It is south of the city of Santa Clarita and north of the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Granada Hills and Sylmar.

It is officially named in the memory of Los Angeles Police officer Clarence Wayne Dean, who was killed when he was unable to stop before going over a collapsed section of the interchange immediately following the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The bypass, signed as truck lanes, allows traffic to and from SR 14 to avoid the congested pass summit.

[1] A total collapse of the southbound I-5 to northbound SR 14 overpass occurred as a result of the February 9, 1971 Sylmar earthquake.

There was damage to all structures involved, varying from minor cracking and splaying, to the loss of complete sections of bridges.

The January 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake caused the southbound SR 14 to northbound I-5 connector to collapse and a bridge crossing San Fernando Road farther north along I-5 to partially fail.

In the weeks and months that followed, traffic was rerouted to San Fernando Road through the pass as reconstruction efforts began.

The interchange was partially reopened on July 8,[4] and completed in 1995 with additional reinforcing on the overpass support columns.

[7] The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) worked through the weekend of October 13 and 14 to clear out and install five shoring supports inside the tunnel.

The speed limit on the southbound lanes was lowered to 55 mph (89 km/h) to help with the flow due to heavier congestion than normal.

The cover photos for the Doobie Brothers' 1973 album The Captain and Me were taken at the interchange after it collapsed from the 1971 Sylmar earthquake.