# US cities served by 3 or more "primary" Interstate highways **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2021, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-cities-served-by-3-or-more-primary-interstate-highways/933983 "2021-02-28T23:03:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 90
**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:** [March 16, 2021, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-cities-served-by-3-or-more-primary-interstate-highways/933983/90 "2021-03-16T08:31:53Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Only tangentially related to the OP, but I’d just like to share the weird fact that one stretch of freeway in the Bay Area is simultaneously 80 East and 580 West. This has actually been mentioned numerous times on this board (I think even earlier in this thread?). In this case, it comes about as an artifact of the re-numbering of an existing freeway: What used to be State Route 17 ran from Santa Cruz, through Berkeley, Richmond all the way to San Rafael. The portion from Berkeley to San Rafael was made part of the Interstate system and re-numbered to be I-580, which now runs from the San Joaquin Valley to San Rafael. The portion of this that runs through Berkeley is also (and has always been) part of I-80. Here is a sampling of some prior mentions: > [@Stupid highway signs](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-highway-signs/853287/66): > > The same thing happens in the San Francisco Bay Area where I-580 joins I-80. 580 West is 80 East, and vice versa. And they’re actually running north-south at that point. Apparently there’s actually a name for when highways do this – a “[wrong-way concurrency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_580_(California))”: > [@Help me plan a California Highway 1 road trip](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-a-california-highway-1-road-trip/846926/36): > > My impression, it’s only really that bad during “rush hour”, at which time all those freeways turn into long-term parking lots. During other hours, it’s not all that bad except on the stretch of westbound-I-80 through Berkeley, which is bumper-to-bumper 24/7/365. (well, 24/7/366 this year.) Once you get through that, it should be okay. Fun fact: I-80 and I-580 merge and later diverge, such that the stretch through Berkeley is both of those freeways at once. But their official designated di… > [@Your geographical misconceptions](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/253): > > In the East Bay (Berkeley), there is a north-south-oriented section of freeway where I-80 and I-580 run concurrent - both freeways are East-West by designation, but when you are traveling south on this roadway, you are on I-80 West/I-580 East, and when you are traveling north on this roadway, you are on I-80 East/I-580 West. crazy_face > [@Origin of "The" freeway in Southern California.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-freeway-in-southern-california/612543/52): > > It was “State Route 17” from Santa Cruz, through Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond, all the way over the Richmond/SanRafael Bridge to San Rafael. The part through Berkely was simultaneously I-80. ETA: Thus, Route 17 met U.S. 101 in two places: in Oakland, and again in San Rafael. That stretch from Berkeley to San Rafael is part of I-580 now. Here’s an interesting anomaly: If you drive through Berkeley on that stretch of road, you are simultaneously going east and west. In one direction (act… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-cities-served-by-3-or-more-primary-interstate-highways/933983)._