I-215 South - The Barstow, Riverside Fwys; Historic US 66, 91, 395 - San Bernardino to Riverside

I've filmed part of this road before, but in the opposing direction and this new version just looked too good not to post. I-215 is a very interesting freeway with a long history. It's construction dates as far back as 1959 in San Bernardino when the portion from 5th Street to a then recently constructed stub of the San Bernardino Freeway (then US 70 and 99, now I-10) was completed. This freeway carried US 91 and 395 as well as CA 18 at the time. In order to use the freeway, as US 91 and 395 came down Cajon Blvd with US 66, the road became Mt. Vernon Ave and picked up CA 18 at Highland Ave/CA 30. The four routes then split at 5th St. US 66 turned right onto 5th on it's way to Santa Monica while US 91, 395 and CA 18 turned left to join the new freeway. Since this portion was completed before the Riverside Freeway reached the San Bernardino Freeway, those heading south would have been directed to use the San Bernardino (signed as takes a deep breath West CA 18 and US 70, North US 99, and South US 91 and 395). This was only for a mile or so, as US 91, 395 and CA 18 exited the freeway at Mt. Vernon and was signed along westbound Valley Blvd before turning south onto La Cadena Dr, also known as the La Cadena Freeway, equivalent to a modern expressway. The modern Riverside Freeway picked up traffic from La Cadena at modern Iowa Street beginning in 1958, carrying it into Riverside itself. The beginning of the Barstow Freeway and the segment of the Riverside Freeway from Iowa St to San Bernardino was completed the following year, in 1960, bypassing the spaghetti mess that was the overlap on the San Bernardino Freeway. US 66, US 91, and US 395 left Cajon Blvd for the new Barstow Freeway at the modern Devore Interchange. It continued to Highland Ave/CA 30, where it picked up CA 18 and dropped the Barstow name. It continued into downtown San Bernardino, where US 66 jumped off at 5th Street to head west towards Santa Monica. 5th Street is still unsigned CA 66, which is shown on advance signage but is missing for some reason on the exit sign. US 91, 395 and CA 18 continued south to the San Bernardino Interchange where the Riverside Freeway began. In 1963, the new US 60 freeway was completed from Valley Way in Rubidoux to Gilman Springs Road/then-CA 79 in Moreno. US 395 was realigned to the 'Escondido Freeway' portion, which ran from the new Riverside Interchange with US 60, 91, 395 and CA 18 to the US 395 Expressway in Moreno Valley. The Expressway was partially bypassed when the freeway was completed, and the old portion of the Escondido Freeway was deleted along US 60 and renamed, along with the portion to Gilman Springs Rd, to the Moreno Valley Freeway. Along with the Great Renumbering, I-15 was designated along the Barstow Freeway into San Bernardino to end at the San Bernardino Freeway. US 395 continued to be co-routed with it, while US 91 was truncated to Barstow and CA 18 was truncated to Highland Ave/CA 30 in northern San Bernardino. In 1968, California wanted to extended I-15 to San Diego as part of the Interstate Expansion legislation that was signed into law. The first route that was studied would have taken I-15 directly south from it's terminus at the San Bernardino Freeway, roughly along Reche Canyon and Pigeon Pass Roads to meet the US 395 expressway in Moreno Valley. This was quickly abandoned as the mountains were made of unstable sandstone and would be expensive, if not impossible, to build through. The second route would've put I-15 along the Riverside Freeway to a point just south of Grand Terrace where it would head south to the current CA 60/I-215 split in Moreno Valley. It would've removed a lot of student housing behind UC Riverside and was quickly abandoned in 1970 due to that. A new option came to light, that would've solved all the planner's problems. The CA 31 freeway had been in planning stages since 1960 and would allow a more western route that would shave time off the trip to Vegas. I-15 could replace CA 31 from Devore to Corona and CA 71 from Corona to Temecula, then continue along US 395's old route to San Diego. The feds didn't want to build another route though, and refused to along until California reminded them that most of the current I-15 had been build with California, not federal, money. In 1974, California got their wish and agreed to forgo money for 'Old I-15'. This later became CA 215, then I-15E when the non-chargeable system came about, and now modern I-215. Thanks for watching! 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