| I-215 | |||
| Get started | Murrieta | ||
| End | Devore | ||
| Length | 55 mi | ||
| Length | 88 km | ||
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Interstate 215 or I -215 is an Interstate Highway in the US state of California. The highway forms a north-south route in the east of the metropolitan area of Los Angeles, situated in the so-called Inland Empire, which consists of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Also called the Escondido Freeway, Riverside Freeway and Barstow Freeway, I-215 runs through a very rapidly developing area of distant suburbs. The locals also call it The Two-Fifteen. The route is 88 kilometers long.
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Travel directions
Escondido Freeway
The highway begins in Murrieta, a 97,000-resident suburb located 140 miles from downtown Los Angeles, at the interchange with Interstate 15. Together, I-215 and I-15 form a north-south route through the Inland Empire, 20 kilometers apart. Both roads become more prone to traffic congestion due to the enormous growth of tens of thousands of inhabitants per year in this area. In fact, these suburbs are closer to San Diego than to Los Angeles. San Diego is only about 50 miles south. Los Angeles is almost twice as far. The highway is called Escondido Freeway, after the town which is about 45 kilometers to the south. The highway only has 2×2 lanes here, but space has been reserved for widening.
The so-called “Urban Sprawl” manifests itself in this area, large, playfully designed residential areas that have a somewhat lower density than the older residential areas to the northwest. However, these residential areas cannot be called sparsely built by American standards. Between Murrieta and Sun City are some developing towns, which later usually merge into one suburb. Block by block, new neighborhoods are being built here at a rapid pace. Sun City is a town that was mainly built for the older, wealthy population. This leads to Perris, a growing suburb south of the large city of Moreno Valley.
Moreno Valley is one of the fastest growing cities in California, from 118,000 in 1990 to 180,000 in 2008. Here, I-215 has 2×3 lanes. Between Moreno Valley and Riverside, the highway is double-numbered with the Pomona Freeway, the SR-60 that runs from Los Angeles to Moreno Valley. One then enters the somewhat older city of Riverside, which has 305,000 inhabitants. Via a cloverleaf with flyovers, the I-215 turns north.
Riverside Freeway
Named Riverside Freeway, I-215 is actually the last stretch of that highway name, carried primarily by State Route 91, which leads to Anaheim and finally Gardena, 65 miles (105 km) to the west. This stretch has 2×3 lanes, and can be quite busy as it is the only connection to San Bernardino from this part of the conurbation. The residential areas along this route are somewhat less organised, with large and small plots mixed together, alternating with a number of sheds, which means less efficient use of space. Previously, these were farming areas. One arrives here at Colton, an important city for rail freight traffic, and also a suburb of San Bernardino. Crossing Interstate 10. via a 3-layer interchange, which runs from Los Angeles to Phoenix. One can turn here to Los Angeles, which is still about 90 kilometers through the suburbs to the west. Western suburbs like Thousand Oaks are 100 miles to the west.
Barstow Freeway
The last stretch of I-215 is called the Barstow Freeway, a name that continues on Interstate 15, after the town of Barstow in the Mojave Desert. The highway here is the most important of San Bernardino, a city of 205,000 inhabitants, one of the older and more important cities in the Inland Empire, but quickly overtaken in population by previously insignificant suburbs. The route through San Bernardino also has 2×3 lanes. On the north side of town, one crosses State Route 210, or Foothill Freeway, which runs along the San Gabriel Mountains through the eastern suburbs to the north side of Los Angeles, 75 miles to the west. A few more neighborhoods stretch along I-215, the only place where San Bernardino could expand, because the city is surrounded by suburbs and mountain ranges. At the village of Devore, I-215 becomes Interstate 15 towards Barstow and Las Vegas.
- USPRIVATESCHOOLSFINDER.COM: Provides a list of all private primary and elementary schools in California, including street address, contact phone, and zip code for each school.
History
Originally, I-215 was part of US 395 and later Interstate 15. The section north of Riverside was built mainly in the second half of the 1950s, as was the section through San Bernardino. In the 1960s the section opened through Perris and in the late 1970s the southernmost section opened to Murrietta Hot Springs. The section between Perris and Moreno Valley had long existed as a multi-lane trunk road, but was not converted to a freeway until 1994.
Widening
Riverside – San Bernardino
Presumably before the 1990s, the route from Riverside to I-10 at San Bernardino was already widened to 2×3 lanes. Between 2012 and 2015, an additional 8-mile HOV lane was constructed in both directions between SR-60/SR-91 in Riverside and Orange Show Road in San Bernardino. This stretch has been widened to 2×4 lanes. Work started at the end of 2012, and the car pool lane opened to traffic on May 27, 2015.
San Bernardino
In about 2009 the section in the south of San Bernardino was widened to 2×4 lanes. Between 2007 and 2014, I-215 in San Bernardino between I-10 and SR-210 was widened 12 kilometers from 2×3 to 2×5 lanes, including an HOV lane. The project cost $723 million and was completed on January 24, 2014.
Murietta – Riverside
In the 1990s, I-215 between Perris and Moreno Valley was widened to 2×3 lanes. Between 2010 and 2015, the southern portion of I-215 was widened. The freeway here originally had 2×2 lanes. This section has been widened to 2×3 lanes in a few phases. In October 2012, the widening of I-215 between Murrietta and Scott Road in Menifee was completed. On October 29, 2012, the widening of Scott Road in Murietta to Nuevo Road in Perris began. This stretch will be widened from 2×2 to 2×3 lanes over 19 kilometers. In November 2014, the southernmost 10 kilometers between Scott Road in Murietta and Ethanac Road in Perris had been widened. In October 2015, this project was completed up to Nuevo Road.
Opening history
| From | Unpleasant | Length | Opening |
| Matthews Road | D Street | 6 km | 00-00-1953 |
| Mill Street | 5th Street | 2 km | 00-00-1957 |
| 5th Street | Mount Vernon Avenue | 4 km | 00-00-1957 |
| I-10 | Mill Street | 3 km | 00-00-1958 |
| Mount Vernon Avenue | I-15 | 13 km | 00-00-1958 |
| Riverside Fwy / Pomona Fwy | I-10 | 10 km | 00-00-1959 |
| Canyon Crest Drive | Riverside Fwy / Pomona Fwy | 4 km | 00-00-1961 |
| Ethanac Road | Matthews Road | 1 km | 00-00-1962 |
| Moreno Valley Fwy | Canyon Crest Drive | 4 km | 28-01-1966 |
| McCall Blvd | Ethanac Road | 3 km | 30-01-1967 |
| I-15 | Keller Road | 9 km | 18-05-1979 |
| Keller Road | McCall Blvd | 10 km | 16-07-1979 |
| Oleander Avenue | Moreno Valley Fwy | 10 km | 14-01-1994 |
| D Street | Oleander Avenue | 8 km | 29-08-1994 |
Future
Murrieta – Riverside
The widening of the remaining 2×2 sections between Murrietta and Riverside was completed in 2015. Later, the rest of the southern part of the route from Nuevo Road in Perris to SR-60 in Riverside will have to be provided with an extra HOV lane. The highway will then have 2×4 lanes.
Traffic intensities
| Exit | Place | 2008 | 2012 | 2016 |
| exit 0 | Murrieta ( I-15 ) | 83,000 | 85,000 | 85,000 |
| Exit 29 | Moreno Valley ( SR-60 ) | 168,000 | 170,000 | 184,000 |
| Exit 34 | Riverside ( SR-91 ) | 143,000 | 147,000 | 147,000 |
| Exit 40 | San Bernardino ( I-10 ) | 175,000 | 170,000 | 170,000 |
| exit 46 | San Bernardino ( I-210 ) | 66,000 | 72,000 | 65,000 |
| Exit 54 | San Bernardino ( I-15 ) | 62,000 | 48,000 | 58,000 |
