From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
California Highway 17 is a four-lane divided highway that runs between San Jose, California and Santa Cruz, California. Much of its length goes through the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the highway twists and turns along switchbacks between the Santa Clara Valley to a summit point and then back nearly to sea level in Santa Cruz. Highway 17 carries substantial commuter and vacation traffic between San Jose and Santa Cruz, and the combination of narrow shoulders, dense and high-speed traffic, sharp turns, and sudden changes in traffic speeds makes it one of the most dangerous highways in California.
Until 1983, Highway 17 extended from its current southern terminus in Santa Cruz through Oakland and across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to San Rafael, California. The roadway still exists; however, the section between Interstate 80 and San Rafael was renamed as an extension of Interstate 580. Additionally, Highway 17 between Interstate 280 in San Jose and the freeway's new northern terminus in Oakland was re-designated as Interstate 880 in that year.
