Interstate 15 in California
Route 15, consisting of the contiguous segments of State Route 15 and Interstate 15, is a major north–south state highway and Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of California, connecting San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego Counties. The route consists of the southernmost of I-15, which extends north through Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana to the Canada–US border. It is a major thoroughfare for traffic between San Diego and the Inland Empire, as well as between Southern California, Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Intermountain West.
South of its junction at Interstate 8 in San Diego, the highway becomes SR 15, extending to Interstate 5, about from the Mexican border. This segment was initially signed as a state route instead of an Interstate, but it is being upgraded to Interstate standards so it would become part of I-15 in the future. Including this segment, the entire length of Route 15 is in California.
Interstate 15 has portions designated as the Escondido Freeway, Avocado Highway, Temecula Valley Freeway, Corona Freeway, Ontario Freeway, Barstow Freeway, CHP Officer Larry L. Wetterling and San Bernardino County Sheriff's Lieutenant Alfred E. Stewart Memorial Highway, or Mojave Freeway.
Route description
I-15 and SR 15 are part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, and are part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration. I-15 from SR 76 to SR 91 and SR 58 to SR 127 is eligible to be included in the State Scenic Highway System, but it is not officially designated as a scenic highway by the California Department of Transportation.SR 15 begins south of I-5 at 32nd Street near Harbor Drive. After this, SR 15 has an interchange with SR 94, which has been cited as not being up to Interstate standards. The route then meets I-805; however, one can only continue in the same direction that they were going at this interchange, since the geometry of this interchange results in the overall shape of an "X." Between the Polk Avenue and Orange Avenue overpasses, the freeway goes under a city park that was built on top of the freeway during construction in 2001. Pedestrian bridges were also built at Monroe Avenue and Landis Street to reduce the effects of the freeway geographically dividing the community. Between I-805 and I-8, SR 15 follows the former alignment of 40th Street, which was its former routing as a city street. It continues seamlessly into the southern terminus of I-15 at I-8; on the northbound conversion to I-15 at I-8, there is no "End SR 15" sign.
There are various local names for the highway, such as the Escondido Freeway between San Diego and Escondido. I-15 between SR 163 and Pomerado Road/Miramar Road is known as the Semper Fi Highway in recognition of the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. I-15 between Scripps Poway Parkway and Camino Del Norte is known as the Tony Gwynn Memorial Freeway in recognition of Tony Gwynn, also known as Mr. Padre, who played for the San Diego Padres. North of the Escondido city limits, it is known as the Avocado Highway, whose designation ends upon entering Temecula. There are other local names as noted below.
Heading northward, I-15 currently begins at I-8, at the same place that its continuation, SR 15, begins its southward journey. I-15 goes through Mission Valley and Kearny Mesa, intersecting with SR 52 just before merging with SR 163. After traversing the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, I-15 comes into Rancho Peñasquitos, where it meets the eastern end of SR 56. Northward, the route crosses Lake Hodges inside the upper San Diego city limits. I-15 continues north into Escondido, where it intersects with SR 78.
, Cronese Mountains, southwest of Baker, California
North of Escondido, I-15 goes through hilly terrain and farmland, passes under the Lilac Road Bridge and approaches the community of Fallbrook near the SR 76 interchange. It passes the community of Rainbow, crosses the Riverside county line and descends into the Inland Empire. In Temecula, SR 79 runs concurrently with I-15 for 3.2 miles before it branches off toward Hemet. In Murrieta, I-15 splits from its only spur route in California, I-215, which retains the Escondido Freeway designation and runs through the two largest cities in the Inland Empire, San Bernardino and Riverside. I-15 continues north as the Temecula Valley Freeway.
I-15 runs along the eastern edge of the Santa Ana Mountains, passing through the cities of Wildomar and Lake Elsinore. In Lake Elsinore, I-15 intersects SR 74, a major highway connecting the city with San Juan Capistrano as well as points east such as Perris, Hemet, Idyllwild, and the Coachella Valley. It continues through the suburban areas in the western Inland Empire as the Corona Freeway, passing Corona. During this stretch of the highway, I-15 intersects SR 91, a major east–west highway; this interchange serves as a vital link between southwestern Riverside County and Orange County. North of SR 91, I-15 continues through the bedroom communities of Norco and Eastvale, while skirting the western edge of the city of Jurupa Valley. I-15 enters San Bernardino County just past its interchange with SR 60, another major east–west highway, which connects I-15 with the Chino Valley. I-15 passes through the city of Ontario on its way to I-10, the main east–west artery though Southern California. North of I-10, I-15 passes through the cities of Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana as it intersects SR 210, an east–west highway skirting the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ranges. SR 210 connects I-15 to major foothill communities such as Pasadena, Rialto, and San Bernardino. I-15 also crosses old US Route 66 during this stretch of highway, which is signed as SR 66, Foothill Boulevard. At this junction, I-15 takes a strongly northeastern alignment as it moves to rejoin with its spur route, I-215, in Devore, in northern San Bernardino. The highway then heads northwards and upward through the Cajon Pass, an important mountain pass that is the primary route between Southern California and points further north and east.
The portion of I-15 that is located between its northern and southern junctions with I-215 is also used by many local residents as the major north–south route for the western portions of the San Bernardino-Riverside-Ontario metropolitan area.
North of Limonite Avenue, I-15 is known as the Ontario Freeway. After its northern merge with I-215 in Devore, I-15 is called the Barstow Freeway or the Mojave Freeway. A short section between SR 138 and Oak Hill Road is also designated as the CHP Officer Larry L. Wetterling and San Bernardino County Sheriff's Lieutenant Alfred E. Stewart Memorial Highway, named after two officers killed in the line of duty. On this stretch of highway, I-15 northbound splits from I-15 southbound, where the road ascends up a steep grade until it reaches Cajon Summit just south of the High Desert communities of Hesperia and Oak Hills. Tractor-trailer trucks headed southbound are required to travel at the posted speed limit of 45 mph or less due to the steep downward grade. The southbound lanes provide a runaway truck ramp as a safety feature. The two halves of the highway rejoin shortly before reaching Cajon Summit.
North of the Cajon Pass, I-15 traverses the High Desert cities of Hesperia and Victorville. I-15 passes through desert for before reaching Barstow, then passes Zzyzx Road more than later, before reaching the town of Baker. The sign for Zzyzx Road — alphabetically the last place name in the world — is a landmark of sorts on the drive between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. I-15 enters Nevada near the casino town of Primm, formerly known as Stateline, Nevada.
. Halloran Summit is on the skyline, about away.
I-15 continues thereafter to Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and on into Idaho and Montana, before ending at the Canada–US border, where Alberta Highway 4 continues the ribbon of asphalt into Canada. Because it joins with the western end of I-70 in Southwestern Utah, I-15 also forms part of a major east–west corridor connecting Southern California with Denver, St. Louis, and points east.
The Mojave Freeway is fairly busy on weekdays, since it connects the rapidly growing exurbs of the Victor Valley with the Los Angeles area. On weekends and holidays, however, it can sometimes be jammed with Californians driving to Las Vegas for short vacations.
Express lanes
There are high-occupancy toll lanes in the center of I-15 from SR 163 to SR 78; solo drivers are required to pay a toll using a FasTrak transponder.The lanes were constructed as reversible carpool lanes in 1988; a decade later, they were converted into express lanes. Between 2004 and 2008, construction extended the lanes north from SR 56 to Del Lago Boulevard in Escondido. Then, between 2009 and 2012, work was done to widen the southern reversible segment from two lanes to four, and then extend the corridor north to SR 78. The lanes, dubbed a "highway within a highway," include a movable "zipper" barrier for, which can be changed to create an extra lane as demand allows. In addition, five direct access ramps allow for easier local access, as well as access to bus service from MTS Rapid.
Construction is underway to add two tolled express lanes in each direction from Cajalco Road to SR 60. This project is expected to be complete by late 2020. A separate project in San Bernardino County would extend the express lanes to just north of Duncan Canyon Road. Longer-range plans include extending the toll lanes at least as far south as SR 74 in Lake Elsinore.
History
I-15 replaced US 395 between San Diego and Temecula, US 66 between San Bernardino and Barstow, and US 91 north of Barstow.I-15 was initially planned to run from I-10 near San Bernardino along the current I-215 alignment then up through the Cajon Pass and on to Las Vegas, with a distance of within the state. California successfully argued in favor of the addition south to San Diego, suggesting that the freeway would connect the major military bases, the former March AFB and the former NAS Miramar. US 395 was then signed TEMP-15 and the "old" I-15 between Devore and San Bernardino became part of modern-day I-215.
On January 24, 1957, the State Highway Commission defined the Escondido Freeway as what are now Routes 15 and 215 from Route 805 to Route 91. This entire segment was previously U.S. Route 395 when it was named. Since then, the definition was extended on Route 15 south to Route 8 by Assembly Concurrent Resolution 34, Chapter 67 in 1979. Meanwhile, the segment of Route 15 from the San Diego County Line to the I-15/I-215 interchange was named the Temecula Valley Freeway in 1990.
The original definition for the Corona Freeway, as named by the State Highway Commission on July 23, 1958, stated that it was "Routes 71, 91, and 15 from Route 10 West of Pomona to Route 215".
This legal definition has been amended twice: First in 1990, the California Assembly passed Concurrent Resolution 125, Chapter 78, renaming I-15 between the San Diego County Line and Bundy Canyon Road near Lake Elsinore as the Temecula Valley Freeway.
Then in 1993, the California Assembly passed legislation officially designating State Route 71 as a part of the Chino Valley Freeway. However, the "Corona Freeway" name is sometimes still applied to this portion of State Route 71; thus, despite the official change, guide signs on I-10 eastbound and SR 57 southbound at the Kellogg Interchange in Pomona still refer to SR 71 as the "Corona Freeway".
Present SR 15 was signed after the creation of I-15 in 1968. Since I-15's southern terminus was at I-8, SR 15 was signed mostly along 40th Street and Wabash Boulevard in San Diego to its merge with I-5. The portion between Adams Avenue and Interstate 805 remained a city street for a long time, and this portion was not completed until January 2000. For this reason, the freeway is sometimes referred to as the 40th Street Freeway.
Before the completion of the freeway, from 1968 to 1992, the neighborhood was known for prostitution, drugs, drive-by shootings, and gangs. This was indirectly caused by Caltrans' plans to build a freeway in this area on land where houses were. Because families did not want to live in these houses since they would be soon torn down, they rented them to individuals who were only going to be in the area on a temporary basis, many of whom were involved in illegal activities. Even though the freeway was officially added to the Caltrans proposals as early as 1968, it was not until March 1992 that construction began. Many in the city opposed the building of this freeway, although some petitioned for the freeway to be built because of the poor conditions in the neighborhood.
Most of Interstate 15 has undergone major improvements from Devore to the Nevada State Line, beginning in 2002 and costing $349 million. These improvements were designed to improve traffic flow on the heavily traveled highway for those going to and from Las Vegas. Most of the construction was completed by winter 2009. Projects include adding of truck lanes on hills at various locations, repaving of at various locations, adding exit numbers, renovating and rehabilitating the rest area between Baker and the Nevada State Line, reconstructing bridges in Baker, and moving the agriculture inspection station from Yermo to the Nevada State Line and including a truck weigh station. The new agricultural inspection station opened in August 2018.
State Route 31
In 1933, Interstate 15 was defined as Legislative Route 193, running from pre-1964 Legislative Route 43 in Corona to pre-1964 Legislative Route 9, and was extended north to pre-1964 Legislative Route 31, running along North Main Street, Hamner Avenue and Milliken Avenue, was state-maintained by 1955, but was not assigned a signed number. This was still the only existing piece in 1963, and had a planned freeway replacement to the east.In the 1964 renumbering, the route was assigned as State Route 31. It was added to the Interstate Highway System in February 1972 as a realignment of Interstate 15. However, as soon as the reroute was made, the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside voiced concerns that this new routing, which completely bypassed their city centers, would have a negative effect on their development plans. Together, these cities devised a plan in which the new western route via Corona and Ontario would become Interstate 15W, while US 395 would be renumbered Interstate 15E, regardless of the actual non-Interstate status of the latter route. Legislative changes were made in 1974, eliminating SR 31 in favor of I-15W. However, SR 31 continued to be signed—as temporary Interstate 15W—until present I-15 was finished.
Future
The segment signed as California State Route 15 from Interstate 5 to Interstate 8 in San Diego is planned be re-designated as part of I-15 once this segment is completely upgraded to Interstate standards, namely where the freeway's interchange with SR 94 is concerned. The interchange currently has left-exits and blind merges, and is due to be updated with a long-awaited widening of both SR 15 and SR 94. At that time, SR 15 is planned be resigned as part of I-15. The remaining portion of SR 15 conforms with Interstate standards.In 2020, Virgin Trains USA signed a 50-year lease for use of the Interstate 15 right-of-way between the Victor Valley and Nevada border for use in their XpressWest high-speed rail service.