SEE ALSO: Current Traffic Conditions at Santa Monica Freeway & 405.

The Santa Monica Freeway is the most direct freeway route from downtown Los Angeles to the LA coastline.

The Santa Monica Freeway is part of the interstate 10 highway system... the most westerly section of the i-10. 

The Santa Monica Freeway is rated as one of the most congested Freeways in the world... and as a result, CalTrans has even constructed special area's adjacent to the freeway to help alleviate traffic congestion resulting from traffic incidents.

Traveling east from the coastline, the Santa Monica Freeway starts approx. just a quarter mile back from the Santa Monica State Beach... the Santa Monica Freeway then travels east towards downtown Los Angeles. After reaching the Downtown LA area, the Santa Monica Freeway shortly thereafter spurs off in 2 different directions; (1.) it continues generally in a easterly direction where it becomes the Ponoma Freeway, and (2.) it veers off in a northerly direction where it simply becomes part of the i-10, which shortly thereafter is also called the San Bernardino Freeway.

The Santa Monica Freeway is know by several names, including the Rosa Parks Freeway, the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway, the i-10, and Interstate 10... the length of the Santa Monica Freeway is approx. 17 miles long.