With its southern portion handling over 550,000 vehicles per day (2008 AADT), it is the busiest freeway interchange in the world.

[1] The northern portion, called the San Bernardino Split,[2] is often considered a separate interchange.

[3][4] At the time of its construction in the early 1960s, the East Los Angeles Interchange was considered a civil engineering marvel.

Further complication is caused by the varying designs of each intersecting freeway and their related transition roads.

The vastness of the structure and the complexity of its many routes called for a $17,000 blueprint model of the highway.