<p>jshain, I hate certain parts of 99. They feel very dangerous to me too. </p>
<p>Orland is a part of the state that is rural, but IMO that doesn’t mean this a rural road. Like every other inch of the interstate freeway system, it’s governed by federal regulations about medians, among other things. Generally, medians must either be very wide, like this one, or there must be a barrier. In my experience of driving interstate freeways – and I certainly haven’t driven all of them – pretty much the only places where barriers are used are either cities or mountains. Otherwise, it seems to be mostly wide-median. It makes sense; it’s cheaper to separate the lanes than to erect barriers. But this stretch of 5 isn’t unusual. It’s just like tens of thousands of other freeway miles all over the country.</p>