I-5 North (CA), Climbing Up Five Mile Grade & The Tehachapi Mountains, Miles 177-198
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- This video follows the first 21 miles of the nearly 40 mile journey over the Tehachapi Mountains, from Castaic Junction at the very northern edge of Greater Los Angeles, out to the CA 138 interchange. Includes the ride up "Five Mile Grade", where traffic switches sides for approximately 5 miles, Violin Canyon, Whitaker Summit and more.
My dad made 3 round trips a week, from Los Angeles to Frisco and back, the years 1944 to 1948, hauled gasoline up, Union 76 motor oil back to LA. Trip took about 24 hours to do, no sleep time. He had a KW, and a 400 Series Hall Scott, it burned butane for fuel. Not many trucks passed him on this route, unless per chance the other guy had a Hall Scott too. 2 feet of blue fire at night, he said under the hood it looked like Las Vegas.
Navigated this in summer of 2003 when I went down there with some friends but didn't bat an eye at most of the I-5 stuff because it all seemed a lot the same. Cool to see this new "view" of it. :)
You should look into the history of the routes over the Tehachapi Mountains. www.gbcnet.com/ushighways/US99/US99f.html
Try that link; you'll get a pretty good overview of the different routes, leading up to the 1970 opening of I-5 over the Tehachapi's. Will give you a much greater appreciation for what exists today.
FreewayBrent
Gotcha! Will do! :)
Good to see that section of freeway has been repaved. Up until recently, those right two lanes were particularly eaten up from all the truck traffic over the years.
Sorry...responding 2 years later, lol. Thanks for watching! Yes, it is a *much* smoother ride now. They ripped out the concrete in the right 2 lanes of each direction, and rehabilitated the other 2 lanes closer to the median. Much much better now.
Great production Brent. Only in California you can have an eight lane road through the mountains and be alone in your thoughts.
You're probably right...about the 8 lanes, that is. I absolutely love it. To think that I used to "commute" over this to reach my clients in Bakersfield, once or twice a week, is pretty bad ass to think about, lol. Well, I'm glad you enjoyed, my friend.
Awesome video, Brent! One of your best. I have to get down to Cali to explore a little bit at some point.
Hey man, it's great to hear from you. Glad you enjoyed watching. Had a lot of fun putting this together. You may have to change your SN to "PacificNorthwestFreeways" soon, if you get around to filming in the area soon, lol.
Great Video Brent! If you ever want to pull your hair out, come up to Fresno. They have just reconfigured the CA41, CA168, and CA180 interchange. Its called the "Braided Ramps Project" I had to go down to Social Security about a month ago downtown. They should have called it "I want to pull out Braided Hair" project. lol. Even though its finished. They still not have addressed the McKinley Ave offramp from CA41. The new ramps as well as the existing ones still bottle neck and back up traffic. If you happen to come up this way, be careful. lol
I didn't realize it was already completed; I'll have to check that out when I pass through town at the end of this month. Maybe it's time to finally record the Fresno freeway tour video that I've always wanted to do...
Glad you enjoyed watching!
I drive a tractor trailer and I have driven the grapevine many times and I enjoy going through here even when there is a rain or snow storm and I will be subscribing great 👍 job sir
loved this video, what a nice landscap to drive through it, keep up Brent as always.
Good video, good song, at the right moment. I can't wait fort the second part.
Much appreciated feedback, kind sir! Part 2 won't be for awhile...but check back in about 2 to 3 weeks from now...I'll have a video of the Santa Monica Freeway up. Boom. :-)
WOW, nice I like it :D, you did a great job!!!
Thank you!
FreewayBrent Welcome! :D
I just watched this again for a forth time; just as enjoyable as the first view!
Haha, awesome man.
The climb up the Five Mile Grade is actually in the Sierra Pelona Mountains. The Tehachapi Mountains are past the 138 junction.
Nice vid, Brent. So, back to California? :) I think it was a pleasure to make this video with these conditions (sunny day and low traffic). I remember your first videos about the I-5, 2-3 years ago, this is what has given me want to also create a YT channel!
Boom! Yup, back to making California videos. To be honest, I filmed this over a year ago...I have enough footage for about 200+ videos right now, but I simply do not have enough time to work on more than 1 video per month. :-( Eh, that's what happens when you work up to 50+ hours in a week. Anyway, glad you enjoyed watching. I hope this video was a huge improvement over my last I-5 video.
Great work! Appreciated the slow lane changes to make it smoother for the viewer. I look forward to seeing more videos from you!
Yup...I always try to deliberately make slow lane changes, so that in time-lapsed fashion, it won't appear like i'm swerving, lol. Glad you enjoyed the ride.
The Grapevine... When I'm heading either down south or up north through here and get the call where I'm at?
"I'm coming through the Grapevine", or before I leave I say
"I'll call you when I'm about to go up/down/or get to the Grapevine"
Great video!
+js182010 : Thank you! Did you get a chance to watch the actual Grapevine video, itself? If not, I'll link you directly to it, just below my comment.
ua-cam.com/video/pvUj2M-wRHQ/v-deo.html
What makes the Five Mile Grade such a engineering marvel?
I've been driving this path for the past 30 years and I see this stretch (along with South bound on grapevine) as two spots where Californian drivers show their road ignorance and total disregard for their fellow motorists. You have oblivious selfish drivers hogging the #1 lane even when there is a line of cars behind them. Then, there are those trucks that think it's okay to jerk out onto #2 lane passing another truck at turtle speed. These guys are more dangerous as I've hat to slam on my brake when a idiot 18 wheeler jumps out without any warning. Not to mention the traffic jam they cause.
I've done this drive so often. If you think the first part is steep - and it *is* steep for trucks - just imagine driving a truck DOWN that grade, which they did before 1970!
Good video !! Beautiful day great on freeway I-5 ...Cheers brent :))
Hey man, thanks for stopping by again and watching. Glad you enjoyed!
Man, what a great ride, I must do this someday. Excellent production as well, liked everything you did with it, looking very forward to part 2.
You really do need to drive it someday...it's truly *that* epic of a drive. Absolutely love the fact that I can reach this pass within 4 hours of home. Thanks for watching!
Freewayjim : Just 3 more days until you finally get your chance to drive this, buddy!
Man ! That was epic ! :)
The landscape is pretty exotic to me as a Canadian
10/10 for this awesome montage and thank your for your videos of Canada.
I would have liked to see some of the province of Québec aswell :)
Keep up the great work my friend !
Yo! Thanks for dropping by. I actually may fly into Montreal this summer; my good friend is opening up a trendy tequila bar in a couple of months, somewhere in town. I may end up help her usher in the grand opening of her new place. So...if that happens, I'll end up recording some stuff from around Montreal.
Btw I like the music! It's a cool tune, and it matches well with the video, in my opinion. :)
I feel the same way too...love the song! In fact, just today, it got featured on Sirius/XM radio for the first time.
Cool, Brent! :)
Very good man
Thank you very much!
SUPERB VIDEO , COOL SONG!
Thank you!!
Okay. You were right. This song is fire.
+Johan Karlsson : Ha! I guess that means you enjoyed it? Thought it worked out well with the footage I was presenting in this video. Thanks for dropping by and commenting!
Watching this now at a layover at BWI. Great work on this, Brent! That is truly an impressive stretch of road, and I wish I could drive it this week. Loved your descriptive annotations, as always, and your choice of music.
Man, it'd be awesome to see *you* film this! It's definitely one of the most epic freeway drives in the United States. Just wait for Part 2...that's even more impressive than what's displayed in this video.
Thx for creating this video!
Been this way several times and almost every time, there is some hazard or accident ... including ... cars stalled in the right-most lane (older vehicles that overheated/stalled up that long, steep grade), tire parts, or other lost cargo creating obstacles.
Been there. done that ... sigh!
Now, I just let UA-cam do the driving ;)
h0ll0wm9n : Oh my goodness. I didn't see your comment until now. Sorry about that! Yes, there's all sorts of breakdowns on this route, indeed. I actually even broke down once some 15 years ago, in my first vehicle (a hand-me-down 1988 Honda Accord), lol. Wasn't too happy about that, but after a tow truck came out and patched up a hose, I was able to make it all the way home to San Jose before getting it repaired.
Whenever I head up to the bay area, or Sacramento, I consider the grapevine my first landmark, and the completion of the first 100 miles (I'm coming from where the 55/91 freeways meet). Great video!
I'm so sorry I didn't see your comment until now. Thank you very much for commenting and watching!
Fantastic landscape to be driving through - loved the music match as well !
Glad you enjoyed, man. It took me over a year to finally find a song that I thought really blended in well and complemented the landscape. Glad you saw it the same way, too!
mdavid1955: Hey, thanks for watching, and glad you enjoyed! You probably missed my annotation at 3:52, but the concrete has been either completely replaced or resurfaced, as of this month. Caltrans was just starting a 19 mile reconstruction project, when I filmed this last year. The new pavement is smooth...and should last up to 40 years. Cheers to that.
Love how you made the footage speed up and slow down in time with the music
Just all parts of a days work, lol. Glad you enjoyed watching!
Very nice! Is that the original 1970's pavement? Looks like it needs to be totally rebuilt. Reminds me of the "norm" condition that most freeways here in Louisiana are. :-)
It's a heck of a lot better now! They completed tore out the right 2 lanes in each direction with brand new concrete, while rehabilitating the left 2 lanes. A much better ride now.
If you get off at Templin Highway and go one block west, you end up on the second iteration of this highway, and some of *that* road probably hasn't been replaced since 1950!
Loved this video brent and I drove this on the 5 fwy south from Grapevine to Santa Clarita and Caltrans did put some new concrete pavement from exit 210-198, but US-101 from Ventura to San Jose is still more of a Scenic ride than the 5 fwy from Santa Clarita to Grapevine since the US-101 follows the Pacific Ocean 60 miles from Ventura to Gaviota
Yeah, the new concrete pavement is great...it was about time; I'd say after 43 years, it was time for a "fresh start." :-) Anyway, glad you enjoyed watching!
japanesesen I think you would like to see this video. :-)
Is this the same road as the grapevine?
+Kristy Warner : It is, indeed. The Grapevine section of Interstate 5 is only about another 18 kilometers north of where this video ended.
si supieras que estas en host traffic
Is it very windy over there?
Most definitely yes. In the winter, this road periodically gets shut down for hours or even a day or more at a time, due to heavy snowfall and ice forming. It's definitely a different climate from LA, just 40 minutes south of where this video starts.