Interstate 15 north of Barstow to the State Line

[SeriesE]

Speaking of that Ag station, I've never understood why it was necessary for non-freight traffic to go through them.  California is the only state that makes all vehicles go through them, even if it just an ag inspector waving them by.

It's especially weird given that they built the regular lanes next to the ag stations, as if it's intended to be set up that way.

Those regular lanes were there before the ag station was built. That's essentially dead roadway.

Probably done that way so the new inspection point could be built without closing any lanes during construction.

[roadfro]

Speaking of that Ag station, I've never understood why it was necessary for non-freight traffic to go through them.  California is the only state that makes all vehicles go through them, even if it just an ag inspector waving them by.

It's especially weird given that they built the regular lanes next to the ag stations, as if it's intended to be set up that way.

Those regular lanes were there before the ag station was built. That's essentially dead roadway.

Probably done that way so the new inspection point could be built without closing any lanes during construction.

Likely yes. They did the same thing when they rebuilt the ag inspection station on I-80 near Truckee in the mid-2000s.

[Plutonic Panda]

18 month long study:

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/news-columns/road-warrior/i-15-in-california-desert-could-see-widening-as-part-of-larger-safety-push-3592438/?fbclid=IwdGRleAOlhq5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeYMJsM6UwVfLaD8LDzKX07FCHU-Ovv-eMGhMJrbADUy-7cgzrtdKYL3g_O3Q_aem_9HH6ZU9SOoh6Adl7mP7FWQ

[ElishaGOtis]

Yeah, I was about to say I also think that the AG station for regular cars needs to disappear. That seems like a big source of the congestion as a lot of traffic will back up behind it and then it will start flowing afterwards for a while.

What's funny is that when I went through the one on I-10 in July, there was nobody there. This contrasts with the time my dad went through the I-15 one back in the early 2000's, when he was "randomly" searched

[dbz77]

The logical progression from our blog (Gribblenation) on the history of the southern terminus of US Route 91 leads directly into the construction of Interstate 15 through the Mojave Desert.  Interstate 15 north of Barstow to the Nevada State Line was built to freeway standards relatively quickly as it was completed by 1965.  This led to an odd circumstance where US 91 and US 466 lingered on with a multiplex of Interstate 15 to a terminus in Baker for many years.  Interstate 15 north of Barstow to the Nevada State Line is a surprisingly busy rural corridor which actually can be quite scenic as it traverses the heart of the Mojave Desert. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2021/04/interstate-15-mojave-freeway-from.html?m=1

Amazing people had to make a hard left turn from Main to 1st to get to Vegas.

[pderocco]

The logical progression from our blog (Gribblenation) on the history of the southern terminus of US Route 91 leads directly into the construction of Interstate 15 through the Mojave Desert.  Interstate 15 north of Barstow to the Nevada State Line was built to freeway standards relatively quickly as it was completed by 1965.  This led to an odd circumstance where US 91 and US 466 lingered on with a multiplex of Interstate 15 to a terminus in Baker for many years.  Interstate 15 north of Barstow to the Nevada State Line is a surprisingly busy rural corridor which actually can be quite scenic as it traverses the heart of the Mojave Desert. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2021/04/interstate-15-mojave-freeway-from.html?m=1

Amazing people had to make a hard left turn from Main to 1st to get to Vegas.

Not really. It had quite a few left and right turns along its path from Long Beach to Barstow.

[Max Rockatansky]

I think that I found the Sunday morning sweet spot to get on I-15 heading south towards Barstow.  I crossed south of I-215 at about 8 AM this past Sunday morning.  There was some traffic but not enough to slow the flow down really to around Yermo.  I was averaging well over 80 MPH by the time I got off at Exit 198 in Yermo to have breakfast at Peggy Sue's Diner.

[FredAkbar]

I think that I found the Sunday morning sweet spot to get on I-15 heading south towards Barstow.  I crossed south of I-215 at about 8 AM this past Sunday morning.  There was some traffic but not enough to slow the flow down really to around Yermo.  I was averaging well over 80 MPH by the time I got off at Exit 198 in Yermo to have breakfast at Peggy Sue's Diner.

But the "travel on shoulder third line lane" thing doesn't start until 10am. Which means that even without it, there wasn't much traffic at the state line?

This past Sunday was Easter which probably had a large effect.

[Max Rockatansky]

I think that I found the Sunday morning sweet spot to get on I-15 heading south towards Barstow.  I crossed south of I-215 at about 8 AM this past Sunday morning.  There was some traffic but not enough to slow the flow down really to around Yermo.  I was averaging well over 80 MPH by the time I got off at Exit 198 in Yermo to have breakfast at Peggy Sue's Diner.

But the "travel on shoulder third line" thing doesn't start until 10am. Which means that even without it, there wasn't much traffic at the state line?

This past Sunday was Easter which probably had a large effect.

Heh, people were using the southbound shoulder anyways.

But yes, I am wondering how much Easter was playing a factor.  I thought it might mean less overall cars but more early on that specific morning.

[ElishaGOtis]

I think that I found the Sunday morning sweet spot to get on I-15 heading south towards Barstow.  I crossed south of I-215 at about 8 AM this past Sunday morning.  There was some traffic but not enough to slow the flow down really to around Yermo.  I was averaging well over 80 MPH by the time I got off at Exit 198 in Yermo to have breakfast at Peggy Sue's Diner.

Reason infinity why California should at least allow 75 on the desolate freeways in the middle of nowhere and get rid of that ABSOLUTELY STUPID truck speed limit...

[Max Rockatansky]

I think that I found the Sunday morning sweet spot to get on I-15 heading south towards Barstow.  I crossed south of I-215 at about 8 AM this past Sunday morning.  There was some traffic but not enough to slow the flow down really to around Yermo.  I was averaging well over 80 MPH by the time I got off at Exit 198 in Yermo to have breakfast at Peggy Sue's Diner.

Reason infinity why California should at least allow 75 on the desolate freeways in the middle of nowhere and get rid of that ABSOLUTELY STUPID truck speed limit...

FWIW even the trucks were going above 70 MPH on flat terrain.

[Max Rockatansky]

Does anyone know how far back the closure on Yermo Road is?  I bailed off I-15 at exit 198 and headed down to I-40 via Yermo Road and Yermo-Daggett Road (both old US 91).  Last month when I was in Las Vegas I tried a couple exits closer to Dunn but ran into road blocks at Yermo Road.  It seems the worst parts of the traffic heading back on Sundays always accumulates around exit 230 southward to Barstow.  It would be nice to know where my bailout option actually begins without having to try every exit.

I hit the California state line later than I usually would today leaving Las Vegas (about noon).  A truck hauling a trailer flipped heading up to Mountain Pass but only caused a brief slow down.  The traffic got way too thick south of Baker that there was a couple near misses.  Two cars ended up in the dirt left shoulder on a slow down near Dunn siding but didn't wreck.

I'll be in Las Vegas probably pretty frequently the next couple months due to a family thing my wife has going on.  I'm contemplating using the Mojave Preserve or US 95/I-40 next month while heading home.  If it was winter I would just head through Death Valley and Trona.

[FredAkbar]

Does anyone know how far back the closure on Yermo Road is?  I bailed off I-15 at exit 198 and headed down to I-40 via Yermo Road and Yermo-Daggett Road (both old US 91).  Last month when I was in Las Vegas I tried a couple exits closer to Dunn but ran into road blocks at Yermo Road.  It seems the worst parts of the traffic heading back on Sundays always accumulates around exit 230 southward to Barstow.  It would be nice to know where my bailout option actually begins without having to try every exit.

It's definitely open from Yermo to Minneola Rd, but that doesn't help you much since that seems to be the part you already drove (Exit 198 onward south).

On my way to Vegas earlier this month, I wanted to stop at the gas station where Minneola Rd meets I-15, and Google Maps was adamant that I take Exit 196 for E Yermo Rd and take Yermo Rd the rest of the way. Even when pinning the starting point to a point on the freeway past Exit 196, it had me going past the northbound Minneola Rd exit (as if it were closed), taking the next exit after that (Harvard Rd), and backtracking on I-15. It didn't look closed to me when I drove by.

[Max Rockatansky]

Does anyone know how far back the closure on Yermo Road is?  I bailed off I-15 at exit 198 and headed down to I-40 via Yermo Road and Yermo-Daggett Road (both old US 91).  Last month when I was in Las Vegas I tried a couple exits closer to Dunn but ran into road blocks at Yermo Road.  It seems the worst parts of the traffic heading back on Sundays always accumulates around exit 230 southward to Barstow.  It would be nice to know where my bailout option actually begins without having to try every exit.

It's definitely open from Yermo to Minneola Rd, but that doesn't help you much since that seems to be the part you already drove (Exit 198 onward south).

On my way to Vegas earlier this month, I wanted to stop at the gas station where Minneola Rd meets I-15, and Google Maps was adamant that I take Exit 196 for E Yermo Rd and take Yermo Rd the rest of the way. Even when pinning the starting point to a point on the freeway past Exit 196, it had me going past the northbound Minneola Rd exit (as if it were closed), taking the next exit after that (Harvard Rd), and backtracking on I-15. It didn't look closed to me when I drove by.

I might just pull off at the Harvard exit next month and see what I find.  Heading south the wasn't any indication of a closure from the freeway.  Even if I had to go all the way to Newberry Springs it would have been optimal compared to what was going on with I-15.

[Scott5114]

Maybe the thing to do is to just get off sometime when you're going northbound and see how far you can go before you have to turn back.

[FredAkbar]

Usually there is some kind of signage, like "no freeway access", at least if you're headed northbound (away from town). For example if Yermo Rd were closed between Minneola and Harvard, then at the Minneola intersection you'd see a sign warning drivers that they can't keep going. But that's far from a guarantee.

Pretty sure one time I actually made it past the "no freeway access / road closed" situation on Yermo Rd. Went around the sign and had to drive over a patch of dirt road and perhaps a ditch of some sort, to eventually make it to the next freeway-accessible road, to bypass the bad NB I-15 traffic. I wasn't the only one doing it either. But this was ~15 years ago.

[FredAkbar]

For example, just east of Harvard Rd, there is a Road Closed Ahead sign, which according to the GSV history has been there since about 2008 (despite the orange color indicating temporary/road construction reasons).

Indeed, just past the Alvord Mountain Rd (which has no freeway access) intersection, the road is completely closed off. (Take a look at the 2008 GSV snapshot to see what some driver thought about that ). So that suggests Harvard Rd is the farthest east you can (legally) go. But that imagery is last updated 2024 so it could have changed since.

[pderocco]

For example, just east of Harvard Rd, there is a Road Closed Ahead sign, which according to the GSV history has been there since about 2008 (despite the orange color indicating temporary/road construction reasons).

Indeed, just past the Alvord Mountain Rd (which has no freeway access) intersection, the road is completely closed off. (Take a look at the 2008 GSV snapshot to see what some driver thought about that ). So that suggests Harvard Rd is the farthest east you can (legally) go. But that imagery is last updated 2024 so it could have changed since.

I don't think they're very interested in fixing this:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Gu1iJQnHXi9yfaKk9

just so people can drive one further exit on Yermo Road, going by absolutely nothing. Only obsessives like me drive that road (which I did in 2006).

[Tendies]

For example, just east of Harvard Rd, there is a Road Closed Ahead sign, which according to the GSV history has been there since about 2008 (despite the orange color indicating temporary/road construction reasons).

Indeed, just past the Alvord Mountain Rd (which has no freeway access) intersection, the road is completely closed off. (Take a look at the 2008 GSV snapshot to see what some driver thought about that ). So that suggests Harvard Rd is the farthest east you can (legally) go. But that imagery is last updated 2024 so it could have changed since.

According to the county website it's been temporarily closed since June 2007 due to bridge damage (see above post), with no expected reopen date

[Scott5114]

For example, just east of Harvard Rd, there is a Road Closed Ahead sign, which according to the GSV history has been there since about 2008 (despite the orange color indicating temporary/road construction reasons).

Indeed, just past the Alvord Mountain Rd (which has no freeway access) intersection, the road is completely closed off. (Take a look at the 2008 GSV snapshot to see what some driver thought about that ). So that suggests Harvard Rd is the farthest east you can (legally) go. But that imagery is last updated 2024 so it could have changed since.

I don't think they're very interested in fixing this:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Gu1iJQnHXi9yfaKk9

just so people can drive one further exit on Yermo Road, going by absolutely nothing. Only obsessives like me drive that road (which I did in 2006).

With Yermo Road closed right there, is there any point to the Field Road interchange at all?

[pderocco]

For example, just east of Harvard Rd, there is a Road Closed Ahead sign, which according to the GSV history has been there since about 2008 (despite the orange color indicating temporary/road construction reasons).

Indeed, just past the Alvord Mountain Rd (which has no freeway access) intersection, the road is completely closed off. (Take a look at the 2008 GSV snapshot to see what some driver thought about that ). So that suggests Harvard Rd is the farthest east you can (legally) go. But that imagery is last updated 2024 so it could have changed since.

I don't think they're very interested in fixing this:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Gu1iJQnHXi9yfaKk9

just so people can drive one further exit on Yermo Road, going by absolutely nothing. Only obsessives like me drive that road (which I did in 2006).

With Yermo Road closed right there, is there any point to the Field Road interchange at all?

I would think not, but there could be some abutter who uses it every now and then, or who is waiting for Barstow development to spread out there in fifty years and make him rich.

[FredAkbar]

With Yermo Road closed right there, is there any point to the Field Road interchange at all?

Presumably whatever Field Road goes to. But it turns into a dirt road pretty soon on both sides of the Yermo Rd intersection (north and east). Satellite view (and zoomed in Google Maps regular view) suggests there is a road in some sense (at first unnamed, then later connecting to 20866 County Road near Dunn) that continues on to the east, all the way past Dunn to Afton Rd. It also forks off to the south near the Yermo Rd intersection, toward the black object (what is that, a gulch/canyon or something man-made?).

[Max Rockatansky]

With Yermo Road closed right there, is there any point to the Field Road interchange at all?

Presumably whatever Field Road goes to. But it turns into a dirt road pretty soon on both sides of the Yermo Rd intersection (north and east). Satellite view (and zoomed in Google Maps regular view) suggests there is a road in some sense (at first unnamed, then later connecting to 20866 County Road near Dunn) that continues on to the east, all the way past Dunn to Afton Rd. It also forks off to the south near the Yermo Rd intersection, toward the black object (what is that, a gulch/canyon or something man-made?).

That's the railroad and Field Road leads to what was one Field siding.

[ClassicHasClass]

And people think I'm nuts for just going down US 95 to I-40 or I-10. It's longer but more fun.

[Max Rockatansky]

And people think I'm nuts for just going down US 95 to I-40 or I-10. It's longer but more fun.

No, that was under consideration when I left.  I ended up talking myself into I-15 since it was still the morning when we left Las Vegas.  I-15 was mostly fine until around the Baker area. 

I'll be leaving Las Vegas later on a Sunday in June.  That means I'm very likely heading to I-40 via US 95 or zigzagging the Mojave Preserve.  If things are going to take forever getting home I might as well take a series of roads I'll enjoy.