cupertino.


Exit list


See also

* *


References


External links


AARoads – Interstate 280Planning maps for the pre-1968 planned route of the freeway along Junipero Serra Boulevard in San FranciscoCaltrans: Route 280 highway conditionsFreeways not built in S.F.
{{3di, 80 80-2 280 80-2 California 2 California Interstate 80-2 Interstate 80-2 Interstate 80-2 280 Transportation in Sunnyvale, California Junípero Serra