Interstate 215 (California) - Route Description

Route Description

The southern terminus of Interstate 215 is at the junction of Interstate 15 in the city of Murrieta in southern Riverside County. It then runs north through Perris before joining State Route 60 in Moreno Valley.

I-215 splits from SR 60 at State Route 91 in Riverside, where it then travels to San Bernardino before terminating at I-15 near the small San Bernardino neighborhood of Devore.

This route is an alternative to I-15 for drivers traveling from, for example, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Nevada, and San Bernardino, to the San Diego metropolitan area. This route offers more of a distance advantage since it is an alternative to Interstate 15's alignment that is about 10 miles (16 km) to the west of, and roughly parallel to, I-215. However, the traffic and time "advantage" on I-215 is limited by three factors: the segment between the I-15 / I-215 "Devore junction" and San Bernardino only has two lanes in each direction (on the other hand, I-15 has four), it is co-signed with SR 60 between Riverside and Moreno Valley, and it has only two lanes in each direction between Perris and Murrieta.

I-215 is also used by local residents as the major north–south route for the urbanized portions of the San Bernardino-Riverside-Ontario Metropolitan Area. (I-15 serves a similar function in the western portion of the metropolitan area; the two are the only continuous north–south freeways in the area.)

Interstate 215 is named the Escondido Freeway from its southern terminus in Murrieta to SR 60 in Moreno Valley. From that point to SR 91, I-215 is co-signed with SR 60 where it inherits the Moreno Valley Freeway name. Between the SR 60/SR 91 interchange in Riverside to Interstate 10 in San Bernardino, the highway is known as the Riverside Freeway. Between I-10 and State Route 210, I-215 is named the San Bernardino Freeway. From SR 210 to its northern terminus, I-215 is named the Barstow Freeway.

On January 24, 1957, the State Highway Commission defined the Escondido Freeway as what is now Routes 15 and 215 from Route 805 to Route 91. This entire segment was previously 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.