Interstate 80 Business (Sacramento, California)

"CA 51" redirects here. For the congressional district, see California's 51st congressional district.

Interstate 80 Business
Capital City Freeway I-305 / SR 51
Route information
Defined by Streets and Highways Code § 350 and 351
Maintained by Caltrans
Length:	14.50 mi (23.34 km)
Existed:	1979 by FHWA 1983 (from I-80) by Caltrans – present
Major junctions
West end:	I-80 in West Sacramento
	I-5 in Sacramento US 50 / SR 99 in Sacramento
East end:	I-80 / SR 244 in Sacramento
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business State highways in California Interstate U.S. State Pre-1964 History Unconstructed Deleted Freeway Scenic ← US 50 SR 52 →

Interstate 80 Business, called the Capital City Freeway in its entirety, is a business loop of Interstate 80 through Sacramento. Although signed as a business loop the route is actually two connected segments. The western segment is signed as U.S. Route 50 and carries the unsigned designation of Interstate 305. The unsigned designation of the eastern segment is State Route 51. The entire route is a freeway, and carried mainline Interstate 80 through Sacramento until the early 1980s. Portions of the eastern half were initially grandfathered into the Interstate Highway system; however, plans to upgrade or realign this portion to meet Interstate Highway standards were cancelled. As such, the I-80 designation through Sacramento was moved to a northern bypass of the city that had previously been signed Interstate 880, and the old route of I-80 through downtown was given the current business loop designation.

Route description

Western section

Business 80 begins in West Sacramento at Interstate 80, where I-80 leaves the West Sacramento Freeway onto the Beltline Freeway (which travels north of the Bryte neighborhood, over the Sacramento River, and into the Natomas area). This interchange in West Sacramento is also the current west end of U.S. Route 50 and the west end of the unsigned I-305.

In downtown West Sacramento, Business 80 and US 50 split from the West Sacramento Freeway, which is now locally maintained in part over the Tower Bridge up to the door of the capitol, but was once signed as State Route 275. Business 80 crosses the Sacramento River on the Pioneer Memorial Bridge, intersecting with Interstate 5 on the east bank. State Route 99 once ran along I-5 to the north and Business 80 to the east, but this is now signed TO SR 99. After crossing I-5, Business 80 runs on top of an embankment between W and X streets; this was originally known as the WX Freeway.

Eastern section

At an interchange southeast of downtown Sacramento, Business 80 turns north onto the south end of unsigned SR 51. US 50 continues east, State Route 99 heads south, and the "hidden" I-305 ends. The elevated freeway carrying Business 80 east of downtown is between 29th and 30th Streets, and an older section beginning at A Street and continuing northeast was originally known as the Elvas Freeway (and originally signed as U.S Highway 99 East). On this section of freeway, Business 80 crosses the American River before its northeast-bound merge with the North Sacramento Freeway (the northern portion of State Route 160 towards downtown).

The North Sacramento Freeway, originally a portion of U.S. Route 40, originally ran west from Marconi Avenue to an intersection with Del Paso Boulevard. The section from Arden Way eastbound back to Marconi Avenue is now part of the currently named Capital City Freeway (while the SR 160 section retains the original freeway name). The original North Sacramento Freeway connected to the Roseville Freeway at the curve north of Marconi Avenue (commonly known as the Marconi Curve, where the freeway once ended at Auburn Boulevard). At the east end of Business 80, the Roseville Freeway continues northeast to Roseville as Interstate 80, while the short unsigned State Route 244 heads east to Auburn Boulevard.

I-80 heads in both directions around the north side of Sacramento. A partially built portion of a never completed replacement freeway for SR 51, in the median of I-80, now serves as parking and access for the northernmost three stations (Watt/I-80, Watt/I-80 West, and Roseville Road) on the Sacramento Regional Transit District's light rail Blue Line. If this replacement freeway had been completely built as originally planned, I-80 would have continued south following the railroad tracks going through the Ben Ali neighborhood of North Sacramento, crossed over SR 160, and joined with the Elvas Freeway portion just north of A Street.

Route confusion

Business Loop 80 is referred to as Business 80, the 80, Biz 80, Capital City Freeway, Cap City Fwy and US 50 (western section only) by residents and mapmakers. Caltrans does not normally use the Business 80 designation, except for signage and other related concepts like Cal-NExUS exit numbers (which are continuous along the business loop). Caltrans refers to the western half as US 50 and the eastern half as SR 51 for traffic condition reporting. The Caltrans traffic camera system refers to the route by its name, Capital City Freeway.

The SR 99 concurrency is not officially designated by Caltrans, but mapmakers often show it as such. SR 99 signage had existed along that route for motorists' convenience, but was removed in 2000, and replaced by TO SR 99 signs instead.

History

Business 80 was part of Interstate 80 until the early 1980s, with the actual signage change occurring in 1983. The replacement for the North Sacramento Freeway was cancelled in 1978, and in 1979 the Federal Highway Administration removed it from the Interstate Highway System, redesignating the west half of the Capital City Freeway (which met Interstate Highway standards) as I-305. The east half was designated Federal Aid Primary 51. The next year, the California State Legislature extended U.S. Route 50 west to cover the west half of old I-80, and the east half was assigned the new SR 51 number (last used in 1965 for a short route in Orange). (The Interstate 880 designation, which had been used for the Beltline Freeway, was reused in 1984 for the Nimitz Freeway in the east bay communities of the San Francisco Bay Area.)

The old I-80 was never signed as US 50 (alone) or SR 51, but as a business route. Unlike most business routes in California, which run along locally-maintained streets through a downtown area, Business 80 was not assigned to the pre-freeway alignment of U.S. Route 40, but to a freeway. The existence of two freeways, both numbered 80, has caused some confusion, and in 1996 the full route was given the Capital City Freeway name. This name appears on overhead signs at prominent interchanges.

An earlier State Route 51 was defined on July 1, 1964 on a section of pre-1964 Legislative Route 2, providing a loop east of Interstate 5 (pre-1964 Legislative Route 174 there) through Orange, around the Orange Crush Interchange. It was removed from the state highway system in 1965.

Exit list

Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see the list of postmile definitions). Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.

County	Location	Postmile	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Yolo YOL 0.00-3.16	West Sacramento	0.00		I-80 west – San Francisco	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; west end of I-80 Bus. overlap; west end of US 50; west end of unsigned I-305; former US 40 west / US 99W north; I-80 exit 82
		0.00	1A	I-80 east – Reno	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; former I-880 east
		1.20	1B	Harbor Boulevard	Signed as exit 1 eastbound
		2.50	3	Jefferson Boulevard (SR 84) – Downtown Sacramento (SR 275), West Sacramento	SR 275 was former US 40 east / US 99W south
		2.92	3	5th Street (South River Road)	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
Sacramento SAC L0.00-8.86	Sacramento	L0.35	4A	I-5 to SR 99 north – Redding, Los Angeles	I-5 exit 518
			4B	5th Street – Downtown Sacramento	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; former SR 99
		L0.96	4B	10th Street – Downtown Sacramento	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		L1.37	5	15th Street, 16th Street	Former US 99W / SR 160
		L2.20	6A	26th Street	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		L2.48 R0.00	6B	SR 99 south – Fresno	SR 99 north exit 298A
		L2.48 R0.00	6A	US 50 east (El Dorado Freeway) – Placerville, South Lake Tahoe	East end of US 50 overlap; east end of unsigned I-305; west end of unsigned SR 51; US 50 west exit 6C
		0.24	6C	P Street	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		0.24	7A	N Street	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		0.84	7A	J Street	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		1.20	7B	H Street	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		1.44	7B	E Street	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		3.36	9A	Exposition Boulevard – Cal Expo	Eastbound entrance is via SR 160
		3.69	9B	SR 160 south (North Sacramento Freeway) – Downtown Sacramento	Eastbound exit is via exit 9B; former US 40
		4.06	10A	Arden Way	Signed as exit 9B eastbound
		4.74	10B	El Camino Avenue – Carmichael	Signed as exit 10 eastbound
		5.50	11	Auburn Boulevard, Marconi Avenue	No eastbound entrance
		5.96	12A	Howe Avenue	Eastbound exit and entrance
		6.21	12B	Auburn Boulevard, Bell Street	Eastbound exit only; Auburn Boulevard was former US 40
		6.79	12C	Fulton Avenue	Signed as exit 12 westbound
		7.70– 7.97	14B	Watt Avenue	Signed as exits 14A (south) and 14B (north) eastbound; connects to I-80 west
		8.52	14C	Auburn Boulevard (SR 244)	Signed as exit 14A westbound; Auburn Boulevard was former US 40
		8.86		I-80 east – Reno	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; east end of unsigned SR 51; I-80 west exit 95
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

See also

• Interstate 80 in California

External links

• California @ AARoads.com - Business Loop I-80 Sacramento
• The Highwayman's Road Reports - Elvas Freeway, North Sacramento Freeway and West Sacramento Freeway