Interstate 215 – California
Journey to Southern California to parts of the Inland Empire to Interstate 215. This highway is almost 55 miles long and it is used as an auxiliary route of Interstate 15 which runs from San Bernardino to Murrieta. This interstate will connect the city centers for San Bernardino and Riverside and the Interstate 15 runs through Ontario and Corona.
There are parts of Interstate 215 that were originally supposed to be part of Interstate 15E, but this was changed during 1974 as the interstates in the country that had a directional suffix was renumbered or removed all together.
Interstate 215 is not actually an interstate, but it is a highway that originally opened in 1963 as being part of US Route 395. The mile posts that are along Riverside County are a reflection of this, because they do not end up at zero whenever it reaches that Murrieta Interstate 15 interchange. However, during 1968, US Route 395 was actually renumbered to become Interstate 15. The original proposed route was supposed to be I-15W/SR-31 for Hamner-Milliken. This was the segment of US Route 395 that was temporarily renumbered during 1972 as being Interstate 15E. Then during 1974, this route was again renumbered to become State Route 194. Then it would be during 1982, that it would be renumbered again to become Interstate 215 north of the SR 60, and anything south of SR 60 would be State Route 215. Whenever SR 215 had been upgraded to meet with the interstate highway standards, it had become Interstate 215 during 1994. Before the upgrade, there were traffic signals and two railroad crossings that had become intersected at SR 74 as part of the Interstate 215 expressway just south of Cactus Avenue at what was March Air Force base.
Because the Interstate 215 designation had been overlaid on some already existing freeways between San Bernardino and SR 60, the SR-60/SR-91/I-215 interchange within Riverside has been quite well known for being really confusing when it comes to the numbering of Interstate 215. While State Route 60 continues to go west and east through the interchange, and State Route 91 will continue to go southwest, and Interstate 215 will continue from the interchange on State Route 60 East and the former north part of State Route 91 which is now only considered to be Interstate 215. Anyone who is following Interstate 215 in either direction will need to change freeways at this particular interchange, instead of just following the lanes. The interchange had been recently reconstructed to include high speed flyovers, one which actually carries the southbound Interstate 215 traffic. Additionally, Whenever Interstate 215 temporarily changed the co-signs on State Route 60 within Riverside, the mileposts for the I-215 had superseded the mile posts of State Route 60. Any one who is traveling west-east on State River 60 will have to begin to count the exits starting at a new number, in a reverse order during the overlap of the Interstate 215.