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Interstate 215, or I-215, is the assigned number of three distinct interstate highway spur routes of Interstate 15 (I-15) in the states of California, Nevada, and Utah.
California
Interstate 215 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, California State Highway (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). 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.
Nevada
Interstate 215 in Nevada is part of the Las Vegas Beltway, a 53-mile-long series of roadways (not all of which are freeways) that go around and within Las Vegas. The I-215 portion of the Las Vegas Beltway goes from Interstate 15 at Exit 34, just southwest of McCarran International Airport and travels southeast through the far southern part of the city of Las Vegas to a terminus near Interstate 515, another spur route. An interstate junction between I-215 and I-515 is planned for the future; as of 2004, the two freeways are connected by a surface street.
I-215 in Nevada passes through the following cities:
Utah
Interstate 215 in Utah, also called the Belt Route, is a 29-mile bypass interstate in metropolitan Salt Lake City. It does not form a complete beltway around Salt Lake City, but it does make approximately three-quarters of a rectangle around much of the city and its first and second-ring suburbs. Its northern terminus is with Interstate 15 in North Salt Lake and its opposite terminus is with Interstate 80 in the far eastern part of Salt Lake City, as that interstate begins to climb into the Wasatch Mountains.
I-215 in Utah passes through or borders the following cities:
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