History Lesson 6. The Freeway
“One of the last sections of US 101 to have been built and signed was completed in San Clemente in November of 1960. The freeway was actually built as a signed portion of Interstate 5 to bypass San Clemente, but it was legislatively Route 2, the designation applied to US 101. It was signed as both I-5 and US 101, but after 1968, the US 101 designation was decommissioned upon the completion of I-5 through San Diego.
In 1960, San Clemente was a sleepy town of only 5,000 persons. Even so, it was a major bottleneck for through traffic between Los Angeles and San Diego. It was the last remaining section of US 101 in Los Angeles and Orange Counties that had not been upgraded to expressway and freeway standards and was a narrow four lanes between San Juan Capistrano and the San Diego County line.”
Who would have imagined the weekend bottleneck we have on the 5 has been an issue since the 1950s!
