# I-5 Lane Crossover **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925 "2016-06-09T15:56:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925/41 "2016-06-13T18:36:05Z")
I’m glad you asked the question - I was actually meaning to ask about a similar situation. In Montreal, there is a section of Highway 20 between downtown and the airport where the Westbound and Eastbound lanes cross over and are on the opposite side for a few kilometers. I was curious what other example might be out there, as this is the only place I’ve noticed it happening. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925/42 "2016-06-13T19:40:43Z")
Apparently the Coloweirdos have not discovered the exit off of 80 in eastern Nebraska marked for Ashland and identified by google Maps as being in the area of Greenwood. Once they do, that sign will be in serious danger. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925/43 "2016-06-13T22:28:25Z")
> [@D18](#): > > I’m glad you asked the question - I was actually meaning to ask about a similar situation. In Montreal, there is a section of Highway 20 between downtown and the airport where the Westbound and Eastbound lanes cross over and are on the opposite side for a few kilometers. I was curious what other example might be out there, as this is the only place I’ve noticed it happening. Is it mountainous there? As discussed above, the I-5 cross-over around Castaic is mountainous, and the crossed-over topography is supposedly better for big trucks doing the uphill. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925/44 "2016-06-13T22:29:25Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Is it mountainous there? As discussed above, the I-5 cross-over around Castaic is mountainous, and the crossed-over topography is supposedly better for big trucks doing the uphill. the mountains start there, yes. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925/45 "2016-06-13T22:52:35Z")
> [@Fleetwood](#): > > I-95 in Maine is numbered by mile. That’s a relatively new thing. When I first moved here in 1997, the exits were sequential. I used to drive to Bangor a lot and exited at exit 48. Now exit 48 is 135 miles farther south, in the Westbrook area. To this day every time I see the signs for exit 48, I think of Bangor. ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925/46 "2016-06-14T00:42:27Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > That’s a relatively new thing. When I first moved here in 1997, the exits were sequential. I used to drive to Bangor a lot and exited at exit 48. Now exit 48 is 135 miles farther south, in the Westbrook area. To this day every time I see the signs for exit 48, I think of Bangor. Took me years to get used to it. I-496 used to follow the turnpike through the L-A area and what is I-295 used to be numbered I-95. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925/47 "2016-06-14T02:10:42Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Except I notice ‘the Five’ slipping in once in a while on KING 5 or KPLU. I like to think I’m influencing it a little. 😉 I believe we regard the highway numbers as something akin to names. The actual name of Blood Alley is 18, occasionally getting a first name like “SR” or “highway”, but calling it “the” 18 would be rather like saying “the Bertha”. Fortunately, it does help us identify those Californians. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925/48 "2016-06-14T03:17:01Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I believe we regard the highway numbers as something akin to names. The actual name of Blood Alley is 18, occasionally getting a first name like “SR” or “highway”, but calling it “the” 18 would be rather like saying “the Bertha”. Fortunately, it does help us identify those Californians. I believe the use of ‘the’ in SoCal comes from the freeway names mentioned by **Senegoid**. You’d take the San Diego Freeway (which doesn’t actually end in San Diego) or the Pasadena Freeway or whichever. So when people started using the numbers, they kept the ‘the’. ‘Which freeway?’ ‘The Five Freeway.’ ==\> ‘The Five.’ ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925/49 "2016-06-14T04:09:02Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > You’d take the San Diego Freeway (which doesn’t actually end in San Diego) Nitpick: the San Diego Freeway does indeed reach San Diego, as the I-5 south from Irvine is named such. However, So-Cal’ers rarely call freeways by their official name anymore; it’s much more common to say “take the 101 to downtown” or “take the 405 to LAX” nowadays. I think part of the confusion was that freeway names don’t always follow the same route number – the Ventura Freeway transitions from U.S. 101 to SR 134, the Hollwood Freeway starts as SR 170 and becomes U.S. 101, etc. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925/50 "2016-06-14T04:20:45Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Except I notice ‘the Five’ slipping in once in a while on KING 5 or KPLU. I like to think I’m influencing it a little. 😉 I think “the Five” is a socal thing. I wasn’t a norcal convention when I grew up on the I-5. Here in the Pacific Northwest, I have never cared nor consciously heard anything other than I-5. Maybe you’re hallucinating Johnny on those commutes from Bellingham to Seattle 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925/51 "2016-06-14T13:45:45Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Nitpick: the San Diego Freeway does indeed reach San Diego, as the I-5 south from Irvine is named such. I was referring to the 405, which stops at the El Toro Y… ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925/52 "2016-06-15T03:25:10Z")
“The (highway)” does kind of make sense as a grammatical requirement of the Socalish language when you consider that about 75% of SoCal real estate is paved roads and highways. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-5-lane-crossover/756925.md?page=2)