Getting Around Sacramento
To understand Sacramento’s transportation network, it is important to understand how Sacramento is shaped. The city is long and thin, running from north to south, cut in half by the American River and bordering the Sacramento River along its western side. Although the city has begun to grow to its north, and has expanded somewhat to its south, the greatest degree of expansion has been eastwards towards the Sierra Nevada.
The city is served by two major east-west highways and by two major north-south highways as well. The east-west highways are US 50, which roughly parallels the American River, and connects Sacramento to Lake Tahoe and Interstate 80 which runs to the north and connects Sacramento to Reno. In addition, the 80 Business Route runs roughly diagonally to the northeast, connecting downtown to I-80 a little ways east of Watt Avenue before the border of Citrus Heights, a second ring suburb. The challenge in Sacramento is going from north to south. Both I-5 and CA 99 run through the western part of the city and leave the eastern part of the city, as well as all of the growth to the east unnerved by a freeway. North-south transit between such major cities as Folsom and Roseville are conducted on city expressways, which are really just major suburban streets.
The airport is located in the northwestern corner of Sacramento. It is extremely well served by Southwest Airlines as well as by all other major airlines. It can be an expensive city into which to fly, though, largely due to the large amount of business traffic that arrives there. Tourists tend to fly into San Francisco Airport, which is 100 miles southwest. The airport offers convenient automobile rentals. Given the distances that Sacramento covers as well as the desire of most tourists to the area to take daytrips, renting a car makes a great deal of sense. The one exception would be a business traveler who needs to do business in downtown Sacramento, which is compact and very walkable, although it requires some caution after dark.