Escondido Freeway

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Escondido Freeway

Signed as

Major cities/towns:	San Bernardino Grand Terrace Riverside Moreno Valley Perris Murrieta Temecula Escondido San Diego
Direction:	North-South

Southern California freeways

The Escondido Freeway (Interstate 215 segment highlighted in red, Interstate 15 segment highlighted in blue/red)

The Escondido Freeway is the easternmost north-south freeway in Southern California, stretching from the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains to central San Diego within 20 miles (32 km) of the Mexican border. It passes through San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego counties. When constructed in the 1950s and 1960s, it was designated U.S. Highway 395, but has since been re-signed as Interstate 215 in its northern portions, Interstate 15 in all but the last few miles of its southern portions, and California State Highway 15 at its terminus.

1 The Route
2 Legal definition
3 Notable Features
4 Control cities
5 Communities served
6 Major Intersections

[edit] The Route

I-15 (the Mojave Freeway), after crossing the Cajon Pass, splits near the town of Devore. The western split, which takes a looping, indirect southward route through the western Inland Empire region, remains signed as I-15; the eastern half, signed as I-215, takes a more directly southern route. The former becomes the Ontario, Corona, and Temecula Valley freeways, while the latter becomes the Escondido Freeway. As it runs through the heart of the Inland Empire in and near Riverside, it is briefly co-designated with the Moreno Valley Freeway (California State Highway 60) before that road splits off as it enters Moreno Valley and turns eastward. The Escondido Freeway continues southward past March Air Reserve Base, through somewhat less settled desert portions of the Inland Empire, converging with the Temecula Valley Freeway in Murrieta, where I-215 ends. The I-215 was formerly designated I-15E but was changed to I-215 to alleviate confusion. I-15 assumes the name of the Temecula Valley Freeway until the San Diego County line, at which point the Escondido Freeway resumes as I-15.

The freeway continues southward into San Diego County, approximately ten miles (16 km) to the east of Camp Pendleton's eastern border, and continues to Escondido. After traveling through Escondido, it enters the northernmost districts of sprawling San Diego, passes through the Marine airbase at Miramar, and continues into central San Diego. After intersecting the Mission Valley Freeway (Interstate 8) just north of downtown, I-15 ends and the Escondido Freeway assumes the designation of CA-15. Before, the freeway briefly ended at El Cajon Boulevard (along the 40th Street alignment), and restarted south of University Avenue, but now it is possible to go all the way down to Interstate 5 on a freeway. South of Interstate 805, the road is known as Wabash Boulevard.

[edit] Legal definition

Routes 15 and 215 from Route 805 to Route 91. [State Highway Commission (1/24/1957)]. Note: This entire segment was previously Route 395 when it was named. Since then, the segment from the San Diego County Line to the I-15/I-215 interchange was named the Temecula Valley Freeway in 1990.

Source: 2004 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California (PDF)

[edit] Notable Features

Increasing congestion in northern San Diego and the suburbs beyond has led Caltrans to experiment with high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes along portions of the Escondido Freeway. If judged to be a success, these congestion relief measures may be applied to some of California's many other clogged freeways.