Interstate 215/former I-15 East/CA 194

[Max Rockatansky]

I recently took a short trip on I-215 from I-15 near Cajon Pass to the junction with CA 210 in San Bernardino.  I-215 is mostly known for being on the former corridor of US 395 and being signed as I-15E along with carrying a hidden designation of CA 194.  While I wasn't on the route very long I thought it was interesting to discover that US 395 still popped up south of Hesperia on the 1975 State Highway Map.  Considering I have featured this route several times for road side attractions I'm a little disappointed that I don't really have older photos to add.  I'll update the photo log portion of the blog the next time I am on I-215.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/interstate-215former-interstate-15-east.html

[TheStranger]

While I wasn't on the route very long I thought it was interesting to discover that US 395 still popped up south of Hesperia on the 1975 State Highway Map.

I remember in the Route 163 thread that the state highway map that year continued to show the 395/163 street route in downtown San Diego!

[Max Rockatansky]

While I wasn't on the route very long I thought it was interesting to discover that US 395 still popped up south of Hesperia on the 1975 State Highway Map.

I remember in the Route 163 thread that the state highway map that year continued to show the 395/163 street route in downtown San Diego!

Indeed it does:

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239508~5511839:-Verso--California-State-Highways,-?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:caltrans%201975;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=1&trs=2

Suffice to say US 395 was definitely around a lot longer than it was assumed to be.  I think Oscar even mentioned seeing some US 395 shields co-signed with Temp I-15E on another recent thread.

[nexus73]

While I wasn't on the route very long I thought it was interesting to discover that US 395 still popped up south of Hesperia on the 1975 State Highway Map.

I remember in the Route 163 thread that the state highway map that year continued to show the 395/163 street route in downtown San Diego!

Indeed it does:

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239508~5511839:-Verso--California-State-Highways,-?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:caltrans%201975;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=1&trs=2

Suffice to say US 395 was definitely around a lot longer than it was assumed to be.  I think Oscar even mentioned seeing some US 395 shields co-signed with Temp I-15E on another recent thread.

So did I.  Back when I was in the USAF, stationed at March AFB, it was always amazing to see what 395 was like down there compared to Eastern Oregon.  What a difference!

Fun part of driving 395: Going over the 2-lane San Luis Rey bridge. 

Crazy contrast part of driving 395: Seeing a massive interchange emerge and then disappear back into old 2-lane highway.  This is where I-15 and I-215 now come together.

How things have changed: Sun City was the last freeway exit for a city heading south on 395 back in the day.  Now there is no more Sun City, which was just a small town.  In its place is a biggie by the name of Menifee. 

Rick

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^

Actually I meant you, funny you should mention Sun City.  I actually used to work in the area a couple years before Menifee incorporated  into a city.  I thought it was weird enough not see Riverside International Raceway around anymore.

[mrsman]

For so long, the routing of this highway between 60 and the I-15 interchange in Murietta did not meet freeway standards and even had a few traffic signals.  Since it lasted for so long, this section was numbered as CA-215.*  But then when the freeway was completed, it became I-215.

Funny that Caltrans is no longer as quick to convert existing state highways like CA-15 and CA-210 to their interstate counterparts.

* As opposed to other US route conversions to Interstates.  For the most part, highways during the 50's, 60's, and 70's that were in the process of becoming interstates in sections were signed as interstates for their interstate parts and US routes for their non-interstate parts until such highway met interstate standards and then the US route signage simply disappeared. Examples include I8/US 80, I-5/US 99, I-80/US 40.  It would have been expected then to see US 395 be signed along the March AFB segment until it became a full freeway, but becuase it became a full freeway so much later, US 395 was not retained  and was only signed as CA 215.

[TheStranger]

* As opposed to other US route conversions to Interstates.  For the most part, highways during the 50's, 60's, and 70's that were in the process of becoming interstates in sections were signed as interstates for their interstate parts and US routes for their non-interstate parts until such highway met interstate standards and then the US route signage simply disappeared. Examples include I8/US 80, I-5/US 99, I-80/US 40.  It would have been expected then to see US 395 be signed along the March AFB segment until it became a full freeway, but becuase it became a full freeway so much later, US 395 was not retained  and was only signed as CA 215.

To clarify that:  Until 1964, the US routes and Interstates were signed together on completed freeway sections:

US 40/US 99W and US 40/US 99E with I-80 in West Sacramento and North Sacramento/Arden/Roseville
US 99 and US 6 with I-5 (Golden State Freeway)
US 40/US 50 and I-80 on the San Francisco Skyway and Bay Bridge
US 50 with I-5W (MacArthur Freeway)
US 66/91/395 with I-15 through Cajon Pass and along what would later become I-15E then I-215
US 70 and 99 with I-10 (San Bernardino Freeway) - not sure if US 60 and I-10 were ever signed together
US 101 with I-5 (Santa Ana Freeway/San Diego Freeway) which lasted into the late 1960s.  Not sure how I-5 and US 101 were signed in San Diego itself in that decade
US 99 with I-5 at the Route 89 junction in far northern California

---

The history of what was once (State) Route 215 is interesting on its own, because the portion south of Perris is NOT the original US 395 routing!  I recall that until the mid-1950s, US 395 continued south from the modern 215 alignment onto D Street into Perris, then west along Route 74 to Lake Elsinore, at which point 395 would continue southeast with Route 71 until Temecula (where 71 split off along modern Route 79 and Route 371).  US 395 south of Temecula to San Diego was part of the 1934-1936 southernmost extent of 71.

EDIT: One of the more fascinating vestiges of this is an old US 395 alignment I just discovered in Google Maps that served as a curved connector between 74 and (former) 71 in Lake Elsinore, at Central and Collier Avenues on the east corner of the intersection:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Collier+Ave+%26+Central+Ave,+Lake+Elsinore,+CA+92530/@33.6899988,-117.3398392,314m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80dc99eaeae21389:0x7f500d3ac6c3a0e3!8m2!3d33.6900622!4d-117.3398005

Sadly it looks like a new shopping center in the last 2 or 3 years obliterated that pre-1954 US 395 alignment, even though Lake Elsinore is a city that does sign Historic US 395 overall.

While the "Old Highway 215" north of March ARB was indeed part of US 395 before the 1950s, the modern 215 alignment south of Perris has only existed for about 6 decades, with 395 using it basically from about 1954 to 1975, then Temp I-15E between then and 1982 (IIRC Temp I-15E and US 395 were concurrent briefly), State Route 215 from 1982 to 1994, and I-215 since.

[sparker]

^^^^^^^^^
Funny thing about early CA expressways/freeways and USAF bases:  there were a couple of unusual interchange configurations featuring left-exits and entrances from 4-lane facilities, all dating from the mid-50's.  One of them was the dedicated March AFB exit from US 395 (just south of Allesandro Blvd.); it featured a flyover exiting from the SB left lane that led directly to the main March gate.  A similar situation existed on US/CA 99 near Atwater with Castle AFB; there was (and still is) a LH exit and entrance SB on that freeway; the intersecting road, which terminated at the median ramp (NB crosses over it on an overpass) led directly to the main gate of that facility.  Of course, both bases have since changed status from active bases to a reserve base and a regional freight airport respectively.

On one occasion in the very early '70's when I was on March AFB grounds (was in a band back then and we had a gig at an on-base event), I asked the first ranking officer I ran into (I think he was either a major or colonel) about the left-exit flyover -- and after a couple of phone calls he explained that it was configured in that way so as not to hold up opposing traffic with long convoys and to expedite their egress to the base itself (although I would think that a basic diamond/grade separation pattern could do the same!).  Nevertheless, that configuration was a very interesting departure from usual Division design practice.   

[SoCal Kid]

Yup, I-215 used to be 15E. I wonder, why are there less N, S, W, and E interstates now?

[Mark68]

That exit off 215/old 15E that was configured weird was where the Cactus Ave interchange is now. I remember going thru that area with my dad when we'd go from Orange County to Lake Hemet. This was in the early 80s. Also, my grandfather is buried at the Riverside National Cemetery near Van Buren & 215.

At that time, the only freeway portion south of the 60 interchange was the Perris bypass (from D St to CA 74 East toward Hemet).

Otherwise, it was all 4-lane expressway between the 60 and Murrieta Hot Springs Rd. I remember there being lights at Eucalyptus, Alessandro, Van Buren, Ramona/Cajalco Expwy & Nuevo Rd.

[sparker]

Yup, I-215 used to be 15E. I wonder, why are there less N, S, W, and E interstates now?

About 1976 AASHTO decided that (a) there should be no more suffixed Interstates, and (b) those existing ones -- with the exception of those that served twinned cities -- e.g., the two iterations of I-35E/I-35W -- should be redesignated.  It's likely the many single-ended branches of I-80 prompted this change.  The first one to change was I-80S in Colorado and Nebraska; it became the western I-76 (done in 1976, partially to celebrate Colorado's centennial [76, get it!?]).  The westernmost I-80N, the longest such suffixed branch, became I-84, while others got 3di's, like the KS I-35W, now I-135.  The newer suffixed branches of I-69 in TX were designated in spite of the AASHTO rule; congressionally legislated numbers, even those fomented by ignorant twits, trump (bad pun!) administrative rules, so now we have I-69E, I-69C (for Central, an unprecedented suffix), and I-69W.  But given AASHTO's recent designation gaffes (i.e., the southern I-87), it doesn't seem like there's any consistent use of rational thought or analysis within any of the entities that can and do pick the numbers!     

[ClassicHasClass]

along with carrying a hidden designation of CA 194.

There were CA 194 postmiles until relatively recently. One used to be on the NB side south of the CA 259 junction, and another set was at the north junction with I-15. They're both gone.

http://www.floodgap.com/roadgap/395/old/u17/#img_24
http://www.floodgap.com/roadgap/395/old/u17/#img_42

As for CA 215, that was signed well into the 1990s (I still remember a shield up in Sun City for a number of years long after the rest came down). Some old signs still persist that were simply altered rather than changed out.

http://www.floodgap.com/roadgap/395/old/u12/#img_22
http://www.floodgap.com/roadgap/395/old/u12/#img_46

[sparker]

along with carrying a hidden designation of CA 194.

There were CA 194 postmiles until relatively recently. One used to be on the NB side south of the CA 259 junction, and another set was at the north junction with I-15. They're both gone.

http://www.floodgap.com/roadgap/395/old/u17/#img_24
http://www.floodgap.com/roadgap/395/old/u17/#img_42

As for CA 215, that was signed well into the 1990s (I still remember a shield up in Sun City for a number of years long after the rest came down). Some old signs still persist that were simply altered rather than changed out.

http://www.floodgap.com/roadgap/395/old/u12/#img_22
http://www.floodgap.com/roadgap/395/old/u12/#img_46

The last long segment to be converted to freeway was between the Perris bypass and CA 60; that was finished and opened to traffic in the summer of 1995.  I was down from Oregon for a couple of weeks that summer, read about it in the paper where I was staying (Placentia), and made a trip over to check out the new freeway.  D8 did a bang-up job of getting I-215 reassurance shields up on time in the new segment; but just south of Perris there was one last at-grade crossing between CA 74 and Sun City Blvd.; the interchange was under construction at that time (I was heading SB) -- and I did see one "straggler" CA 215 sign posted right after the intersection.  Didn't get back that way for another couple of years; by that time all of I-215 was completed and signed as such. 

[JustDrive]

^^^^^^^^^
Funny thing about early CA expressways/freeways and USAF bases:  there were a couple of unusual interchange configurations featuring left-exits and entrances from 4-lane facilities, all dating from the mid-50's.  One of them was the dedicated March AFB exit from US 395 (just south of Allesandro Blvd.); it featured a flyover exiting from the SB left lane that led directly to the main March gate.  A similar situation existed on US/CA 99 near Atwater with Castle AFB; there was (and still is) a LH exit and entrance SB on that freeway; the intersecting road, which terminated at the median ramp (NB crosses over it on an overpass) led directly to the main gate of that facility.  Of course, both bases have since changed status from active bases to a reserve base and a regional freight airport respectively.

The Buhach Road interchange with 99 was replaced with the Atwater-Merced Expwy to the south a few years ago.

Does anyone know if the "newer"  portion of old 395 was between Perris and Murrieta was built over an already existing route or was it on a completely new alignment?

[ClassicHasClass]

^^^^

Assuming you mean the routing which I-215 now traverses.

As constructed it used parts of what is now Antelope Rd, but the part going over the hill into Sun City was newly blasted ("The Big Cut"), and the piece connecting that to the old routing coming out of downtown Perris was also partially new alignment. See the 1954 map for the individual parts; the Riverside County sections are on the right. There's a picture of the construction in the blurb below under the 1933 map.

http://www.floodgap.com/roadgap/395/old/u12/

[Max Rockatansky]

Made an update to the I-215/former I-15E blog to include the entire freeway after I drove it this past weekend.  I haven't been on the entirety of I-215 since 2012 so it was a little odd to see it blown out to six lanes south of Moreno Valley to I-15.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/interstate-215former-interstate-15-east.html

[sparker]

Made an update to the I-215/former I-15E blog to include the entire freeway after I drove it this past weekend.  I haven't been on the entirety of I-215 since 2012 so it was a little odd to see it blown out to six lanes south of Moreno Valley to I-15.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/interstate-215former-interstate-15-east.html

I-215's expansion to 6 overall lanes started back about 2011; the first section to be widened was just north of the I-15 "split" in Murietta.  Question:  has the stretch through Perris (dating from the early '60's) been widened as well (which would entail replacement of quite a few bridges, many of which featured the old cast-concrete railings common until the early 60's)? 

[Max Rockatansky]

Made an update to the I-215/former I-15E blog to include the entire freeway after I drove it this past weekend.  I haven't been on the entirety of I-215 since 2012 so it was a little odd to see it blown out to six lanes south of Moreno Valley to I-15.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/interstate-215former-interstate-15-east.html

I-215's expansion to 6 overall lanes started back about 2011; the first section to be widened was just north of the I-15 "split" in Murietta.  Question:  has the stretch through Perris (dating from the early '60's) been widened as well (which would entail replacement of quite a few bridges, many of which featured the old cast-concrete railings common until the early 60's)?

Yes, the whole thing including Perris has been widened.  Aside from the surrounding terrain and signage the drive felt unfamiliar given how much it had improved.


Fixed placement of reply within quote, in this post and next. —Roadfro

[sparker]

Made an update to the I-215/former I-15E blog to include the entire freeway after I drove it this past weekend.  I haven't been on the entirety of I-215 since 2012 so it was a little odd to see it blown out to six lanes south of Moreno Valley to I-15.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/interstate-215former-interstate-15-east.html

I-215's expansion to 6 overall lanes started back about 2011; the first section to be widened was just north of the I-15 "split" in Murietta.  Question:  has the stretch through Perris (dating from the early '60's) been widened as well (which would entail replacement of quite a few bridges, many of which featured the old cast-concrete railings common until the early 60's)?

Yes, the whole thing including Perris has been widened.  Aside from the surrounding terrain and signage the drive felt unfamiliar given how much it had improved. 

That's interesting to hear!  That old stretch through central Perris (featuring the interchanges with CA 74) had always been a bit of a "retro" driving experience albeit a real commute bottleneck; definitely mixed feelings about its upgrading into just another "modern" freeway stretch.  But with the traffic count, expansion to 6 lanes was definitely appropriate.  Probably make another trip down to the area early next year; checking this project out will be added to the agenda.