I-5 North (CA), Orange County South & Central, Exit 72 - Exit 103B

This video follows I-5 North thru Southern and Central Orange County. Provides an overview of the construction and current state of the El Toro "Y", which at a maximum of 26 lanes, is one of the widest stretches of freeway in the world.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• I-5
• Interstate 5
• driving
• road trip
• drive
• the 5
• the 5 freeway
• Orange County
• California
• time lapse
• El Toro Y
• El Toro Y interchange
• Musetta Red Star
• highway
• freeway

[TheDeen114]

Nice video! What camera and mount do you use btw? I want to start recording my trips.

[FreewayBrent]

@TheDeen114: Hey there. I use a Flip Ultra 3rd generation camcorder with 8 GB of built-in memory, and have a heavy-duty Manfrotto tripod that I situate on the passenger floor. I keep my laptop with me, so that when the 2 hours of recording time are up, I can quickly upload the footage to my laptop, then clear the internal memory to continue recording. Oh yeah, and keep a spare battery with you, as the battery life isn't really all that great (less than 2 hours).

[oldiesmusic76]

I remember when I-5 was only three lanes in each direction through Santa Ana, Irvine and Anaheim..etc.. It was very bumpy too, with concrete cracks!

[FreewayBrent]

@oldiesmusic76: Wow. Yeah, I've seen a few pictures of the pre-reconstructed freeway. I couldn't even recognize it. Amazing how Caltrans and the OCTA were able to push this super-wide freeway through OC, although a lot of that also had to do with the fact that the residents and business community wanted I-5 widened, and were open to the idea of losing properties in exchange for a much improved freeway. You don't see that too often, anymore.

[orangefiona1]

@FreewayBrent good thing you didn't get on the 405 freeway last weekend, it was Carmageddon, they shut it down for the weekend. Thanks for filming in Orange County, my home. 5 freeway is my most traveled route by the way.

[FreewayBrent]

@orangefiona1: Hey you, thanks for watching. :-) I actually intend on editing the remaining footage of I-5 in Orange County (to the OC/LA County line) and releasing it in the coming weeks ahead. As for the I-405 closure, I was (and still am for a few more weeks) 400 miles north during Carmageddon. No traffic up here in the Sierra Nevada, haha.

[cjs3872]

@OSTARAEB4

You're welcome. Having lived in the San Diego area for 31 years (I now live in Baltimore, MD) and occasionally going up that stretch of I-5 to get to Disneyland and Los Angeles give me some knowledge of that particular area of I-5.

[OSTARAEB4]

@cjs3872 Thanks for the update cjs.

[cjs3872]

@OSTARAEB4

Actually, they started it in 1990. When I went to my Grad Night at Disneyland in 1991, it had already started, but at that time, only the part between CA-133 and just south of Red Hill Avenue in Tustin was in the process of being redone, with the Myford Road interchange being eliminated, the Jamboree Road interchange taking it's place, and a new exit at Tustin Ranch Road being constructed.

[cjs3872]

@FreewayBrent

Other pre-construction things were the fact that the 5/55 interchange was a cloverleaf, for years, Beach Blvd. (CA-39) could only be accessed going north, The City Drive in Anaheim could only be accessed going south, there were east and west bound exits for Chapman Avenue going south, and Haster Street could also be accessed going south, and the exits to CA-91 (west from I-5 North and east from I-5 South) were left exits. A lot changed during the 1991-2000 rebuild.

[cjs3872]

@FreewayBrent

In fact, when I went to Grad Night at Disneyland in 1991, only the portion between CA-133 and about Jamboree Road showed signs of the reconstruction. In fact, several on and off-ramp steets were changed. Prior to the redo of I-5, there were exits at Myford Road in Irvine, South and West Streets, as well as Loara Street and Crescent Avenue on I-5 North in Anaheim, and Euclid Street and Ball Road in Anaheim and Fourth Street in Santa Ana were served only going south.

[OSTARAEB4]

Okay Brent.(1)O Orange Street in Redlands west on 10 all the way to the end of the 10 in Santa Monica. My guess is eighty miles.

2) On the 5 heading north at San Diego/exact Orange County border in San Clemente the 5 all the way up the Southland;at 60/10 follow straight up onto the 101 by Downtown LA all the way into the valley to exact Los Angeles/Ventura County line near TA, Westlake Blvd Route 23. Exact mileage please. My guess is ninety-five miles.

[OSTARAEB4]

@oldiesmusic76 I remember three lanes each way also. They started the widening in the late 1990's if I remember correctly.

[elteknoo38]

@fku8447

HOV Lane: High Occupancy Vehicles Lane.

[fku8447]

What is a HOV lane?

[liquidmajic]

Another very enjoyable freeway adventure! interesting scenery