Interstate 215 (California)
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Interstate 215 in California is a 54.5 mile long north-south regional bypass freeway in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, in the eastern portion of the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. The physical alignment of the freeway is not continuous - in Riverside it is co-signed with the Moreno Valley Freeway, (CA/SR-60) for about 5 miles.
The northern terminus of Interstate 215 is at the junction of Interstate 15 (I-15) near the small community of Devore, California located in San Bernardino County. Its southern terminus is at the junction with the I-15, in the city of Murrieta located in southern Riverside County. The I-215 is an alternative to the I-15 for drivers traveling between, for example, Phoenix, Las Vegas, the Mojave Desert, and the San Diego Metropolitan area. This bypass offers more of a distance advantage as it bypasses the I-15's alignment which is about 10 miles to the west of, and parallel to, the I-215. However, the traffic and time 'advantage' is limited by the fact that a) the segment between the I-15/I-215 Devore junction and San Bernardino only has two (2) lanes in each direction (whereas, the I-15 has four (4)), b) it 'shares' its alignment with the Moreno Valley Freeway, California State Highway 60 (CA/SR-60) between Riverside, California and Moreno Valley, and c) has only two (2) lanes in each direction between Moreno Valley, California and Murrieta, California. Thus, it can also become traffic-congested depending on the time of the day and day of the week.
Between the freeway's north terminus in Devore and its junction with the San Bernardino Freeway, Interstate 10 (I-10) in San Bernardino, the freeway is named the Barstow Freeway. Between I-10 and junction with the Pomona/Moreno Valley Freeways, California State Highway 60 ((CA/SR-60) in Riverside, it is named the Riverside Freeway. From that point to its terminus in Murrieta at the junction with the Corona Freeway, Interstate 15 (I-15), it is named the Escondido Freeway.
Interestingly, the alignment of the I-215 was once the alignment of the I-15 (refer to the Interstate 15 page for more information). During construction of the new route in the 1970s, this highway was known as Interstate 15E. Furthermore, because the I-215 physically passes through the city limits of the two largest cities in the Inland Empire, San Bernardino and Riverside, and the I-15 does not, the I-15 could be considered a bypass of the I-215.
Additional detailed information on I-215's route in California, including freeways with which it intersects and communities through which it passes, can be found in the Escondido Freeway entry.
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Three-digit Interstates from Interstate 15 |
| I-115 | Montana |
| I-215 | California - Nevada - Utah |
| I-315 | Montana |
| I-515 | Nevada |
| past/ future |
I-115: California - I-415: Utah |
