Interstate 515
former Auxiliary Interstate Highway in Clark County, Nevada, United States
Interstate 515 (I-515) was a 20.540-mile-long (33.056 km) spur route of I-15 in the US state of Nevada that ran from the junction of I-15, US 93 and US 95 (the Las Vegas Spaghetti Bowl Interchange) in Downtown approximately 20 miles (32 km) southeast to just north of Railroad Pass in southeastern Henderson. The freeway connected traffic headed from Boulder City and Henderson to Downtown Las Vegas via a direct, high-speed route and it ran concurrently with, US 93, and US 95 along its entire length.
The I-515 designation was first approved on July 12, 1976, but construction did not begin until 1982, and was constructed in stages until it reached its former terminus north of Railroad Pass in 1994, when signs of the designation finally were put up. I-515 was built to bypass Fremont Street and Boulder Highway, both of which were former alignments of US 93, US 95, and US 466, and provide a direct freeway connection with Henderson.
On August 16, 2017, the segment of I-515 between the I-215 interchange and the southern city limits of Henderson was re–designated as I-11. The Nevada Department of Transportation announced on July 27, 2022, that part of the preferred alternative for the future northward extension of I-11 would follow the remainder of the I-515 alignment. Signs for I-11 and US 95 north of I-15 began to go up on May 21, 2024, by NDOT and the I-515 designation was decommissioned after the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approved the I-11 designation in October 2022 along with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on November 24, 2023.
Route description
The southern terminus of I-515 was at an interchange with I-11, I-215, US 93, US 95, and SR 564 in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas. The freeway continues south as I-11 towards Boulder City and the Hoover Dam on the former alignment of I-515. The six-lane freeway travels northwest from the interchange and carried the concurrent designations of I-515, US 93, and US 95 through Henderson as it passed the Sunset Station casino and Galleria at Sunset shopping mall.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Interstate 515” is former Auxiliary Interstate Highway in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Interstate, former and Auxiliary, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “former Auxiliary Interstate Highway in Clark County, Nevada, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q830483. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1976, 1982, 1994 and 2017.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Interstate 515”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Interstate 515 primary sources, Interstate 515 archive and Interstate research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Interstate 515”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Interstate 515” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.