(abbreviated '''I-580''') in northern
California is a heavily traveled, fairly long
Spur Route of
Interstate 80 that connects the
San Francisco Bay Area to
Interstate 5 in the state's
Central Valley . A portion of I-580 is called the '''MacArthur Freeway'''.
The western terminus of I-580 is north of
San Francisco in
San Rafael , at a junction with
U.S. Route 101 . The eastern terminus is with I-5 southeast of
Tracy . It was named after General
Douglas MacArthur in
1968 . Leaving San Rafael, I-580 runs next to the
San Quentin State Prison before crossing
San Francisco Bay over the
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge . The road then passes
Point Richmond and follows a right-of-way formerly named Hoffman Boulevard, once designated
Route 17 . In
Albany I-580 joins
I-80 and then splits five miles later in
Oakland . The route roughly parallels Macarthur Boulevard, formerly the route of 580's predecessor
US 50 , toward
San Leandro and in
Castro Valley turns eastward toward Dublin Canyon. 580 descends into
Dublin and
Pleasanton , and then after
Livermore it enters the
Altamont Pass . The road emerges in the Central Valley near
Tracy , where, after
I-205 splits near the Altamont Speedway, it turns southeastward and terminates by merging with
Interstate 5 near
Patterson .
Much of I-580, from near
Tracy to
Oakland , follows the general alignment of the transcontinental
Lincoln Highway , later
U.S. Route 50 in that area. This (and other roads) had been defined as in 1909, forming a two-pronged route from
Stockton west over
Altamont Pass to
Hayward , where it split towards
Santa Cruz and
Oakland :
California Highways: Pre-1964 Legslative Route 1964 1963 State Highway Map
- State Route 17 from Santa Cruz to San Jose
- Oakland Road, Main Street, Milpitas Boulevard and Warm Springs Boulevard (replaced by Interstate 680 ) from San Jose to Warm Springs
- State Route 262 , Mission Boulevard and State Route 238 from Warm Springs to near Hayward (SR 262 west to Interstate 880 was a spur of Pre-1964 Legislative Route 69 , now I-880)
- Present I-580 and Interstate 80 from near Hayward to the east end of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge
- Present I-580, Interstate 205 and Interstate 5 (along El Dorado Street) from Hayward to Stockton , where it turned east on State Route 4 to end at Pre-1964 Legislative Route 4 (now State Route 99 ).
- In 1933, an extension was added from Stockton east to present State Route 49 at Mokelumne Hill , and it was further extended to present State Route 104 at West Point in 1963. This is now State Route 26 .
For details on the sections that are not I-580, see the articles on State Route 17 , Interstate 680 , State Route 262 , Mission Boulevard , State Route 238 , Interstate 205 and State Route 26 . For detailed history of the I-580 section, see Lincoln Highway In California .
The Lincoln Highway was designated in late 1913 along this road from
Jack London Square in downtown Oakland via Hayward to
French Camp (south of Stockton), the original end of Route 5, where it ran north on Route 4 to
Sacramento . In late 1926,
U.S. Route 48 was designated along the part of Route 5 from San Jose via Hayward to French Camp, ending at
U.S. Route 101 in San Jose and
U.S. Route 99 at French Camp. (The route was not marked until 1928.) The San Jose-Hayward section of Route 5 was designated as
U.S. Route 101E ca. 1929, as was the Hayward-Oakland section, truncating US 48 at Hayward. Also around that time, Route 4 was relocated to the east of French Camp, and Route 5 was extended northeast to Stockton.
Around 1931, US 48 became part of a western extension of
U.S. Route 50 , running south on Route 4 from
Sacramento to
Stockton and then west on Route 5 via
Hayward to
Oakland .
Route 5 from Oakland to west of
Tracy and present I-580 and
State Route 132 to
Modesto (
Pre-1964 Legislative Route 110 ) was added to the planned
Interstate Highway System on
August 7 ,
1947 . In May
1957 , the planned I-5 was moved west from
State Route 99 to its present alignment, and I-580 was truncated to I-5 east of Tracy.
Interstate 205 was added on
November 8 ,
1957 .
The number
Interstate 5W was applied to present I-580, as well as present
Interstate 505 , on
August 14 ,
1957 . It kept this number until
July 1 ,
1964 , when California executed its
1964 Renumbering . Route 5, and all other pre-1964 legislative routes, were replaced with existing or new signed numbers, including I-580 from south of Tracy to Oakland. I-580 had been signed as
U.S. Route 50 west of the I-205 split near Tracy; this was truncated to
Sacramento .
In April
1978 , was assigned to the spur from
Interstate 80 in
Albany northwest and west over the
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to
U.S. Route 101 in
San Rafael . This was signed as
State Route 17 , and in 1984 it was transferred to an extension of I-580 (number approved by
AASHTO in June
1983 because of conflicts with
State Route 180 ).
I-580 is the only Interstate freeway not open to trucks.
Interstate 580 Truck Restriction History , CalTrans. Trucks over 4.5
Ton s are prohibited through Oakland between Grand Avenue and the San Leandro border. Instead, they are instructed to take
Interstate 880 and
Interstate 238 .
The truck prohibition has been in effect since the freeway was built in 1963 as part of U.S. 50. Both the
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the
California Department Of Transportation (CalTrans) imposed the restriction, partly because the City of Oakland already had a truck ban through the area prior to the freeway's construction. Since then, the restriction was
Grandfathered In when the freeway was both renumbered and added to the Interstate Highway System.
For decades, the trucking industry has frequently allowed trucks through temporarily when major accidents occur on I-880 or I-238.
California Streets and Highways Code, Chapter 2, Article 3, Section 618
Note that postmiles increase from east to west, the reverse of the exit numbers. This is because Interstate 580 assimilated much of what was
Highway 17 and
Interstate 5 W, both south-north highways.
