Transportation in the Sacramento metropolitan area consists of a variety of modes of travel in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo counties, which are the four counties that comprise the Sacramento metropolitan area.
Background Studies show that a vast majority of people in the area commute via personal automobile, with 76.9% driving alone and 9.5% carpooling, aided by carpool lanes which expedite their commute. A further 7.03% of workers in the region work from home, so the transportation modes of the remaining roughly 6.5% are rounded out by public transit, cycling, walking, motorcycle riding, and other means.
Roads and highways
Major freeways Interstate 5 (I-5)
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the north–south interstate highway that runs through the Sacramento metropolitan area.
To the south, I-5 provides service to Stockton, Los Angeles, and San Diego before its southern terminus at the Mexico–United States border. To the north, it provides service to Redding, Portland, and Seattle before its northern terminus at the Canada–United States border.
The highway enters Sacramento County from the south near Thornton, then continues northward through the western edge of Elk Grove that is mostly uninhabited wetlands with the exception of Laguna West. As I-5 approaches the city limits of Sacramento near Freeport, it runs adjacent to the Sacramento River that is on the west. The river then makes an abrupt westward curve after which the highway is flanked by the south Sacramento neighborhoods of Pocket-Greenhaven on the west and Meadowview on the east. The river curves back and meets with I-5 again, closing up the Pocket area. The highway then continues along the west side of Land Park, passing by William Land Park and the Sacramento Zoo. As it reaches the southwest corner of the downtown grid, the highway has a full-service junction with the 50/Business 80 freeway, and also merges with California State Route 99 for a concurrency.
Interstate 80 (I-80)
Interstate 80 (I-80) is the east–west Interstate Highway that runs through the Sacramento metropolitan area.
To the west, I-80 provides service to Fairfield, Oakland, and San Francisco. To the east, it provides service to Reno, Salt Lake City, Omaha and beyond to its eastern terminus on the East Coast in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Within the Sacramento region, I-80 follows more of a northeast–southwest direction than a true east–west direction, owing to both the local topography and the orientation of the nearby destination cities (Reno and San Francisco).
It enters the region on the west from the Bay Area in Yolo County along the south side of UC Davis and after passing through the city of Davis, it crosses the Yolo Bypass (a major flood bypass for Sacramento) on the Yolo Causeway. Soon after touching down in West Sacramento, it splits northward away from the western terminus of the concurrent Highway 50 and Business Loop 80, thus bypassing Downtown Sacramento which Route 50 and Business 80 concurrently serve.
After the split, I-80 passes through the western side of West Sacramento, then continues on to cross over the Sacramento River, and passes through the middle of Natomas, where it has a full interchange with Interstate 5 (I-5). It then moves along the northern suburbs of Sacramento, North Sacramento and Del Paso Heights, before being joined by Business 80 at its eastern terminus in the southern part of North Highlands near the Sacramento McClellan Airport.
The route continues on towards Citrus Heights, Roseville (where it leaves Sacramento County and enters Placer County), and Rocklin, where it has an interchange with the southern end of California State Route 65 (SR 65). At this point, I-80 virtually exits the farthest suburban sprawl of Sacramento along the route, and rises in elevation as it passes through smaller mountainous and rural communities of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
U.S. Route 50 (US 50)
U.S. Route 50 (US 50) is an east–west U.S. Highway through the Sacramento area that has its western terminus in West Sacramento, and provides service further east to South Lake Tahoe, Kansas City, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. before its eastern terminus in Ocean City, Maryland.
US 50 begins by branching off in West Sacramento from I-80, thus creating its western terminus. This portion of the highway is also concurrent with Interstate 80 Business, so they also share the western terminus. In the eastern part of West Sacramento, a short spur route peels away from US 50 in the form of California State Route 275 (SR 275), providing direct access to the Tower Bridge and Capitol Mall in Sacramento. After US 50 crosses over the Sacramento River, it meets Interstate 5 (I-5) at a full junction at the southwestern corner of Downtown Sacramento.
Following the I-5 junction, US 50 runs on a freeway section commonly referred to as the WX Freeway due to it being flanked by the parallel one-way W and X Streets, along the south side of Downtown Sacramento. This part of the freeway is also built upon a raised embankment, to allow the many city streets to pass under it. The route then hits an interchange with a crossing freeway where Business 80 is the route heading north, and SR 99 is the route heading south.
Following that interchange, US 50 goes between East Sacramento on the north and Oak Park in the south, providing convenient access to the UC Davis Medical Center in the northern part of Oak Park. It then routes along the southern tip of the California State University, Sacramento (CSUS or Sac State) campus with special ramps to get drivers directly between the campus and the freeway. It continues to eastern Sacramento suburbs including La Riviera, Rosemont, Rancho Cordova, and Folsom. This section of the highway east of Sac State is known to be a busy office corridor heavily concentrated with office parks, thus also causing traffic jams in both directions during rush hour.
As the highway exits Folsom, it also exits the farthest urban sprawl in that direction, climbs in elevation, and enters the more rural El Dorado County. It makes its way through many small municipalities, including Placerville and Pollock Pines and then reaches South Lake Tahoe.
California State Route 99 (SR 99)
California State Route 99 (SR 99) is a north–south state highway in the Sacramento area. To the south, it serves the Central Valley cities of Stockton, Modesto, Fresno, and Bakersfield before terminating at the Wheeler Ridge Interchange to join I-5. To the north, SR 99 provides service to Yuba City and Chico, terminating in Red Bluff.
SR 99 reaches the Sacramento region from the south at Galt, a small town that is a distant exurb of Sacramento. It then routes along the west side of the rural farming communities Herald and Wilton before going through the core of Sacramento's suburban city on the south, Elk Grove. As it leaves Elk Grove, it passes by Cosumnes River College and a medical complex consisting of three major hospitals: Methodist Hospital of Sacramento, Sierra Vista Hospital, and the Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center. The college and medical complex are both immediately to the west of SR 99; there are exits to Bruceville Road designed to give emergency vehicles easy and quick access to the hospitals. The highway then goes through the heart of South Sacramento, providing access to local points of importance such as the Florin Towne Centre and Little Saigon (Sacramento). North of South Sacramento, SR 99 is flanked by Curtis Park on the west and Oak Park on the east; Sacramento City College is accessible as it is roughly a half mile west of the freeway at this point, and the McGeorge School of Law in Oak Park is right next to the freeway as well.
At the junction with US 50 in the southeastern part of the central city, the thru lanes turn into the eastern section of Business 80. SR 99 does not continue straight, and instead connects to US 50 in the stretch west of the junction also known as the WX Freeway, in an unsigned concurrency (along with Business 80). At the interchange with I-5, SR 99 again does not pull through, and instead routes north onto the perpendicular I-5 for another unsigned concurrency.
SR 99 splits off from I-5 in North Natomas, with a slight northward jog, while I-5 makes a much sharper curve westward towards Sacramento International Airport and Woodland. SR 99 soon leaves Sacramento County, headed for Yuba City and Chico.
Business Loop 80 (Bus. 80)
Business Loop 80 (Bus. 80), (also known as Business Route 80, Business 80, Capital City Freeway, "Cap City Freeway", and "Biz 80"), is a business loop of Interstate 80 (I-80) in Sacramento.
It has two segments, western and eastern. The western segment runs concurrently with US 50 from its western terminus in West Sacramento all the way to the US 50/SR 99/Bus. 80 interchange at the southeastern corner of the central city.
At the interchange, the western segment of Bus. 80 does not pull through, and instead becomes the eastern segment that branches north from the junction (via connector ramps). The eastern segment (albeit more in a north–south orientation) is flanked by a pair of one-way streets, 29th Street and 30th Street, dividing Midtown Sacramento on the west and East Sacramento on the east. The Sutter medical complex in Midtown, consisting of Sutter Medical Center and Sutter General Hospital, is immediately to the west of the freeway, as is Sutter's Fort, a historic park. Bus. 80 then crosses over the American River into the Arden-Arcade area, providing access to Arden Fair Mall (a popular shopping mall) and Cal Expo (site of the annual California State Fair and other big local events throughout the year). Around this point, the freeway also converges with California State Route 160 (SR 160), a highway that provides direct travel to Downtown Sacramento from the Arden-Arcade area. After passing through Arden-Arcade, the freeway rejoins I-80, thus terminating.
Other highways
Several additional freeways were planned by Caltrans in the 1960s, but were later rejected due to local protests and opposition. The county Board of Supervisors formally endorsed the cancellation of several freeway plans in December 1974. In particular, the cancellation of State Routes 65 (south of Roseville), 143, and 244 (south of Auburn Boulevard) deprived the Sacramento metropolitan area of direct freeway routes between most southern and eastern suburbs (to bypass downtown Sacramento). This has resulted in severe traffic congestion on US 50 and several suburban arterial roads.
California State Route 16 (SR 16)
California State Route 16 (SR 16) is an east–west state highway that travels from SR 20 near Wilbur Springs to SR 49 between Plymouth and Drytown.
It enters the Sacramento metropolitan area at the west end through Yolo County. It takes a southeastward path through the small communities of Rumsey, Guinda, and Brooks. The route then turns eastward and passes through Esparto, California before crossing I-505. As it approaches Woodland, SR 16 turns 90 degrees to a northward direction at an intersection on the western edge of town. It then converges with I-5 towards Sacramento on an unsigned concurrency.
Combined with I-5, SR 16 travels past the Sacramento International Airport, across I-80, and through Downtown Sacramento along the Sacramento River before turning onto US 50 towards South Lake Tahoe at the junction.