Capitol Mall runs through Sacramento's state capital as a major street and landscaped parkway, and you are on it now. It links the city of West Sacramento in Yolo County to downtown Sacramento, beginning at the eastern approach to the Tower Bridge and running east to the California State Capitol. As you stand here you are on a corridor that runs eastward past the Riverfront Promenade park and carries traffic over Interstate 5 until it reaches the Capitol grounds.
Once part of the downtown grid and known simply as M Street, this thoroughfare was renamed Capitol Avenue by Governor C. C. Young in 1928. It also was previously designated as part of State Route 275 before that segment was relinquished to the city in January 2006. Along this broad mall you will notice the presence of some of Sacramento’s major businesses and law firms, a signal of its civic and commercial role.
This is a space that connects river, park, freeway, and Capitol in one line. West of you the Tower Bridge closes the view, east of you the California State Capitol, with the Riverfront Promenade and I-5 in between.